Progress Over Perfection: Why I Mulched Before the Paint Job

Justin Franich [0:00] I think I drive the patient people in my life crazy sometimes.

But I was thinking about this today. I'm here at the chapel and we're in the process of this project. Some things have shifted, some of our plans have changed, and we're going to be actually working on renovating the outside of this building and doing some things on the inside to serve the mission of the ministry going forward. Podcast studio, sober living home. We've got an entire website up about that. I don't want to talk about that too much.

We're in the process of doing the work on the outside. Monday I've got a guy coming to paint. I'm excited about that.

Justin Franich [0:53] Today I was getting up and getting ready to come up here and there's nobody else here right now. It's just me at the moment. And especially after a season of waiting, I have a tendency to need to get things moving.

So the last week or so I've been shifting furniture around. This isn't the permanent landing spot for the podcast studio. It's actually going to be in that room behind me. But I went ahead and got it set up. I've got some interviews booked. We're going to go ahead and do them in this room even though this isn't the final destination for the studio. I've got the sober living side of the center completely cleaned out, ready to go.

Justin Franich [1:36] And then today I was driving by and I looked at the flower beds. And we're about to paint. There's going to be people walking on it and all kinds of stuff because they're going to have to paint the building and the siding. But I had to put mulch down. Because I know the transformation's coming and sometimes, I know there's an order to doing building projects. I'm not foolish when it comes to that. But sometimes there's a necessity to start to see momentum and keep momentum going. And I think sometimes we overthink that.

Justin Franich [2:07] I have before and after pictures and I'll put them on the screen. But I want the after picture today. But I also understand that it's going to take time to get there. But in order for me to keep my eyes fixed on that vision, I can see the after, but I also need progress.

And so when I say that sometimes I drive the patient people in my life crazy, it's not that I'm impatient. But once I've made a decision, every day I'm going to do something toward that end. Even if it's moving a piece of furniture from one side of the room to the other and cleaning the floor. Whatever that might be. Anything to keep the momentum and progress going.

Justin Franich [2:53] Because I think what happens sometimes in life, and this is true in our recovery, this is true in our personal life, our discipleship, is that we get to a moment where things stall out. And early on, that can be detrimental.

When you get a little further along in a project or in your discipleship, you can handle some periods where the roots are going deeper and the leaves aren't growing as much. You get used to those seasons in your life.

Justin Franich [3:22] But this is the beginning of a brand new project that we're announcing. And for me and anybody else that's going to invest and be a part of this project, progress is going to have to be evident.

And so what does that look like? Well, today it looks like posting pictures of the mulch beds because we're moving forward. Monday it looks like posting pictures of the roof starting to get painted. Next week it's going to be us unboxing the furniture in the sober living home.

Justin Franich [4:07] Today it's telling you that the sober living home has been up on the website literally three days. We haven't even talked about it that much. We've already got three calls for people that are interested. Now unfortunately we had to tell them the date is a little further out. We're not ready yet. But there's already interest.

And so it's momentum, it's progress, it's moving forward. And I'm telling you, if you're early on in any sort of project, if you're early on in your recovery, you gotta try to look around and find areas that you can point to and say, I made progress today. Even if it's as silly as mulching a bed prior to the building getting painted.

Justin Franich [4:46] I'm just one of those people. I'm wired that way, man. But we're in a new season. Springtime is here. God has blessed us with resources to move this thing forward. I'm excited about it. I'm looking forward to it. And we're going to make the most out of the things that we have, because it's not about the things. It's about furthering the kingdom with what God's given us.