Me and a buddy spent some time a few days back in Henderson. We drove up to spend the day with our friend Dwight Frazier. Dwight is a great guy. I like him because we have a lot in common. We are both alumni of East Carolina and Duke universities. We have had multiple careers starting, cultivating and selling businesses. And most importantly, we are both "all bought in" followers of Jesus.

Dwight played basketball at East Carolina and afterwards spent twenty years with IBM. While fighting the boredom of retirement and being only in his fifties, he started a route sales business delivering snacks to convenience stores. Due to hard work and unrelenting determination and drive, that business grew into a well established regional distribution network known as Carolina Country Snacks. Recently he sold the business to Lays, yes the potato chip folks.

We had a great day sharing our common experience with running and particularly selling our businesses. We both agreed the common factor in business success is possessing the courage and willingness to take risks. I was schooled in risk taking in my first career as a banker. That training served me well in three businesses that followed.
The concept of risk taking is deeply rooted in our faith. In fact, risk is believing in something that has not yet developed as a factual being or entity. You know, it’s called faith.

John 10:10 and Matthew 25 remind us that Jesus calls each of us into abundant life, and that fear, delay and playing it safe can quietly rob us of the purpose and gifts God has placed within each of us. This challenges us to stop burying what He has entrusted to us. God calls us to be courageous risk takers, as stewards, in promoting His kingdom rather than being passive, lazy or afraid. The key characteristic of a risk taker is a high tolerance for uncertainty. Call that anything you want, I call it faith.