Dinners, Dreams and an Open Window

by Scottie Miller

After four years of talking, thinking, praying and dreaming - element 7 is finally here! Element7 is a way to serve others that combines all of my passions into one great experience: travel, volunteering, doing God’s work, spending time with friends and family, and meeting new people. We are excited to reach this moment, but getting here took a little longer than we thought. Read on to learn how we arrived at the door step of this exciting new adventure.

How did element7 take flight, and why is this idea we chose? Prayer and timing can combine to do amazing things. If you could have been present at each dinner when we discussed this "dream” over the years, you might have been tempted to believe we simply would never follow through. (Among the ideas we discussed were nanny and artist agencies as well as learning to be chefs in - France - all at the same time!) I believe God often presents "windows" to us in life through which our next set of steps is clear. Great results can follow, but you have to be ready and willing to work toward them. These "windows" don't appear forever, and when one closes there is no promise it will ever return.

Until recently, relationships and job commitments kept me believing, “Oh, I don’t have time” or “I don’t have the energy to do this”. I was also afraid. Fear of failing, losing money and never getting anything done kept me from moving forward.

The window I sought appeared in February 2009, and it coincided with a big dose of good timing. My job was good, but a relationship had ended and I had nothing to lose.

I woke up on a Thursday at 2 a.m. and could not return to sleep. Thoughts circled around my mind, but I couldn't escape the ideas of volunteering and travel. (Holland and I had talked about these possibilities before, but we could not tie them together in a way that made sense.)
I grabbed my notebook and for the next hour wrote about everything on my mind. I finally reached an epiphany and found myself excitedly thinking, “I have it! I figured out how to combine these two!” That morning I placed my notes in front of Holland’s door hoping she would read them first thing. (She and I are roommates, so expect to hear much more in this blog about living with your sister and starting a company!)

After going to work I eagerly waited for her to call, certain she was going to love my idea. But time passed and I did not hear from her. After I could no longer contain my excitement, I decided to call her and learned that my notes had slipped out of sight. She hadn't even read them yet!

She soon found them and called back. “Scottie," she said. "This is awesome! I love it.” My prediction about her reaction was spot-on. Do I know my sister, or what?
We met for dinner that night and began to formulate element7 even further. Who, what, where, when, why and how were all on the table. We still don’t have every detail worked out, but watching everything continue to materialize is the most exciting parts of the process.
If you like to work, have fun and see new places, then an element 7 trip is for you. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Scottie Miller
scottiemiller@goelement7.org