Free Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell Page A

flat.” I think of Henry Ford and the car. One of my great-great-uncles was a good friend of Henry Ford’s. He once told Mr. Ford, “I have no doubt that you can invent an automobile, but once you’ve invented it, where will you drive it? There are no roads! There will be no place for you to go.” My uncle didn’t realize that if you have a great enough idea, people will literally move mountains to make that idea become reality. But you have to have the strength of your convictions to launch your dream alone.
    Every person who has never killed a giant will tell you that it’s impossible. They will tell you it can’t happen. So if you set out to confront a Goliath, expect to meet criticism and feel loneliness; it’s all part of the process. David understood that. And David Livingstone charted great paths for missions in Africa. One time, a missionary society wrote him a letter saying, “We have some people who would like to join you. Do you have some easy access roads to get where you are?” Dr. Livingstone wrote back and said, “If you have men who will come only if there are good roads, I don’t want them. I want men who will come even if there is no road at all.” Count your cost. It will cost you something to be victorious in battle. You cannot knock giants off easily.
S TONE N UMBER T HREE —C HART Y OUR C OURSE
    The third stone that you need in order to knock off your giants is this one: Chart your course. Let’s look at how David charted his course in 1 Samuel 17:31–40. “When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him” (v. 31). I think this verse holds a great lesson for us. The moment that you commit yourself to any great project, you will be tested. As soon as David said he was going to charge Goliath, someone was willing to take him up on it.
    I think every person who sets a great goal knows the trauma of first publicly declaring that goal. Many times when I knew that God was calling me to do something that was different or difficult, I had to go through an inward emotional struggle to get myself to say it publicly, because I knew that once I said it publicly, somebody would hold me accountable for what I had said. When I was called to preach, I struggled until I was seventeen years old to say it publicly because I knew that once I announced it, my friends and my family would take it seriously. In 1973, as a young preacher, I felt that I should lead to the Lord two hundred people who were outside of my church. I remember driving from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Lancaster, Ohio, wrestling with God for the entire eight-hour trip over whether I should declare this goal publicly. I knew that as soon as I told people, they would really jump on it. I declared it publicly, and for a week I knocked on doors and did everything you’re supposed to do to win somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ, but nobody was getting saved. On Saturday night when I came in to do some last-minute study in the church office, a friend was out in the lobby, and he said, “Pastor, I’ve been praying for you all week since you declared you want to win two hundred people to the Lord. I just wondered, how many have you won this week?” And I remember telling him, “None—but I’m going to win somebody before tomorrow night.” I turned around and walked out of the church. I went clear across town to do some serious soul-winning—and led a couple to the Lord. They were in church the next morning. What happened? The moment you publicly announce that you’re going to charge a Goliath, somebody in the crowd will hold you to it. As soon as David said, “I’m going to charge Goliath,” what did the people do? They took him to King Saul. David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (v. 32). In verse 33, Saul says to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a