A Priceless Treasure

About seven years ago our home was broken into. You, I, and most thieves know that somewhere in our homes there is a drawer, usually in our master bedrooms (now the secret is out), where we keep our treasures. The thieves found that drawer and made off with many of my personal items. Old coins I’d had since I was a kid, class rings, that kind of thing. For the record, I’ve found better places to keep my treasures.

Any respect that I might have had for the cunning of the thieves was tainted by the fact that they left one of my most valuable and prized possessions in plain sight. It was right there in the drawer with the other things of much lesser value that were taken. It must have been either a miracle of God in blinding the sight of the thieves or they were ignorant of the value of the item.

It was in a baby food jar so I know they could clearly see through the jar. Inside the jar was a “squishy ball” and 47 cents. The “squishy ball” is indescribable. It is blue and covered with tentacle like projections. I don’t really know what you do with a “squishy ball” except hold it in your hand and, well…squish it.

You see, one Father’s Day when Ashley was about 6 years old she took a baby food jar put the squishy ball that she got at the concession stand at the children’s camp that we used to lead every summer, put all of her money in the jar (the 47 cents), and wrapped it with newspaper and gave it to me because she loved me. It was a gift of great sacrifice because she has always been very fond of money in any form. Fourteen years later I still have that gift exactly as it was given.

Ignorant thieves. They missed the most valuable thing in that drawer.

What gave this treasure its value? It was the heart of a father for the giver of the gift. The treasure had its value because of what it was worth to the one who gave me the gift. Because it was special and important to my dearly loved 6 year old it was special and important to me.

As our church focuses upon this season of considering the “lost” (Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost) we must understand that the value of each person is wrapped up in how much that person means to our Heavenly Father who first loved us and gave his only Son that everyone of us might be found. That’s why every person has such immense value.

Why do we have a heart to see people found by Christ? It is because the heart of the Father goes out to them. Since we love God we value what he values the most—lost people being found.

As we are impacted by the heart of God toward the lost here are a few points of encouragement to consider.

Don’t be afraid – God’s Spirit will “coach” us in what to say when God gives us divine encounters with people who need a relationship with Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)

Be motivated by God’s love – The Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) will give us a deep desire to connect with the world around us. Because God loves them his love will “rub off” on us and we will find ourselves really, really caring about people.

Just say what’s on your heart – When engaged in a divine encounter with someone God is drawing just say what’s on your heart. (Mark 13:11) (definition: A divine encounter is a meeting that looks like a chance meeting but it was really orchestrated by God for a purpose.)

Follow God’s lead – God’s Spirit will give us impulses that will be right on if we follow them. (Acts 8, The story of Philip)

As you consider God’s call to you to reach out and connect with those who have not yet been impacted by God’s love pray through and think through these points and allow the Spirit of God to lead you in reaching out to that which is most important to the heart of God—people who need an encounter with Christ.

Tapestry

My seemingly healthy 28 year old nephew died in his sleep on September 1. It was a really tough loss.

As I looked at pictures and videos I thought of all of the holidays and special days that the family spent together. I was having trouble wrapping my head around the loss and being able to put it into words. Finally I found words to describe what I was feeling.

It was as though a tapestry had been woven for years and years. Every memory was woven into this tapestry and completed a picture of my own children's childhood, of our family history, of fun times and challenges. These encounters all woven together formed a picture that was descriptive of our lives. It seemed that the tapestry would just continue to be woven infinitely.

With Brian's passing it was as though someone pulled a thread out of the tapestry leaving it rent, not destroying the whole thing but leaving a space in the picture that could never be repaired.

Loss of loved ones is simply a part of life. We all face it sooner or later and the older we get the more frequently we face it. In fact, given the reality of our mortality, sooner or later all of the threads will be pulled from the tapestry that was once our lives. Eventually no first hand living memories will survive.

Whenever we face a death it reminds us of our own mortality.

I want to leave a legacy behind that will outlast the memories of those who shared this life with me. What can I leave behind that will make this world a better place? Every investment that I make in someone else that can in turn be passed on can and will contribute to my legacy. I'll never know how many people I impact and most of the impact that I have in this life won't even be credited to my account.

I must be mindful of the fact that I am contributing to two pictures or two tapestries. The one that weaves into the lives of my family and friends as life memories and the tapestry that I am weaving through my contributions into other people's tapestries.

There is a picture that I contribute to that will endure and go beyond my life and earthly existence.

I want to be a legacy leader.

I was always taught to finish the things that I start but I want to start things that are so big that they cannot be finished in my life time. The only way that I can do that is to keep making deposits into other people's lives, keep helping others to be better and to step up so that the good that we start together can pass on to the next generation and continue on.

We are all contributing to a tapestry. I want to sow my thread into pictures that will endure far beyond my own life. When I'm gone I will leave a rent in someone's tapestry but I hope there are many other pictures that I've contributed to that will continue to be enjoyed for generations.

A Day in my Life

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.

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.

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.