Episode #316 — Ryan Leak isn’t afraid of saying counter-cultural things! And the author, speaker & filmmaker has a story that will make you rethink everything you believe about failure.
After pursuing a childhood dream to play professional basketball led to an unforgettable NBA tryout with the Phoenix Suns, Ryan took stock of where he was and reached a startling conclusion – chasing failure had led him to far greater heights than chasing success ever had! He expands on that claim with this one – from where he sits, and from what he reads in God’s word, God’s plan for our lives includes failure.
“And where I get that isn’t just my own personal story. Where I get that is from reading the Bible. Let’s just look at the icons, Ok? Let’s just pick Moses, David, and Paul. What do they all have in common? They’re murderers! That’s just three of them! We haven’t even gotten to the rest of the motley crew that god uses throughout scripture and their failures, adulteries, and setbacks.”
“I think we often forget. We love to quote that scripture – that God will work all things for the good of those who love Him. What do we think is included in ‘all things’?! Our failures! The one thing that breaks my heart is when I watch someone who feels like God’s plan is somehow destroyed because of their failures and their past mistakes. And so what ends up happening is that believers actually become spiritually paralyzed for seasons of their life. We go, ‘Nope! Not me! God, pick somebody else!’ When God is going, ‘Hey, let’s look at this mistake that you made. Let’s look at some of these failures. Did you learn something? Was I not there? My mind is not changed about what I want to do with your life!‘”
Ryan Leak is an author, filmmaker & speaker behind the fascinating new book Chasing Failure: How Falling Short Sets You Up for Success.
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