Making Things Personal

Yesterday, I ran in a local race supporting clean water through World Vision and a local partnership with GCSU. Each registration fee would be directly funneled through this organization to help provide clean water for one person in a country where that is not readily available. The race distance was 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) which is the average distance someone travels to reach an often unclean water source. This particular event brought together two of my passions: running and helping others.

What made the event even more unique was that the race bib had a picture of the person my funds directly supported. This wasn't just a nameless, faceless organization, but an individual whose life was impacted by me. While I will most likely never meet this young man, I can be strengthened by knowing our two lives have intersected in a very real way. Being able to identify those we help increases the bond between us and makes our impact more tangible.

What Defines Me?

My calling is to be a pastor, but is that truly who I am? I am a husband, father, son, brother, and friend, but do those relationships define me entirely? I am here today as a sum of my past experiences (delightful, awful, and mundane) and my reactions to those experiences, but do those additive moments fully describe me? They are all part of my mental, emotional, and spiritual development regardless of how well or how poorly I have chosen to act in the past.

I am more than I appear to be. I know this because of my confidence in Christ which gives me hope beyond my current circumstances. Even armed with this knowledge I still struggle to find my place and my way in this life. How much more do those without that some confidence battle to discover their true identity? It can only be completely found in one place. Anything less is a poor substitute that leaves us confused and desperately searching for the real truth.

On Mission

I believe that we always need to be missionally minded. This means that we are constantly aware of the influence we want to have on our community and are continually looking for opportunities to further that mission. If we interact with the people around us with that mindset we will see our mission have the impact on our community that we desire.

I had two poignant reminders of that this week. We were serving breakfast to teachers at a local high school and had two dozen biscuits left over. One of our staff took a bag to the local police department to let them know how much we appreciated them. As the rest of us left the school, a prison detail showed up to mow the grass. We checked with their supervisor and were able to give them each breakfast and have a word of prayer with them before leaving. It was a powerful moment for us and I hope that these prisoners were blessed as well.

I was also out picking up some fresh catfish at my favorite local fish market this week. As I was talking with the owner she introduced me to a customer who is heavily involved in a neighborhood revitalization effort. Our church has actually partnered with her before and we were able to share a vision for a new project she is beginning. Before I left we had agreed to work together on another community project that will involve some of our men investing in the young men in this area.

When we realize that being on mission isn't a burden, but a privilege of community-minded Christ-followers it changes our perspective. We can then eagerly anticipate the new opportunities we will find to make a substantial difference simply by looking for those moments in day-to-day life.

Imprisoned

I just finished reading a book called Papillon-the autobiography of a French prisoner from the 1930's who spent over a decade trying to escape horrible conditions before succeeding. He saw several friend die and almost lost his own life several times in the process. At the end of the book he had found freedom in Venezuela and talked about the difficulty of being trusted. He said, "it's not all that easy to step out of the chains you've been dragging around for fourteen years." When you've been a prisoner for so long i imagine it's extremely difficult to act like you're free.

I suppose that's not so different for each of us. When we have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle it is not a simple thing to change it. Our communication style, coping mechanisms, and habits are so well formed and ingrained in who we are that we don't know how to change them. Even as we take the life-changing step of committing our lives to Christ, we can still struggle to fully accept the freedom of life He gives to us.

This change won't happen in a short period of time-after all, we didn't develop it in a day, but over a lifetime.

So Far Away

Long distance relationships might work in romance, but they aren't very effective in facilitating societal & spiritual change. Transformation within our community is most effective when there is a life-to-life investment. The most powerful impact isn't found by sitting on one side of town and throwing money & prayer at those in need, even if those resources are desperately needed. It's an invested level of commitment that we might struggle with, but is essential if we genuinely want to be an active part of a lasting solution.

When we engage in spiritual battles and work to reclaim God's territory, it usually involves some form of hand-to-hand combat. While we can (and should) pray for people & areas that are far from us, we must combine that with intentional efforts to come face-to-face with our community's struggles. If we profess to be a Christ-follower, it isn't effective to declare that we are claiming territory for God. We have to enter that property and plant the flag of ownership ourselves. It isn't safe to do this, but re-claiming nations & people is worth the risk.

You can't solve problems from far away.

Status Quo

Maintaining the status quo. Too often this is a life goal-to just keep things the same without causing too much upheaval, without being disrupted, without causing our own lives to be any different.

As a Christ follower this really isn't an option. We can rationalize as if it were a viable choice for us, but the simple truth is that each day is a decision to live in one direction or another. Our thoughts, words, actions and attitudes reflect which path we have chosen to follow.

Each day we are either moving closer to Christ or farther away, we are either building God's church or breaking it down, we are working for the King or against Him. There is no middle ground when it comes to following God. It certainly makes me think more carefully about how I will spend today and how my energies will be focused.

On Your Mark

In Galatians 6:17, Paul states that he bears on his body the marks of Jesus. In this context, he is acknowledging the physical beatings that he has endured for the cause of Christ. If we were to see Paul in this time the evidence of his conviction to follow Christ would be visible to us.

I read this and wonder where my "marks of Jesus" are. Can I even see what they are? We don't suffer physically here in America for our beliefs as our brothers & sisters around the world do, so our marks must show up in different ways. Is it through our finances? The time we spend with our families seeking God's will for us? The sources of media that we allow to either pollute or enrich our minds each day? The enmity or true forgiveness that we feel towards those that have wronged us? The unconditional love that we share with our children, spouse and family members? Our desire (and corresponding actions) to help a world without Christ find deliverance and salvation?

I have to stop and ask myself the personal question. Is God truly leaving on impact on my life that is evident to other people? I desire to have those "marks" in my life-for it to be plainly known and seen that my life belongs to Christ. I may not have them yet, but I pray that my passionate desire for them may be the beginning.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

Finding Purpose

Each year that I lead a team out to AICM, I experience different things. The children that we minister to will change, the vision is being refined, the staff roles there will shift, and the teams that travel to Arizona are never quite the same either.

There is one constant in each year however. I see a group of people who become concerned for the welfare of others and who find satisfaction in what we do while we are there. Part of this is a fundamental part of who we are-when we are part of something positive, we tend to feel positive.

I think the larger element is that we were created to serve. God did not intend for us to grab onto some truth of who He & His Son are and keep it to ourselves. Our purpose in this life becames wrapped up in His purpose-to see that other people get an opportunity to choose to follow God on their own. When we are actively involved in living that out we can live with a greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. We become "doers" of the Word and not merely "hearers." It is in finding this purpose that everything seems to click.

It should give us pause to consider why we won't relentlessly pursue that same purpose in our hometown, but wait for a special trip to find ourselves aligned with God's intent for our lives.