A Practical Roadmap for Finding and Spreading HopeSample

Day 1 Identity: Security brings authentic hope.

Who are you? How would you answer that question in less than 25 words? What is a healthy identity? 

There are three common identity traps:

1) Performance: We are human beings, not human doings. Achievement-based identity leads to people being full of themselves or being down on themselves. There is a better option than pride or shame.

2) Materialism: Some people have their sense of meaning and success in life tied to their bank account, retirement savings, house, car, financial portfolio, clothes, and possessions. It is all very shallow.

3) Disappearance: As good as family, friends, health, a career, and work are, they can still be lost during your life. Then what happens to your identity at that point? Many people are scrambling. I was. I was in my twenties and did not know where I could find my identity. I only knew these three traps did not work for me. 

Who you are is more important than what you do. After graduating from Dartmouth College, I played professional soccer overseas. In Africa, I took a prescribed medication to prevent malaria, and it built up toxic levels in my system. I was fighting for my life for a year, and it took ten years to fully recover. Without my health, my career, financial savings, friends nearby, and an unknown future, I was struggling to find an identity. 

identity is like choosing to drop an anchor from a boat. It's an extremely important choice in life. A secure identity comes from receiving, not striving; love, not achievement; and relationship, not actions. Identity is meant to land in what cannot be lost, taken away, or what is unfulfilling. Knowing who you are and whose you are bring a foundation of hope that is like a house on the rock, not the sand.