This was on my mind today, and has been a topic that I am very passionate about. Do whatever it takes to get it done. I am talking in the context of leading and serving in the local church. I will probably get some flak for my thoughts, but oh well, they are mine.
I rescued from myself in 98, ten years ago, it seems like yesterday. The first thing I felt was freedom. Freedom for guilt, pain, sin, you name it, I was free. I was new, fresh, clean and forgiven. From that point on I abandoned the notion of self and went into service mode. Of course my flesh was still in it's old habits of selfishness and has continued to this very day to thwart my mission. How do I keep killing it? I do what ever it takes to make the kingdom grow. I do what ever it takes to find ways to serve. I do what ever it takes to put first things first. I have let down my family, taken pay cuts, ventured away from the "norm", all in the name of doing whatever it takes.
I will never be, or at least can't imagine it, a person who stands on the sideline and watches things going on. I want to be smack dab in the middle of it. This is why I don't get into watching sports, I want to play not watch. I don't like going to concerts and watch bands. I would rather play music than watch it. Of course I do enjoy seeing live shows, but mostly I get DVD's so I can watch a band over and over, and maybe even steal some licks.
I will always be on the crew at Grace Point, I will always be setting up and tearing down audio and video equipment. I feel a bond with those folks in the trenches. I know that I can't do everything, but I train up people and then try like crazy to serve them. When I'm 75, I will still be doing something with the crew (No wise cracks on how that is only a few years away). My wife thinks I'm crazy, I am for the most part, but I'm crazy for Jesus. I'm crazy to the point of ridiculous.
The negative side in my craziness is that I have a tendency to judge people who don't have the same "whatever it takes" mentality. When you are going at 100 miles and hour, you see others who are traveling at the same speed as you. When you get behind a slow person, not literally, you tend to judge them as not as committed as you. Maybe they aren't. Maybe they are committed in a different way.
At the end of the day, you do whatever it takes until you find the right person to do what you have been doing. Maybe you have to do whatever it takes to find that person. How about that?
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Panera Bread on a Wednesday Afternoon
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*I have been absent online however not absent in my writing. I have many
things I am intending on posting in the near future. I thought I would post
this n...
13 years ago
1 comment:
Wojo,
I feel you, bro. It is so easy for us to use ourselves as a measuring stick for where we stand in comparison to everyone else- whether it be our commitment level, intellectual prowess, how "spiritual" we are, you name it.
It is a constant prayer of mine to be stripped of myself and to be able to view everything through the grid of the Gospel, which proclaims that we find ALL that we need in Him. It has led me to liberation from the need to find validation through how I compare to others.
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