Malcolm Gladwell has written some great stuff. I just read his latest book, “Outliers: The Story of Success.” Every hockey player will want to read the first chapter- it will blow your mind!
What is an outlier? It is defined as 1. something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body. Or 2. a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample.
Let me propose to you, piggy backing on Gladwell’s paradigm, that we as Christians, both individually, and as a community of believers, are called by God to be Outliers. To be in the world like everyone else is in the world, but in some significant ways we are to different, unique, and set apart.
One simple way that I've been trying to set myself apart is through availability.
Simply being available each day for the people around me.
Yesterday the chance to be with some neighbors and neighborhood kids presented itself.
It meant I had to not do some of the work and reading I hoped to get done.
But it made for a great afternoon.
Does that really set me apart? Not immediately.
But, given time, I pray my neighbors would see me as the kind of guy who seems available for them, and for their families.
What does being an outlier mean to you?
What are some of the real things that put you in the center of people's lives by setting you apart?
I'm looking for your stories here folks.
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