Preparing for the More God Has for Me

I'm preparing to walk the Camino de Santiago again.

But this year feels different.

Last year, I walked the Camino without carrying my full backpack. This year, I'm carrying it.

And lately, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that there's something spiritual in that.

I feel like God is preparing me to carry more.

I have big dreams for my company. I genuinely believe we're just getting started. I can see a future where the company is two, three, maybe even ten times the size it is today.

More revenue.

More employees.

More clients.

More opportunities.

More money.

More influence.

And for a long time, I think I would have looked at all of that and simply thought:

More.

Let's go.

Let's grow.

Let's build.

But I'm starting to understand something.

If God gives me more, I'll have to carry more.

More employees means more people whose livelihoods are affected by the decisions I make.

More revenue means more money to steward wisely.

More leaders means becoming a better leader myself.

More influence means greater responsibility for how I use it.

More opportunity means needing greater discernment about what to say yes to—and probably even more importantly, what to say no to.

More doesn't just require a bigger company.

More requires a different me.

That's what has been on my heart as I prepare for this Camino.

My prayer isn't simply:

"God, give me more."

It's becoming:

"God, prepare me to steward more."

Because what good would it be for God to increase my territory faster than He increases my capacity to steward it?

I've spent years thinking about how to grow businesses.

Strategies. Sales. People. Systems. Marketing. Leadership.

But maybe the most important preparation for the next level of my business isn't another business strategy.

Maybe it's the preparation of the man leading it.

That's why I'm dedicating this year's Camino to a question:

Who must I become to faithfully steward what God may entrust to me next?

I'm going to carry that question with me across Spain.

And maybe there's something fitting about asking it with a backpack strapped to me.

Because I'm beginning to realize that preparing to carry more isn't necessarily about becoming strong enough to pile more things onto my back.

Some things probably need to come off.

Maybe God needs to teach me to delegate more.

Trust people more.

Control less.

Become wiser with money.

Become a better husband and father.

Strengthen my spiritual disciplines.

Confront weaknesses in my character.

Let go of things that belong to another season.

Stop being necessary in places where my ego likes being necessary.

Depend on Him more deeply.

Jesus said:

Apart from me you can do nothing. — John 15:5

That's very different from the message entrepreneurship often teaches us.

Entrepreneurship says:

Look how much I can build.

Look how much I can handle.

Look how hard I can work.

Look how much I can carry.

But I want the next season of my life to tell a different story:

Look what God enables me to carry.

And maybe that's what this Camino is really going to be about.

I'm not walking across Spain asking God to give me a 10X company.

I'm walking into this pilgrimage believing there may be more ahead and asking God to prepare me for His definition of more.

Because His more may not just be more revenue.

It may be more surrender.

More wisdom.

More discipline.

More patience.

More generosity.

More fatherhood.

More leadership.

More obedience.

More dependence on Him.

And perhaps even less of some things so I have room to carry what actually matters.

So this year, before I put the backpack on, I'm praying:

God, prepare me for Your more—not merely my definition of more.

And before You entrust me with more to carry, show me what needs to change in the man carrying it.

That's what I'm taking with me on the Camino this year.

We'll see what God does with it.