Our oldest daughter moved back home today.
She needs to conserve resources so that she does not run student loans up so she gave up her little domain and moved back into ours.
It's hard giving up the closet space in what had been dubbed our "spare bedroom." Now it's "Kelly's room" again. Its all cool. I know it won't last forever so I will enjoy this probably-last opportunity to spend a little more time with her under the same roof again.
She's complaining about her younger sister having taken over the bathroom and I told her that she forfeited her rights as the first born and now her younger sister was here before her. Didn't set too well.
God is good.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Character
"You teach what you know but you reproduce who you are."
I don't know who first made that statement but as it has to do with leadership and ministry it is surely truth.
Character and integrity are everything when it comes to ministry leadership.
We must minister out of a context of personal integrity and character. We must work things out in our own lives before we can instruct someone else.
I believe that there are a great number of ministry leaders who teach things that they've not worked out in their own lives. Apostle Paul pointed out a time or two that he had not obtained the full measure of what he was pursuing, I am also challenged by the fact that he encouraged his followers on more than one occasion to imitate the way he lived and led for Christ. He actually told Timothy to live according to the pattern that he had given him. (2Timothy1)
If I do not live a disciplined life I will not lead anyone to a disciplined life. I will only lead someone in developing a prayer life that rises to the level of my own. I cannot lead someone beyond where I am...and when I try without transperancy then I lack character.
Yes, as leaders we can inspire people to reach further than we have and to accomplish things that we've never accomplished, but the fact is we cannot disciple or coach someone in something that we are simply unwilling to pursue with dilligence in our own lives.
Leaders, lead with character. Be who you say you are. Live the way you teach others to live. Be an example.
You can teach what you know but you can only reproduce who you are. Be someone worthy of reproducing.
I don't know who first made that statement but as it has to do with leadership and ministry it is surely truth.
Character and integrity are everything when it comes to ministry leadership.
We must minister out of a context of personal integrity and character. We must work things out in our own lives before we can instruct someone else.
I believe that there are a great number of ministry leaders who teach things that they've not worked out in their own lives. Apostle Paul pointed out a time or two that he had not obtained the full measure of what he was pursuing, I am also challenged by the fact that he encouraged his followers on more than one occasion to imitate the way he lived and led for Christ. He actually told Timothy to live according to the pattern that he had given him. (2Timothy1)
If I do not live a disciplined life I will not lead anyone to a disciplined life. I will only lead someone in developing a prayer life that rises to the level of my own. I cannot lead someone beyond where I am...and when I try without transperancy then I lack character.
Yes, as leaders we can inspire people to reach further than we have and to accomplish things that we've never accomplished, but the fact is we cannot disciple or coach someone in something that we are simply unwilling to pursue with dilligence in our own lives.
Leaders, lead with character. Be who you say you are. Live the way you teach others to live. Be an example.
You can teach what you know but you can only reproduce who you are. Be someone worthy of reproducing.
Monday, January 8, 2007
A New Year: Continuing on the Path
Moving into a new year is as simple as passing from one day to the next but considering the passing of time and making adjustments to maximize the time that is left is another matter.
With the new year should come new activities that challenge and stretch us. For me ... I think I'll dive into the world of blogging. We'll see how this goes.
Sometimes I forget but I never get over the fact that I have the power to change people’s lives; for the better or the worse. It scares me a little. This power does not innately originate with me but it emanates from the things that God has breathed and spoken into me: things that he’s invested in me, in us.
This power to change lives is only applied through some investment on my part and some commitment on the part of the other person. We call it “discipleship”: the making and growing of disciples of Jesus. I sometimes think of it in other terms, i.e. coaching, speaking into, leadership development, etc., but it’s really just brown bag discipleship.
The thing we must understand is that this is a spiritual exercise. If we want spiritual results then we have to sow spiritual seed. We can reason in our own temporal understanding and think up things that will help people, maybe even change them, but for eternal God-results I have to walk in God’s anointing and in spiritual revelation.
John the Beloved Disciple, in 1 John 2:24-27, writes this, “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
What, then, is my vocation; what is my calling? It is to be immovable in my reliance upon and my obedience to the Word of God. It is to focus upon the eternal and not the temporal. It is to abide in intimacy with God so I can hear his heart beat and communicate it to those who are hungry to hear it too.
I am deeply impacted by these words of Henri Nouwen from the prologue of The Return of the Prodigal Son:
“I have to kneel before the Father, put my ear against his chest and listen, without interruption, to the heartbeat of God. Then, and only then, can I say carefully and very gently what I hear. I know now that I have to speak from eternity into time, from the lasting joy into the passing realities of our short existence in this world, from the house of love into the houses of fear, from God’s abode into the dwellings of human beings. I am well aware of the enormity of this vocation. Still, I am confident that it is the only way for me. One could call it the “prophetic” vision: looking at people and this world through the eyes of God.”
This is what I want to do and this is how I can really bring about godly change in people’s lives. This is how I must grow disciples and live with an eternal perspective: I must abide in Christ and be positioned to put my ear against God’s chest, hear his heartbeat, and simply communicate what I hear. For me…that pretty much sums up my calling.
With the new year should come new activities that challenge and stretch us. For me ... I think I'll dive into the world of blogging. We'll see how this goes.
Sometimes I forget but I never get over the fact that I have the power to change people’s lives; for the better or the worse. It scares me a little. This power does not innately originate with me but it emanates from the things that God has breathed and spoken into me: things that he’s invested in me, in us.
This power to change lives is only applied through some investment on my part and some commitment on the part of the other person. We call it “discipleship”: the making and growing of disciples of Jesus. I sometimes think of it in other terms, i.e. coaching, speaking into, leadership development, etc., but it’s really just brown bag discipleship.
The thing we must understand is that this is a spiritual exercise. If we want spiritual results then we have to sow spiritual seed. We can reason in our own temporal understanding and think up things that will help people, maybe even change them, but for eternal God-results I have to walk in God’s anointing and in spiritual revelation.
John the Beloved Disciple, in 1 John 2:24-27, writes this, “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
What, then, is my vocation; what is my calling? It is to be immovable in my reliance upon and my obedience to the Word of God. It is to focus upon the eternal and not the temporal. It is to abide in intimacy with God so I can hear his heart beat and communicate it to those who are hungry to hear it too.
I am deeply impacted by these words of Henri Nouwen from the prologue of The Return of the Prodigal Son:
“I have to kneel before the Father, put my ear against his chest and listen, without interruption, to the heartbeat of God. Then, and only then, can I say carefully and very gently what I hear. I know now that I have to speak from eternity into time, from the lasting joy into the passing realities of our short existence in this world, from the house of love into the houses of fear, from God’s abode into the dwellings of human beings. I am well aware of the enormity of this vocation. Still, I am confident that it is the only way for me. One could call it the “prophetic” vision: looking at people and this world through the eyes of God.”
This is what I want to do and this is how I can really bring about godly change in people’s lives. This is how I must grow disciples and live with an eternal perspective: I must abide in Christ and be positioned to put my ear against God’s chest, hear his heartbeat, and simply communicate what I hear. For me…that pretty much sums up my calling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)