Origins

“The Endeavor.”

What does that name mean for me? What does that name mean for you?

I named this blog “The Endeavor” because I believe that’s what we’re all doing. We’re all trying to achieve. We’re all attempting to reach a goal. We’re all striving to live a good life. We’re all setting goals and working jobs and doing all kinds of things we would much rather not do in order to get somewhere in our life that we think will bring us joy or fulfillment or some sense of accomplishment or leave some kind of impact or legacy in the world. The endeavor is life.

The blog tagline is intentional too: Life, faith, brokenness, and making sense of it all.

What does that mean? How does that tie in?

That’s where I think we find ourselves most of the time on the journey. Maybe I should just speak for myself. This is absolutely where I find myself most of the time. If you can relate, this blog is for you, friend!

Life, because that’s what the endeavor is! It’s my life. It’s all the little moments and all the little decisions that guide me down paths leading somewhere (God knows where), and the success and the hope and the anxiety and the disappointment that all come at the crossroads. I never really know which one I’ll meet until I take the turn, but that’s all part of the journey.

Faith, because life is an act of faith. Because no matter what you believe in you’re acting on faith, and that faith guides you in all you do. If you believe in God, that faith guides you. If you don’t, that faith guides you (though you may not like the term). Mine guides me, and it will inevitably find it’s way into my writing — it already has. Faith, because it’s unavoidable.

Brokenness, because it’s also unavoidable. You will face brokenness. I will face brokenness. As much as we hate it, death and decay are part of our world. Relationships break. Faith falters. The unexpected happens. We all, at some point or another, find ourselves sitting in a dark hole, fumbling around trying to pick up the pieces. I think it’s important thing to recognize. It’s important to know you aren’t the only one. It’s a goal of mine to be vulnerable and honest with some of those moments in my own life, because I hope that by doing so you won’t feel so isolated when you have those moments yourself. I think there are plenty of leadership blogs and podcasts, plenty of people telling us how it’s done and how to be better. I think those things are good. Indeed, I think if you stay sitting in your brokenness and never get up and out of it, you’re sabotaging yourself and you’re settling for less than you’re worth. But I’m not here to teach you to lead. I’m here to say, “Me too.”

Finally, making sense of it all, because that’s the reality we’re constantly living in. That’s what the conversation is really about. We encounter all kinds of things in life — good, bad, indifferent. It’s not a question of “if.” We are bound to encounter it all. But what do we do when it happens? What do we do when our friend overdoses? What do we do when our loved one commits suicide? What do we do when the life we’ve built around us has come crumbling down? What do we do when we reach success we never thought we would? What do we do when things are going smoothly but we know there’s more to life? What we do when we finally get the “yes” we’ve been waiting for to make sure we don’t waste it? Whatever comes our way, we’re left in this place of making sense of it and figuring out how to make the next move in life.

Really, this blog is about being honest about life and inviting you on the journey. It’s about being genuine in the good times and in the bad. It’s about sharing what’s really on my mind. It’s not about trying to be a version of myself that’s better than I am. It’s not about portraying myself in a light that makes you respect me more or think I have it all together. I don’t. I assume you don’t either. And that’s what I love. This blog is my way of saying, “I’m imperfect. Sometimes I’m pretty jacked up. If you are too, take heart. You’re not alone.” And this blog is often my way of going further and saying, “…and this is where I find hope. This has helped me through. I hope if you take hold of it, friend, that it will help you too!”

Thanks for reading. And if the blogs have helped you at all or if you’ve simply enjoyed reading them – share with your friends. If it was a benefit to you, maybe it will benefit them too.