For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:11-12
This is a long bare with me it will be worth it. We all are on a Journey and we all are at different places in our Journey, but for today I am going to share a little of my Journey that has so shaped where I am at today. It started when I was 17. I had dabbled in faith I always had a desire to be great and to do good. I was not sold out I participated, I was a "fan" an admirerer I did not always fully engaged. Then something caught my heart I decided it was time. I had to go all in or I should turn my back and go the other direction. I did not know where to start.. I was not qualified and I did not know what I truly had to offer. There was one thing I had a heart for people. I love people, almost to the point of where it is overwhelming. I so enjoy relationships. Plus I for the most part was good at it. So i figured I would start there. I was loving life I was alive and other people were taking notice. I decided I was going to take legitimate interest in peoples lives and I was not going to take "fine" or "good" for an answer. I went deep I prayed behind close doors and I poured out in every way that a 17 year old boy knows how. There are season of friendships I know that and I know I will never turly understand the impact those friendships can have. I will never get to see the whole picture there. But I know in some of them there was a seed planted and I pray to this day someone helps waters and cultivate that seed. There was always one that stuck out. When I mean stuck out i not not mean the friendship itself. At the time there was nothing special about it no oneelse would have noticed a difference. Few people even knew what was truly going on. You know when people say they hear from God? Call it what you want but I knew God had a plan for me in this girls life. I saw a heart that was passionate but a heart that was also misplaced, I saw a heart that would dive in but a heart that was misguided,. Oh I knew, this girl would change the world and God was not about to let me forget it. There would be times I would be in school or with friends or whatever it might have been and I heard pray. I had to pray, why? because often the thought was so loud it was like cymbals going off in my head. I could not concentrate until I would listen either praying, sending her a short email or whatever it might be. Even if at times it had been a year since we truly had connected. It did not matter because my Journey was taking shape.
Fast-forward five years . I like to call it "the wall". I am sitting in a Church where I had begun another new transition in my life. The church was under renovation and at the end of the service the Pastor challenged us to think of some names that over the next year we would pray for, that we would try to encourage and that we would walk with. I laughed I did not need to think at all I knew my names and it was loud and clear , what i was being challenged to do. I had ventured off the path a little bit and I became a spectator. I yet again needed to be all in I did not know why but this decidion was crucial. It was loud clanging cymbals loud, I did not understand it and to be honest I don't think I wanted to. We may say we want to know the end product or see where are steps lead, but I often fear that. I fear it not in a bad way but because I know sometiems it is so far beyond me that I could not comprhend how it would get there that I am sure I would not take the steps. I got up and I marched to the wall and I put those names in the wall, knowing Lives would change knowing this was crucial. There became almost a sense of urgency, a sesnse of desperation. I prayed and I prayed and prayed some more every day, several times a day.
I know this is long bear with me, it is a story that so has shaped me and continues to shape me. Fast forward roughly another five years. The girl is in Church ya that church the same Church. She had been going there for a few months now I had not , why? well we do not have time for . We reconnected and this girls heart had changed God was doing work in her heart. She had found hope, she might not understand it or at the time even grasp it but she now had hope. The steps to the "office" had begun. We end up at a conference Global Leadership conference via satellite. Lets just say this girl woke up. I mean on fire passionate, All in< call it what you want there was no stopping this girl. She had big dreams and wild imagination for what God wanted to do and was going to do. A refreshing unbridaled passion for the Lord and I had the privilege to walk right beside her. To fight for injustices, to battle for those who were uncapable of doing the same for themselves and to Love in a way only God can give you. She has flourished and continues to grow. Needless to say she now works in the office. Ya THE office of that Church. the Church where years ago her n ame was put in the wall. From the Wall to the office. We all are on a journey and God has a plan. We often swirve off the road or stray away, but if we truly even try to enter into the story into Gods Journey for our lives we wont miss the mark. You can't it gets to Louud. Sure we can shut it off but then you gave up you didn;t miss the mark you chose not to walk. Respond to the calling , respond to your :cymbals" Look for part 2 coming shortly on how this affected my life and my journy in a whole different way.
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