Imagine this, you see a post on your feed announcing that for $200 you can purchase a years worth of dates at a national restaurant chain, valued at over $1,500.

Would you be interested?

I know I was, so were my wife and friends. It wasn’t a joke either, the restaurant chain was really offering these “Date Passes” and while there was a disclaimer that there was a limited supply, nothing made it sound like an exclusive sweepstakes where only a few would get lucky.

We thought long and hard whether we could spend this in our budget. We talked about all the cool things we’d do with the pass like bringing our friends who are about to have a baby, dinner.

The morning came and we excitedly waited for 9:00 AM Pacific Time to come… That was the moment the buy now button would appear. The hour struck, but instead of a buy now button we got a notice the server was down!

We were driving on our way to work, and from the drivers seat I admonished my wife to refresh the page, refresh again!

Finally some moments or perhaps minutes later, the long awaited screen shone out from our little window into the world, and my wife executed a perfect buy now click like it was nothing!

That’s when we saw it… SOLD OUT.

By 9:04 we were still driving to work with the sad realization that a year’s worth of plans, weren’t going to happen.

A bit dramatic right? I totally agree, but that is exactly how we felt. It might have been a small thing in the scheme of things, I mean it really is small, but nonetheless, we allowed ourselves to hope and to trust and then boom! SOLD OUT.

3 LESSONS FROM THE DATE NIGHT DEBACLE:

#1: Hope is Beautiful

It might have just been a deal at a restaurant, but it caught the imagination of thousands.

Even though it didn’t work out, I for one am glad I let myself hope. It means I still know how to; and so do thousands of other ordinary people going along with their lives.

If we can hope that a too good to be true deal can be ours, we can hope for others things too!

• That God can hear our prayers.

• That we can learn new things and reach new heights.

• That our family can be different, that our marriage can be different.

• That we can turn our business around and make it something special.

#2: Hope is Revealing

I realized something after I reflected on my date night experience - I realized that what I hoped to do with the card revealed a lot about the person I was and hoped to be.

Thankfully my intentions were really good this time!

• I wanted to sweep my wife off her feet and buy her a fancy steak!

• I wanted to be the cool dad who brought his 2 year old to eat french fries!

• I wanted to go out to eat with friends, where we could laugh, talk, and just be together.

• I wanted to get food and give it away!

#3: Hope is Powerful and a Little Dangerous

This experience has reminded me that hope is powerful and a little dangerous…

SOLD OUT!

IN UNDER A MINUTE!

The comment sections online were flooded with hundreds of people decrying the offer and the dashed hope it represented.

SOLD OUT!

How many dreams have I pursued, only to find this proverbial message plastered on the door.

SOLD OUT!

Trying so hard, only to find that someone got their first.

SOLD OUT!

Believing a promise someone told you, maybe it was a business or an organization and then when you go to buy now, there’s nothing left.

And you know what I say?

FORGET THEM!

• We are a community of curious, courageous people! We listen earnestly for the voice of God and build the dreams He’s placed in our hearts.

• We make our own promises, we offer hope, and we actually deliver!

• We can and will do better than a culture built on big promises and small payouts.

• We can choose to be people and organizations that prioritize quality over publicity.

• We can be individuals of faith and follow through.

It will not be easy, but it will be worth it.

See you next Thursday!

Geno Schmelzer,