You Look Like Your Decisions.

The Word at the Table

I'm Neal Reyes, The Entrepreneurs' Pastor, and I'm glad you're at the table. This week I'm bringing you two distinct words again. One for your faith and one for your leadership. But before I get into either one, I want to open with something that stopped me when I first heard it. Stay with me on this one.

This Week's Word

The Opening: You Look Like Your Decisions

I was going through some videos online recently when I came across an interview with a very successful businessman. Near the end of the interview, someone asked him if there was a piece of wisdom he would want to pass on. And he shared something his grandmother used to tell him when he was growing up.

She said, when you are born, you look like your parents. But when you die, you look like your decisions.

I want you to let that sit for just a moment.

When you are born, you look like your parents. But when you die, you look like your decisions.

That is one of the most honest and clarifying statements I have ever encountered. Because it does not give you an out. It does not blame circumstances. It does not point at what happened to you. It points at what you did with what happened to you.

And I believe that statement opens the door to both of the words I want to share with you today. Because whether we are talking about the years you feel like you have lost, or the treadmill you have been running on without going anywhere, at the root of both is always the same question. What decisions have you been making, and are you willing to make different ones?

Part One: God Is Redeeming Your Lost Years

We started a brand new series on Champion's Walk this week called Redeemed: Taking Back What Was Lost. And the first teaching in this series is one I believe is going to shift the way you see your past entirely.

Here is the word I want to give you right at the top.

You are not as behind as you think.

I know that might be hard to receive right now. I know what it feels like to look back at your life and feel like time was wasted. Time spent on the wrong relationships. Time lost to bad decisions. Time consumed by habits and behaviors you are not proud of. Time that, from the outside looking in, seems like it is just gone.

But I want to take you to the Book of Joel, because what God has to say about your lost years is one of the most remarkable things in all of Scripture.

Joel 2:25 NKJV says, So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.

I want you to see something significant in that verse. He says he will restore the years. Not some of the years. Not the easy ones. The years. And He mentions four different types of locusts, each one representing a different way that time and life can be consumed and stripped away. And yet His promise covers all of it.

Now here is the part that I want to land deep in your spirit today. God is not withholding your lost years from you. He has been holding them for you.

That is a completely different posture. When something is withheld, it is being kept away from you. When something is being held for you, it is being kept in trust until the right moment. God has been holding your years. He has been a faithful steward of the time that was lost, stolen, or consumed. And His promise in Joel is that He is ready to restore it.

Now I want to address something directly, because I believe this teaching falls into two buckets. And I want to be honest about both.

The first bucket contains the things we caused. The choices we made. The bad decisions. The wrong relationships we chased when we knew better. The comfort mechanisms we returned to when life squeezed us. All of those things fall into bucket one.

And I want to speak plainly about this. You are like a grape. And when you squeeze a grape on the outside, whatever is on the inside comes out. When pressure comes on a person, many will return to their old tendencies. The things that used to bring comfort. And sometimes those tendencies are detrimental. Whether it is something we watch or click on, something we eat or drink, a relationship we keep returning to, whatever it is, pressure has a way of revealing what is still undealt with on the inside.

The way you get out of this bucket starts with accountability. You recognize it. You take ownership of it. And you repent. Because God is waiting on the other side of that moment to restore what was lost.

And here is the most important thing I want you to hear about the decisions in bucket one. The decisions that caused the losses can also be the decisions that unlock the restoration. Because God is not done writing your story. He is waiting for you to make a new decision.

Remember, when you are born, you look like your parents. But when you die, you look like your decisions. And the best decision you can make today is to believe that God's promise in Joel 2:25 is for you, right now, exactly where you are.

Part Two: Step Off the Treadmill

Now let me bring you the second word, and I want you to be honest with yourself as you read this one.

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that is hard to explain to someone who has not felt it. It is not the kind of exhaustion that comes from a hard day's work. It is the kind that comes from working hard and going nowhere. Running fast and staying in the same place.

I call it the treadmill of life.

You can run miles on a treadmill. You can give everything you have. You can push past the pain, hit your pace, and pour out every ounce of effort you brought with you. And when you step off, you are standing in the exact same spot you started. That is the nature of a treadmill in the gym. It serves a purpose there. But in life, it is a trap.

Leadership Truth Bomb #1: It is possible to run all day and still be stuck in the same place. Only now, you are exhausted.

The most dangerous version of the treadmill is one that looks like productivity from the outside. You appear busy. You feel engaged. You are doing things. But nothing is being decided and nothing is moving. That is not progress. That is the illusion of progress. And it is one of the most effective traps a leader can fall into.

