A Monthly Reflection

This month we are called those old sayings: put rubber to the road, put your money where your mouth speaks, or put the peddle to the mettle.

This is the end of year one of the CSLI Fellows program.  The end of the curriculum, the end of the small group I have grown to love.  The end of the nights eating Italian at our new favorite place to get together.   The sun is fading….

But as one door closes another one opens.  A new year, a new dawn, a new sunrise.  As I am posed to start year two soon and am excited, I can’t help imagining more growth, more fellowship, more laughs, more struggles, more convictions, and even more challenges with more friendships, more assignments, more love, and perhaps more tears – even internal spiritual ones.

The concept of more is what life is about.  Not about more money, more fame, or more toys.  It is more love, more joy, more heartfelt prayers, more relationships, more evangelism, more doing life in the trenches, more service to our L-rd and others for Him, more time spent with the Holy Spirit and in His Word.  And more community with others and communion with Him.

So that is what I believe Jesus means when He says that He gave to give us life abundantly. (John 10:10).  He wants us to thrive with Him, even if it is on our knees crying out for strength and His loving arms. 

These last few months have been tough on me, my family, and especially my daughter Hannah as she has been facing a new hurdle in her life – a brain tumor and the consequences of the removal.  She has been overly poked, sleep deprived, emotional wrought, spiritually challenged, and of course in extreme amounts of physical pain.  She has had the ups and downs of a devastating set of circumstances.

These last couple of months, in addition, we as a family have gone through a loss of a loved one (sister in-law’s significant other), a cancer diagnosis and treatment (mother-in-law), and my own job loss of being laid-off from my employer of 6+ years.  Throughout all of this is where to me the rubber does meet the road.  Where faith gets real.  Where you either cling to Jesus and our Father for dear life or you run as far as you can away from Him or worse blame Him and you fail.

The fact is – He does not fail.  He is right there for me.  For you.  And the fact is that He wants you near Him.

And that is the point of the evangelistic call – the Great Commission.  Loving others to Him.  Sharing how you are clinging to Him yourself.  How others need Him just as much as you and me.

The biggest question in life to anyone should be –

Can you really get through this life without Him?

You cannot.  You can try but you are living in a false hope.  You are living in the Star Trek Holodeck.  You are living in a dream.  There is not any amount of “you” that can fix or even control your situation and your efforts are all a waste without Him anyway.  You will spin your wheels for nothing or practically nothing.

(insert sad trumpet sound)

Thus, the only thing that matters is that you surrender to Him.  EVERYTHING. 

We need Him.  Hannah needs Him.  I need Him.  And so do you.  That is why, we need to be an evangelizer of the Gospel.  Of Jesus.  He is the only way, the only truth, the only comfort through the valleys of today and tomorrow.

I don’t care if you struggle with drugs, alcohol, SSA, lying, cussing, pride, etc. – you name it.  He paid it for it all.  He loves you.  He loves me.  We need to go to Him.  We need Him now and later.

So as a believer we have two practical applications.  Only two.

1. We surrender now (and everyday) for Him to be ours and for us to be His.
2. We shine His light forward (with His help) to others to encourage them to be His.
3. (I said two, so why this one) – We need to encourage others to display their own #1 & #2.

So for me my foot, my peddle, my mouth needs to be on trying to give G-d total control in every aspect of my life.  I also want to be more active with #2.  Hopefully with my disciple-making plan and with a conscient effort to love Jesus and ask Him and the Holy Spirit for the opportunities, words, and hearts to help further the love of Christ into and through others.

I much like the idea of Greg Olson’s micro-groups within the context of his book on Discipleship about praying for who might be in my (and you should for yours) circle of influence to come together and meet weekly to share life, His Word, and to help grow each other in the fellowship of discipleship. 

To me – who?

To you – who?

We are not born into an environment of me, myself, and I.  We are not alone.  We are not unaware of self-awareness.  We are alive and we are with others.  We need others and others need us.  Most of our struggles and our pains come through others and like my late grandmother has said as part of two lessons I have kept treasured in my heart:

1. Relationships are the toughest thing you will go through in your life.
2. Take one day at a time – that’s all you can do.

So that first one.  Yeah, what a doozy.  Broken hearts.  Unmet expectations.  Gossip.  Stabbings in the back.  Harsh words.  You name it – (insert hurt here). 

We hurt people.  Others hurt us.

However, the same species that can hurt us – can also love us.  Can die for us (Jesus).  Can give us a kidney (Leslie to KD).  Can speak truth into us via tough love (Pastor Haswell).  Can make us smile when we dated and put up with us for 20+ years of marriage (Rebecca).  Can share an ER visit or two (Hannah).  Can be a spiritual encourager to me (Amy).  Can be a role-model, friend, and comfort to me in so many ways (Joe), be a friend to me when I just need a friend (Mark, Harold, John, Tim, David, Rob…) and there are countless others who have come and gone in my life or customers/clients whose lives I hoped to have impacted and vice-versa.

Oh what a life of people.  What a life of love and of agony.  But I would not trade it.  I would not trade a night trying (not) to sleep in a chair in the ER while my daughter is laying in the hospital bed hurting or maybe resting herself.  There is joy through pain and joy in the morning.  This is life but oh so much better with people by your side and Jesus in your heart.

This is life.  This is being human.  And this is why Jesus loves us as humans.  He understands our struggles and our joys.  Therefore we love others to Him and then disciple them forward.

One of the ways I hope to do this is via prayer and by reading another of Greg’s books for the curriculum and why I hope to talk to my local church contacts and personal friends about taking it to the next level.  His level through discipleship.

I stated in my last paper that application is key.  Conversations are key.  Friendships are key. 

So the challenge is to ask G-d to help you, and to help me, to have those conversations with others in one-to-one relaxed and loving atmosphere.  Hmm, let’s expand that to having micro-groups too.  I think it is both.  We need to start to build the friendships to have the opportunity to ask for a micro-group.  Then we can really get deep into the love of the Gospel and of your soon-to-be close friends within that nurturing small group triad/quad relationship.

And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

therefore plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 

           (Luke 10:2,3 NASB)

I’ll end this paper just like the last couple times….

And remember:

We love because He first loved us….

1 John 4:19 (ESV)

Parting thought:

Let me look on the crowd as my Savior did,

Till my eyes with tears grow dim.

Let me view with pity the wandering sheep

And love them for love of Him.

—Author unknown