Maybe It’s Time To Tear Up Some Shingles.

Until you’re willing to do whatever it takes, you’re never going to be successful.

You might get close. You’ll probably end up with a story to tell. But you will never realized the magic of breakthrough until you’re willing to do the hard things that you make excuses to avoid doing right now.

You have to stop making excuses and start getting busy.

In the Bible, there is a story about four friends who had a companion who was dying of an incurable disease. As his body became weaker and weaker the four friends became more desperate to do something that would help him.

They brought their friend to doctors and skilled surgeons — but none of these physicians could do anything to stop the slowly creeping agony that was killing him.

He was dying and they couldn’t do anything about it.

And then they heard about this wise teacher named Jesus who was traveling through the country preaching words of wisdom and healing sick people by talking to them, touching them, or even just looking at them. Despite how unbelievable that must have seemed to them at the time, they were willing to try.

They heard that Jesus would be in a village close by to them and rushed into action. Carrying their friend on a stretcher, each friend grabbed the pole at each corner and made their way anxiously to see if this Jesus character could do what no one else had been able to do.

Even if it didn’t work, it was something they had to try.

As they came close to the village where Jesus was supposed to be speaking, they were quickly disappointed. Continuing down the road was impossible.

Thousands of their friends, family, and fellow countrymen were gathered around the house where Jesus was inside speaking. There was no way for any one of them to get through the crowd — let alone four of them holding a stretcher with a sick person on it.

It was impossible. Not hard. Not difficult. Impossible.

Frustrated, they laid their friend down on the ground and begin to talk among themselves about what to do. Clearly, there was no way to make their way through the crowd.

One of the four friends realize that the back of the house appeared to be less crowded. From there, their plan became even more unbelievable.

Leaving their sick friend lying on the stretcher on the ground at the back of the house, the four friends climbed up the side of the house and onto the roof.

It was time for radical behavior.

Putting an ear to the top of the roof, they could hear someone speaking below and knew that it must be Jesus.

Moving quickly, before Jesus would finish speaking, the four friends began to kick at the shingles on the roof. One by one they began to break apart the shingles, tar paper, and roofing that separated them from the person they believe could help them below.

They didn’t care about looking stupid or getting in trouble.

Pieces of shingle and roofing began the fall on the crowd inside the home who were surprised at what was going on above them. Someone was destroying the house.

Once a hole had been chopped into the roof to about the size of their friend lying on a stretcher, each of the friends took off their long shirt and wrapped it around each of the four corners of the stretcher. Through the hole in the roof that they had just vandalized they slowly lowered their dying friend right next to Jesus.

They had done the unthinkable and accomplished the impossible.

Jesus stopped speaking and looked at the sick man now inches from him and then at the four friends whose faces and arms were visible, dangling inside the hole that they had just torn in the roof.

Speaking to the dying man on the stretcher he said to him in words of admiration: “The belief and dedication of your friends has healed you.”

They had gone “all in” and it worked.

Instantly, the sickness was gone from the man’s body and he was able to climb down off the stretcher, still held in the outstretched arms of his friends above.

They were willing to do whatever it took to be successful.

For them that success meant the life of their friend. For you, it’s something different. Success might mean money or work or your job, your kids, paying off debt, or trying to get back in shape.

Maybe it’s time to get in the “tearing up shingles” business.

Maybe you need to get down on your hands and knees and start tearing through the obstacles in your way.

The sad truth is that you’re not willing to do what is outrageous and extreme in order to turn your life around.

And that’s a shame. Because just like those four friends, impossible is nothing when you’re committed to being awesome — no matter the cost.

The post Maybe It’s Time To Tear Up Some Shingles. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

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