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4th October 2011 by Esther Pinn

Esther Pinn caught up with Luke Geary, the inspiration behind Salvos Legal to have a chat about the importance of having dreams and to gain advice on how to move your dream from an idea into reality.

Luke Geary is inspiring. From a teenager who dropped out of Legal Studies at school because he thought it was boring, Luke took his dream and self-started Salvos Legal – a legal firm that offers free advice to people who are unable to afford it.

Dreams are possible

Luke’s story is a great example of someone who went after his dream, achieved it and now wants to encourage young people to go after their dreams. So here is his story.

Growing up in a Catholic home, Luke was familiar with God and the church, but he did not have his own personal faith.

It wasn’t until he came in contact with The Salvation Army in Auburn, that he began to take his relationship with God more seriously.

Through his flatmate, Luke became friends with a couple of people at Auburn Corps. Here Luke was approached about taking on a court case for someone who couldn’t afford legal assistance. This led Luke to start attending church and he completed his first legal case study in August 2003.

Courtyard Legal (the Salvo free legal service before Salvos Legal was established) came into being after Luke finished reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Luke says he reached a point where he was no longer satisfied working for a corporate law firm.

"I worked for a long time in the commerical areas of law where I didn't really help anyone. I made rich people a lot of money ... but I didn't directly help anyone.

“At that point I wasn’t really engaged with church. I went every Sunday and it wasn’t until I got to a point where I started to think about again this issue of purpose.

“What am I doing and why am I doing it? What skills, what talents, what gifts have I been given? And it made me think, I should focus on what I’ve got, rather than what I don’t have."

Courtyard Legal officially opened in 2005, and every Monday evening from 6.30 to 9.30, Luke gave out legal advice and took on new cases above his full-time work schedule. For five years Luke provided free legal advice for more than 1500 cases at Auburn and Parramatta Corps.

In December last year, Salvos Legal was officially opened full-time as a territorial service. Luke is now living out his God-given dream and says his life now has purpose.

1. Find out what you enjoy doing

When Luke was a teenager he didn’t know what he wanted from his life. And when he was finishing up year 12 at school, Luke had already made plans to be a journalist. Luke did not however follow through with this plan when he found out he had enough marks to apply for Law at University. While he didn't know what he wanted from life, Luke started to think about what his skills were and where they could lead him.

“I didn’t really have the answers when I was younger and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do … I knew I was good at English and I knew I was good at talking and writing but I didn’t really have that sign I suppose of what I really wanted.”

While it is OK to not know what you want from life, Luke believes to figure out your dream, firstly you must discover what you enjoy.

"Well the key to it is to find out what you’re good at and what you like doing. You’ve got 45 years worth of it ahead of you so if you don’t like it, you’re going to be for a rough time.

“They need to really look internally and find out what it is they’re really passionate about and what it is they’re good at because not everyone is supposed to be a lawyer or a doctor or a minister. Everyone’s got different purposes and each of these purposes can serve a very valuable ministry role.”

2. Dream Realistically

While Luke says it is important to dream big, he also wants young people to dream realistically.

“Dream big but dream practically and realistically and think things through. It’s no good having a massive dream if you’ve got no idea of how you are going to go ahead and attack it. You need to build on small things before you can get to big things.”

Luke also asserts the importance of having patience while waiting for God to give you answers and to open doors.

3. Don’t be put off by failure

Sharing from his own experience, Luke explains why it is important to not let your failures consume your future actions.

"I have failed. I have lost court cases and I have disappointed more people than you ever will.

“So the fact that it hasn’t put me off should be some indicator that it won’t deter you to give up. In fact when you fail or do something wrong or make a mistake, that’s where you learn something. Use it to your advantage and grow from it."

4. Surround yourself with positive people

Luke shares that he is inspired by the people around him and encourages young people to surround themselves with positive people.

“The work that I do fortunately has a lot of people who do it for free completely out of their own passion. And just being part of that with similarly motivated people … for me it’s an incredible drive. So it’s important that you’re around people who are going to be supportive rather than negative.”

5. Put God in control

Luke would like to encourage you to remember that in whatever you do, it’s all for God and to always have that view with every step that you take.

“Unless I’m doing it for God there’s no point doing it because I’m not in control, he is. I’m also conscious that I don’t have all the answers but I have faith that he’s got a reason for what he’s doing and that if it’s his will, then he will guide me throughout the process."

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