big, hairy, audacious dreams for 2012…

really not sure whether to hit the ‘publish’ button on this post, or even whether to write it or not in the first place!

I’m not usually one for new years resolutions.  I’ve heard too many people make all the usual promises before, ‘I’m going to stop smoking, lose weight, eat healthy, exercise, read the Bible more, and on and on the list goes.  But for a couple months now, I’ve had a nagging thought running round in my head that comes in the form of a resolution, hope, goal, dream, plan for 2012.  It’s one of those big, hairy, audacious ones, which explains the hesitation to put it out there in a public forum – the fear that all three of you who are reading this can laugh derisively and make horrible fun out of me come Dec 31 2012 when I’ve failed miserably, is almost palpable, (some of you are laughing derisively at my use of the word palpable).

Enough with the drama queen antics.

In 2012, I hope to … plan to … want to … believe to …

raise one hundred thousand dollars for a handful of organisations who are engaged in the fight to end the trafficking and sexual exploitation of human beings.

In late November, a few of my mates and I raised $10,000 to help further the work of Urban Light and The Sold Project, working in prevention/aftercare of at-risk or already exploited kids and teenagers in Thailand.  Because it’s my goal and my blog, I’m going to extend my 2012 to include that $10,000.  So, I’ve got $90,000 in 365 days to go!  That’s 246 dollars and 57.534246575342 cents a day!  Other than running a few more Ping-Pong-A-Thons in different parts of Australia, I have no idea how I’m going to do it.  When I return to Australia in early Feb, I don’t have a job lined up, I don’t even know where I’ll be living, so there are a lot of reasons why this is not a good year to be running after crazy dreams!  One thing I do know is that I’m gonna need a stack of help from a bunch of people who are interested in doing their little bit to help out!  Maybe, sometime in 2012, I could help you run a little fundraiser at your school, your church, your workplace, your small group, your community group, your university!?!  Maybe, you might have another way you can help out.

I’ll put some more thoughts/ideas, etc out and about on this in the weeks ahead, but for now, I just wanted to encourage anyone who is reading this to give some thought to making this a year in which you give a red hot crack at doing whatever God might be putting in your heart to do.  Not just the little promptings that he gives, but those scary, big, crazy dreams that make you feel both excited and like you need the toilet real bad at the same time.  And really, who cares, if we fall flat on our faces in the trying.  Is it really failure if I fall short of my target by $5,000 or $55,000?  What a glorious failure that would be!  It would mean $95,000 or $45,000 have been raised to end horrendous injustice in the lives of some of the world’s most exploited people!  How I’d love to fail like that every year! 

So, there it is.  Now to push fear aside and hit that darned ‘publish’ button!

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