Hard To Ask

Why is it so hard to ask sometimes? Maybe you don't have the same issues, but sometimes I find it hard to ask people to give, participate, share, comment or meet. The weird thing is, it's not always uncomfortable. In fact, about the only time it's uncomfortable is when I'd be more bummed out than normal if I got a negative response.

For instance, think back to when you were dating - maybe looking for a prom date. You ranked your choices from the "perfect" date down to the "at-least-I-have-someone-to-go-with" date. Regardless of who you asked it was the same question - "Would you go prom with me?" But where they fell on the list determined how hard it was to ask the question. Why? Because the risk of rejection would hurt more. The bigger the risk, the harder it is to ask the question. Asking your boss for a pencil and asking for a promotion are both just questions right? Yeah, but you won't feel as bad if they won't give you a pencil as you will if they laugh you out of the office and don't give you a promotion. Some answers to our questions just hurt more.

When we started this church planting thing, I didn't have much of a problem asking people to support what we were doing - both financially and prayerfully. Now however, we're two years into it, those original commitments are about up, and I'm way more uncomfortable asking people to commit to one more year of support. I can only say it's because these are A-list people and churches and the risk of rejection would hurt more at this stage.

Even though, of all the people I've already spoken with, over 95% are going to continue their support, I'm still stalling, delaying, waiting and perhaps hoping that everything will just "work out." But I've got to "man up" and finish contacting people.

One other thing that enters my mind is that about 6 months ago, I just got swamped and stopped sending out my Ebeling update. After two months I knew it'd be pretty big so put it off until I could "do it right" (it's the perfectionist in me) and now here it is 6 months later and unless they read my blog, some people don't have a clue how much their support is making a difference in Greenville, NC. Shame on me - and being rejected would only increase that shame and guilt I feel. That's why I haven't asked.

So what kind of questions have you been afraid to ask?