Brian Dolleman's Blog

You’ve seen the white board.

It’s tired. It has lost its shine. It looks faded…

And stained.

Someone accidentally used a permanent marker on it.

Words and charts and diagrams stayed on the white board for weeks or even months at a time before someone attempted to erase ‘em. The images stayed after the erasing. Yes, they became a little bit lighter, but they’re still visible and legible.

Even white board cleaner is no match for the stains on this one.

Somebody used tape to stick something to it a while ago—now it has the gooey residue of tape attracting dust and ink and felt from the white board eraser.

It has layers of stains and scars.

It has scratches and marks.

It’s too far gone.

The notion of a “clean slate” doesn’t seem to apply here.

The only solution: retire it… to the dumpster.

Know what I’m talking about?

Have you ever felt like that white board?

I have.

Sometimes, I need to remind myself of how God sees me…

“How happy you must be—you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean. God holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from him.” (Psalm 32.1, 2 MSG)

I’m not being retired to the dumpster!

As far as God is concerned, I’m completely stain-free.

And so are you.

Now, we still have scars and scratches and stuff.

We know they’re there. Others can see ‘em too.

Those scars and scratches and stuff have a purpose.

They’re our testimony.

They speak of where we’ve been and what has happened to us.

They tell a story of God’s grace and his healing power in our lives.

They remind us of how far we’ve come and they give us hope as we face today’s challenges.

Yes—we have some scars and scratches AND we have a clean slate!

“Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1.30 MSG)

Every day when you wake up, you’re given the opportunity for a…

Fresh start

Do-over

Second chance

New beginning

Another go at it

God is all about the fresh start.

The Bible says, “The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop. They are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3.22, 23 NCV)

Here are 3 keys to a fresh start:

1. Don’t live looking backwards. Even yesterday’s success isn’t fresh enough for today.

2. Never allow yesterday’s failure(s) keep you from moving forward today. Have another go at it!

3. See life in terms of possibilities—faith for the future. A new and better way is ahead. This will pull you forward.

“This is what God says… Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is!” (Isaiah 43.18, 19 MSG)

Most things don’t start big.

Nope. They tend to start small.

Here’s what the Bible says about small beginnings:

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” (Zechariah 4.10 NLT)

God doesn’t want us to have a bad attitude about small beginnings.

I can think of two reasons why we might be tempted to despise small beginnings…

First—We don’t want to be small because we are addicted to big. We equate big with success. We don’t want to “waste” time with small. We want big results—you know, to match our big egos. We prefer others being small (which usually makes us feel bigger).

Second—We don’t don’t want to do the work of starting something, and then growing it. We equate small with more glamor-less work. We don’t like dirty work. And we don’t like waiting.

Here’s the truth: most big things started small.

In fact, most big things started with someone who was willing to be small—at least for a while.

Speaking of big, God (who is huge), rejoices at small beginnings.

He likes to see things start. Also—He likes to see US start things.

So… let’s make Him smile. Let’s start something new!

Small beginnings are the starting point of big things.

Got big ideas? Huge dreams? Lofty ambitions?

Good. Now get yourself ready for small…

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” (Zechariah 4.10 NLT)

This is about to go down

(in 1 week)

I’m sure you’ve heard this verse before…

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” (Habakkuk 2.2 NKJV)

Write the vision down.

Make the vision plain (clear, easy to understand)—so we can read it and run with it.

Sounds good, huh?

Inspirational.

Clear vision, something to run with. Ya gotta love it.

But I’d like to point something out: this verse follows some serious agitation.

In the previous chapter of Habakkuk, verses 1-4 are titled “Habakkuk’s Complaint.”

Another large chunk of that chapter gets the creative title “Habakkuk’s Second Complaint.”

Habakkuk was agitated.

He knew everything was not as it should be.

He lived in the tension of the kingdom that is and the kingdom that is yet to come.

He had a sense for what could be and what shouldn’t be…

And God gave him a vision, an answer, a strategy—something to run with.

My point: agitation is a gift.

The world will not be changed by the content or the complacent.

Agitation is the prelude to action.

We need more agitated leaders!

Blessed are the agitated.

I’ve been quoting this guy Bob Goff quite a bit lately.

That’s because I just read his book, Love Does. It’s the best book I’ve read in the past 18 months (out of 70+).

It’s one of those “I like it so much, I bought a big stack of ‘em to give to people” kind of books (I did).

A quick story about Bob…

Years ago, when Donald Miller was a young camper at a Seattle-area Young Life camp, his canoe landed on the shore of a large cabin along the river, which turned out to be Bob Goff’s house.

A friendship was born.

Several months ago, a young Ugandan boy fell into the hands of a witch doctor who emasculated him. Bob’s law firm went after the witch doctor and successfully prosecuted him.

Not long after, a small airplane was circling over the same river where Donald was canoeing as a boy—and the pilot inquired about the house. The passenger told him it was Bob Goff’s house and shared the story of the witch doctor.

The pilot turned out to be one of the top male reconstructive surgeons in the country… and redemption was born.

Here is a parade outside of Bob’s San Diego house, featuring that Ugandan boy—as grand marshal.