Here is something important to understand about the treadmill of life. Busyness without purpose can lead to burnout. And many people who are stuck in survival mode have confused the two. Survival mode is a necessity sometimes, but it is not a strategy. You are not supposed to live there indefinitely. And most people who are stuck there have quietly stopped dreaming, stopped creating, and stopped feeling alive.

Leadership Truth Bomb #2: You were not created just to exist. You were called to live, and you were called to live with purpose.

Purpose is not out there somewhere waiting to be discovered. It is already inside you. Purpose is like a diamond, not a pebble. Pebbles can be found along any common path. But diamonds, you have to dig for. And the same is true for purpose. It requires deep work. But it is already there.

Ask yourself this question. Not what do you feel called to do, but who do you feel called to serve? Because when you take your eyes off yourself and put them on the people you are meant to reach, something begins to wake up on the inside of you that no strategy session has ever been able to manufacture.

Leadership Truth Bomb #3: When you realign with your why, the how starts to flow again.

Once you reconnect with why you started, why this matters, why you were built for this, your how begins to come alive. The clarity you have been chasing starts to show up. Not before the decision. After it. Which means the only way to get clarity is to move.

I want to share something personal with you. There was a season where I had gotten behind on producing my content. And the more behind I got, the more it started to feel like something I had to do instead of something I got to do. The joy drained out of it. The weight grew. Every time I sat down to record, all I could think about was what I had not done yet.

And then my coach helped me see the shift. From feeling like "I have to do it," to "I get to do it." That single reframe changed everything. I stopped running from the debt of what I had not done and started running toward the gift of what I still could do. And everything changed.

Leadership Truth Bomb #4: Stop running on default. Start living by design.

You get to design your future. And if you do not like what you see, you can step off the treadmill at any time and redesign it. You did not get into the situation overnight. But the moment you make a quality decision to change, it gets better every single day from that moment forward.

No one is going to show up to rescue you. That is your responsibility. But the good news is, you already have everything you need. The answers are in you. The purpose is in you. The diamonds are in you. You just have to do the deep work and dig for them.

Step off the treadmill. Reset. And run with purpose this time.

Take This With You

This week I want you to do two things, one for each word we covered today.

On the faith side, read Joel 2:25 NKJV slowly. Then sit with this question: what are the years or the seasons in my life that I have written off as lost? Write them down. Then hand them to God. Not as a transaction, but as an act of trust. He has been holding them. He is ready to restore them. But restoration always begins with a decision to believe.

On the leadership side, be honest about whether you have been on a treadmill. Not in the gym, but in your life. What area are you running hard in without making real progress? Write it down. Then ask yourself: am I doing this because I have to, or because I get to? If it is the former, find your why again. Realign with it. And then take one step forward with intention today.

From the Table Last Week

On Champion's Walk, my faith show that teaches Real Help For Real Hope, I brought you Can God Really Restore the Years You Feel Like You Have Lost? This is Part 1 of our brand new series Redeemed: Taking Back What Was Lost. I opened with one of the most powerful statements I have ever encountered, walked you through Joel 2:25 and God's promise to restore the years that were consumed, and introduced the two bucket framework for understanding how time gets lost and how God redeems it. If you have ever felt like you are behind or that certain seasons of your life were wasted, this episode is going to shift the way you see your past entirely. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXN9zdoYCMk&list=PLMPDSgKkGZNvHLzeBuhqHvZhuCSMEQEgV

On The Executive Perspective, my leadership and business show that delivers Real Help For Real Success, I brought you The Treadmill of Life: Why You Are Exhausted but Still Stuck. I broke down why so many high performers are running hard and going nowhere, the difference between motion and progress, why survival mode is a trap and not a strategy, and the four leadership truth bombs that will challenge you to stop running on default and start living by design. If you have been feeling worn out without moving forward, this episode is for you. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX100F9-_5g&list=PLMPDSgKkGZNuJ-dNFVFCWc3lb7BmJ07mM

Until Next Time

You look like your decisions. That is not a sentence of condemnation. It is a sentence of invitation. Because you are still here. Which means you still have decisions left to make. God is holding your lost years. Your purpose is already in you. Step off the treadmill. Make the decision. And go build something that looks like who you were always called to be.

This Wednesday on Champion's Walk, I am bringing you Part 2 in our new series, Redeemed: Taking Back What Was Lost. This is a fresh word that I believe is going to meet you exactly where you are. Do not miss it.

Then Saturday on The Executive Perspective, I am dropping something for the leaders and entrepreneurs who are ready to operate at their next level. This one is going to challenge you to think bigger, lead better, and push past where you are right now. Be there.

I'll see you at the table next Tuesday.

Neal Reyes, The Entrepreneurs' Pastor