This was several years ago when I was in Houston, Texas, about to speak at an event. My phone rang; it was a number not saved in my contacts, but the area code was Mississippi. I answered it because that’s where I was born and raised. I picked up the phone, and it was my father’s secretary. She called me Sean, a derivative of my middle name. She said, «Sean, ” and since she rarely calls me, I knew something was wrong. She said, „I’m calling you because your father is too broken up to call you.“ In my mind, I know my dad; I remember when I was nine and his sister was murdered by her husband. I didn’t see him shed a tear. I’ve seen this man accidentally shoot himself in the hand and not shed a tear. I’ve seen him with a broken finger and not shed a tear. So when she said he was too broken up to call, my heart sank. I asked, „What’s wrong?“ She said, „It’s your mom. She was in the hospital for what they thought were migraines for days, but your dad demanded they do further testing, and they discovered she has a cerebral hemorrhage. She’s bleeding on the brain. They have airlifted her from Grenada, Mississippi, to Jackson, Mississippi, for immediate surgery.“ She said words I will never forget: „Where are you?“ I replied, „I’m in Houston.“ She said, „You need to get here.“ Can you imagine that ride to the airport? Can you imagine standing in line waiting to board the plane? Can you imagine the anxiety when the plane is on airplane mode, not knowing what text you may receive when it lands? I landed in Jackson, Mississippi, and went to the hospital there. A young doctor walked out and said, „I’m going to take care of your mother’s surgery. It’s going to be touch and go, but I want you to know I’m going to do the best I can.“ For several hours, this doctor was in surgery. He came back out of the room, stone-faced and emotionless. He took a little hat off his head, looked at me and my father, and said, „She made it through. That’s the good news.“ He continued, „There is some other news that might be a little challenging. She won’t be the same after this. She made it through, but there has been some damage that is quite extensive, specifically because she was bleeding for so long before we detected it. She won’t be the same.“ As days and weeks progressed, we began to get a clearer picture of what that looked like. One of the ramifications was that she could no longer work. My parents live in Kill Michael, Mississippi, where the population is under 500 people. There is one police officer, no stoplights, and no school in the city anymore; kids must be bused to another school in a neighboring city—not a metropolitan area with many employment opportunities. My father was a bifocal pastor; he welded during the day and served the church in the evenings and on weekends. The churches were not large enough to financially support a pastor. In my mind, we now had two problems: my mother’s physical condition and my parents' economic condition, as she could no longer work. I was honestly stressing about this and wondering how I would fix it. Suddenly, one word came to my mind. I had an epiphany out of nowhere. It seemed irrelevant and disconnected, but this word gave me a revelation that caused a revolution in my whole life. The word that came to me was stewardship. „Stewardship? What does that have to do with fixing this? Do I steward my mom?“ No, that wasn’t it. Another word came to me. „You steward your potential.“ For people of faith, stewardship is not management; it’s multiplication. It means that I don’t give back what I was given; I give back more than what I received. In fact, people of faith understand it through this lens: if I give back what I received, I’m called wicked and lazy. But if I multiply what I was given and return more than what I received, then I hear, „Well done, good and faithful servant.“ Then I am invited to elevation because I have been faithful over a few things, and now I can be made ruler over many. I thought, „Okay, stewarding my potential. What does my potential have to do with this?“ The answer hit me: „Stewarding your potential is the answer to your economic issue, Darius.“ I have undiscovered, undeveloped, underutilized abilities that, if I lean into them, not only will they bless God’s house, but they can bless my house as well. I have given you gifts and talents that are primarily for these purposes but not exclusively. Other people’s families shouldn’t be the only ones benefiting from what I gave you. If you maximize and multiply what I gave you, the impact will produce income.
