What do you say you and I work through this one step at a time?

I’ve lost a total of roughly 150 pounds and my lowest weight total in two and a half decades is 239.6 pounds.

I’ve completed 5 half-marathons, and ran my fastest half in 2 hours and 2 minutes.

I spent nineteen months writing the book “God Is For You”.

I started a blog like a decade ago, and have relaunched it three times (this feels like the fourth, but it’s not, I just took an extended breather).

I have a Podcast called Thadcast.

I’m an Advisor with Advocare and part of an amazing AdvoCare family.

I am the owner of the T-Shirt company IntentionaliTees.

I’ve run 7 Ragnar Relays, and have been the team captain 2 years in a row.

I’m the Chairman of the Brentwood Republicans and part of my local school board.

My indoor cycling classes usually sell out.

All of these experiences have humbled, empowered, and shocked me a thousand times. In some ways, I’ve felt like a colossal failure, captaining a sinking ship, yet in others, I’ve felt like James Cameron in a tux on stage awkwardly yelling out “I’m the King of the World!”

2019 has been quite an eventful year so far, and today is day 135, just in case you’re keeping count. A few months back I ordered a leather bracelet, with the word “Greatness” engraved on the outside of it. It hasn’t left my wrist for more than a few moments this year, and this one word is continuously on my mind.

I have this friend and all he ever listens to is music from the late eighties and early nineties. Don’t get me wrong, I still dig Pearl Jam, old U2, and Depeche Mode. Yet, those artists don’t define me, nor do the artists today. It isn’t wrong to embrace the past, or light up when your favorite song from yesteryear comes on, but it isn’t healthy to get stuck in a different time.

Speaking of music, have you ever heard the song Acrobat by U2? If you haven’t, take a few minutes, close your eyes and get caught up in the whole thing. It reminds me of a powerful train, plowing down the frozen tracks of a Siberian Winter. There’s something beautifully grinding about it, and it is probably still my favorite song ever. You’ll feel me when it gets to the chorus, and if you don’t, listen to it a few more times and really try to let it flow through you.

We aren’t going backwards, you and I. We move forward, into the light of Jesus and into the Greatness God has created us for. Some folks don’t believe in such ideologies, but I do. The Bible is packed full of God’s promises of love, forgiveness, and blessings beyond our comprehension in this life and the next.

And yes, there will be suffering, trials, drama, sickness, disease, and so much more.

But God has good things for you and me, and a whole world of beauty and thrills for all of humanity to explore. I’m in. Whatever God wants for me, I’m in and you should be, too. This is precisely why we can’t get stuck in the past, mired in our failures, or too caught up in our purposes. God is always creating a new story, and I’m just looking to be in the room when it’s all going down.

2019 will be gone before you know it, and we can sit here and chill on our comfy sofas or we can push forward into a new space, one full of adventure and most certainly, one full of risk. I choose the risk. The push. And so should you.