Go to India next week

Eating lunch with a friend last Saturday, catching up.

He is a recent college graduate and pursuing ministry opportunities overseas.  He has a burning desire to go to India.  He talks about it a lot and he feels he is called to go. He is networking.  He’s really trying to get over there…

I started to hear him talk.  But, it suddenly occurred to me that he’s never been there. It’s one thing to read about a place. To hear about it. To see YouTube videos.  But, it’s absolutely another thing to smell a place, to feel the atmosphere and to taste the local cuisine, and to hear the everyday language.  He has a good chunk of savings and definitely enough to pay for a round trip ticket.  His job is flexible enough for him to take a couple of weeks off.

I told him that he should buy a ticket next week and go there for a week or two.  Take a box of protein bars for sustenance and a water bottle, maybe a filter.  At first glance, it looks like an impulse trip.  It would almost wipe out his savings.

But, I started to explain to him that It’s a win-win proposition.

He looked at me like I was crazy… what do you mean,… blow all my savings?!?!

I started to explain the situation.

There is an opportunity cost to this situation.  He could take the next year to set up contacts, save, and make it there to realize that India wasn’t for him… This happens a lot in life. You think something is your dream, only to realize once you get there, that it’s not.  This impromptu trip that I suggested could save him potentially a year of his life if he were wrong in his dreams…. assuming he makes the average annual salary… that’s a $50,000 opportunity cost!

Let’s say he goes there and it turns out that his gut feeling is legitimate, he belongs in India!  Then, that experience will fuel the fire within his soul.  Yes, he’ll be out of a couple of thousand dollars, but he will know!  That singular experience in his heart, that experience will thrust him towards his goal.

He left laughing and probably won’t give it much thought, but the concept is real and tangible.

What is your pie in the sky dream?  Why do you want it? Do you know that you really want it?  How?… Do you know that’s what you really want? Why?

Go find out…. Go!