The Trust Protocol By Mac RichardSample

### Day Two: The Power of the Protocol Scripture: Proverbs 24:26 The beautiful power of the Trust Protocol lies in the fact that it is available to anyone and everyone who wants to make a difference in this world: The husband and wife who not only stay together for a lifetime but who enjoy each other as much in their seventies as they did on their honeymoon. The entrepreneurial business owner whose employees know that their boss takes home less money personally so they can participate in the company’s profit-sharing program. The church that evolves across decades and remains a lighthouse and beacon of hope as their neighborhood shifts demographically. These and so many others are practitioners of the Protocol. A protocol is simply a predetermined procedure or set of rules. It establishes a process or system, whether in diplomatic circles or scientific and medical experiments. Protocols provide next steps in if-then sequences: if this happens, then that should follow. The Trust Protocol is an if-then sequence: if love, then good deeds. Everywhere the Trust Protocol is practiced, love and good deeds are at work. Here’s why: love without action is bankrupt, and action without love is hollow. But together, love and good deeds conspire to cultivate trust and unity that change everything they touch for the better. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. It’s so simple, isn’t it? But don’t let simple lull you into thinking it’s easy. In fact, it may be the most difficult thing in the world to do. To live out the Trust Protocol is to guarantee difficulty, hurt, heartache, disappointment, misunderstanding, restlessness, doubt, uncertainty, trauma, drama, and anger. And, spoiler alert: it’s most difficult where it’s most crucial—with the people closest to you. But those who do practice the Protocol get to partake in the transcendent blessing and gift of connectedness, eternity-shaking effectiveness, changed lives, genuine intimacy, abundant life, and the thrill of adventure. The flip side of that coin is also true: wherever the Trust Protocol is missing, neglected, or omitted, we find brokenness, fear, resentment, callousness, isolation, and cynicism. Our world is literally dying for the Trust Protocol to work, which means it’s time for us to get to work. Why would living a life of integrity lead to difficulty at times? When have you experienced this in your own life?