Don't find a place to speak. Have something to say.

I've been influenced by some amazing people - family members, mentors, and friends (too many to name in this forum). I am very thankful for who I know. Some who have influenced me are authors. By God's grace I've had to chance to at least meet almost every living author I've been significantly influenced by. I especially enjoy meeting people because I have the opportunity look in their eyes and see something beyond what is. One of those people is Dallas Willard. He is influencing many who would walk in ways other than the way of earth. I met Dallas when he came to SF a few years ago for a conference I helped organize. I read a small biography of his on his journey to tenure as a philosopher at USC in So. Cal. Several things stood out to me. Dallas said he learned as a young student of religion "Never try to find a place to speak, try to have something to say." There is something very powerful there. Any of us can hustle to accomplish what must be done. It's quite another thing to focus on your message and expect God to bring the opportunity. About his excellent contributions in the field of philosophy he said, "I know what good work is. I?m going to do it, and I expect God to help me. I will give my life to it." Dallas' perspective is to do the best work possible and expect the extraordinary to be done with it, as God would see fit. Very cool. Early in his career he was a pastor and had the opportunity to teach in a secular school. There appeared to a choice in the making happening between pastor and an educator. Dallas says, "During that year the Lord said to me, 'Now if you stay in the churches, the university will be closed to you; but if you stay in the university, the churches will be open to you.'" This was back in the mid 1960's when churches still had a prominent place at the table of influence in society. He could not really have seen what was to come. But Dallas was at the forefront of what we are living in today. He chose to listen to God and has thrived in life, career, productivity, pastor, educator - as a child of God. I recommend you check out the link below to hear him tell his own story. I hope I have not misrepresented him here. (Dallas if you're reading please forgive me.) His story is just inspiring to me. I am seeking to live my life in God's story, not with a division between the sacred and the secular - just seeing all the world as God's playground and all of dominion as beautiful. Not forced, but natural. I seek not to make my name known, just to live in the Kingdom of God and be light in whatever place I find myself. Missio Dei. http://www.dwillard.org/biography/tenure.asp