Perfect Patience Produces Positive Results

If there is one thing I am bad at - and by bad I mean terrible - it's patience. I'm like a poorly trained puppy when it comes to doing what I want when I want to do it. I blame that on a mostly independent lifestyle up until I got married. Moving to a new country, becoming part of a new family while learning and growing inside a new marriage will make you a very dependent person, pretty quickly.

But to be fair, patience was a struggle of mine as far back as I can remember. I just don't see the logic in waiting. If you see something that looks like it's going to be good and you can see no reason why you shouldn't do it, then what are you waiting for?! Carpe diem (seize the day)! But, what about what you can't see?

My father always says the most dangerous knowledge is what you don't know, you don't know. I'm sure he got that from somewhere but it has stuck with me. What don't I know? What don't I see? 

The truth is, there will always be gaps in our ability to see. We're human. Now, let me think, where have I heard that before? 

 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

So, if you can't see all the pieces, how do you know if something is a good idea? The short answer is that you don't, but God does. Recently, I was preparing a children's church lesson on Noah. Now if you ever want to be humbled by what you don't know, go to children's church. I am amazed at what I learn as an adult, about stories I've known since I was in children's church. In the fact compilation stage of preparation, I reread the timeline of Noah and his ark and I found this scripture:

As kids, we learn the song that teaches us, 'it rained and poured for 40 long days-ies, days-ies' and then Noah sent out a dove and once the dove found dry land, boom, Noah and his family and all the animals were set free. Now I know I've read this scripture before and must have thought about this, but for some reason reading this now I was surprised.

Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! Genesis 8:13-14 NLT

If the ark had already landed on Mount Ararat and it was dry enough to open the door of the ark, why the heck didn't Noah get off that boat? Are you telling me that after 10 and a half months, you wouldn't be itching to exit that thing? Of course you would. In fact, I'd be crawling out of my skin just to get my feet on the ground and take a walk. But Noah didn't exit. In fact, he shut the door and stayed in the boat for another two months. 

I'll tell you why; Noah was waiting for a very important piece of this puzzle. 

Then God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. Genesis 8:15-16 NLT

You see, he had never done any of this whole 'build an ark thing' by himself. He didn't envision the rain, he didn't conceive the plan, and he didn't even build the ark on his own. God did it all. So now, after all this time, I'm sure Noah wasn't about to leave without the go-ahead from God. 

Noah started his journey with what he didn't know, he didn't know. He trusted God with the plan. Now, I don't know the logistics of releasing all those animals out onto the soaked, muddy ground. Maybe there were still dangerous bodies of water that Noah couldn't see, or maybe the ground wasn't stable enough to support elephants and the like. I mean, the Bible does say that the water also erupted from the ground, so who knows what kind of terrain was out there. I'll tell you who knew: God. 

Noah had the patience to wait on God's timing, even when the path seemed clear, even when the thing he had been promised seemed to have arrived. Imagine what a miracle dry ground would have seemed like to that family! But, if they had moved on their own ability to see, the outcome of Noah's story could have been a lot different and it's a good thing he waited because all of humanity depended on it!

In constructing the lesson, I was also impressed by God's reaction to sin in this story. Because of the sin that covered the earth, God wiped out all human flesh in order to eradicate sin, but He knew this was only a temporary fix. In fact He says in Genesis 8:26, "I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood." 

In contrast, when man had repopulated the earth and sin once more abounded, God took an entirely different approach, He sent His son, His flesh, to eradicate sin.  The first time, He cleaned up the mess with water, but the second time he washed away the problem altogether. I love that. Even His justice is poetic. 

I'll wrap this up by returning to the point of this blog: patience. I am reminded that even my waiting belongs to the Lord. His timing, as always, is perfect and even an incredible miracle can be wasted by jumping the gun. When I allow the Lord to work in me the patience that is required for whatever task or journey I face, the outcome will be unimaginable. Like a rainbow appearing after a rainstorm, the process will produce beautiful results. 

Diamonds Are a Girl's BFF? Hold Up Now...

Mawiage...it's what bwings us to my bwog tooday.

PC: stephaniedelhey.com 
(she's the best!)

Whenever writing about marriage, a Princess Bride reference is compulsory.  If you thought it was a weak reference,   you're right but I had to.  (If you don't know what I'm referring to, click here.) Anyway...

I recently got mawwied (ok I'm done I promise) but I've had this bling on my left ring finger for over a year now.  This first day I got it, I couldn't stop looking at it and admiring it.  It was beautiful and everything I ever wanted...thanks to my sisters' 'subtle hints' to my then, fiance.

Since then, it's practically morphed into becoming a part of my hand.  I don't notice it as much anymore and I almost never take it off, except for the occasional 'jewelry bath.' Bad, I know.

I took special notice of it today though.  I was watching it twinkle in the lights at the mall and I started thinking about what it really means to me.  So many women make it their goal to get a rock because it means something to them, like they're no longer lonely or they're wanted or whatever.  More on that later.

From our Engagement Sesh

So I asked myself, 'what exactly does it mean to me?'  Well, it's -by far- the most costly piece of jewelry I own but that's true on a myriad of levels, not just the price tag.

You see, I waited to get married until I was 28.  That may not be crazy to most folks, but in the Christian world, that's basically OMS (Old Maid Status).

It never worried me too much because I fancied my independence, but the stigma can be difficult to battle at times.  You start to wonder if: 

• you're not marriage material 
• there is a problem with you
• your guy is stranded on a deserted island somewhere  

It can be a real confidence crusher.

I will say though, even though it wasn't always comfortable, it really was a game changer to wait until I was older. I had the chance to weather some major obstacles that didn't happen until my mid-twenties (read all about them here). Going through those obstacles, single, made me who I am today and more relevantly...

ready to be someone's wife.

I'm no scientist (as my husband, who is a scientist will attest to) but without being too cliche here, isn't that what a diamond is?  It was coal that underwent all this pressure - alone - to become what it is: a clear, sparkly, beautiful diamond and most importantly, a suitable gift for someone.

I'm proud to wear this ring because I'm proud of what it represents: the beauty of my struggle, the price I paid to become who I am and the commitment to my husband (and myself) to grow and tackle every obstacle we face together.

PC: stephaniedelhey.com
September 2016

I'm committed to the process of marriage, just like I committed to the process of singleness.  I guess what I'm really saying here is that you cannot have one without the other.  Well, you can, but think about how difficult it will be to go through singleness when you're married.

I don't claim to have all the answers, by far, but I do know this: I wouldn't have been able to commit the rest of my life to someone if I didn't know what it was that I was committing.  It's important to figure that out before you go promising it to someone else.  You wouldn't agree to sell something without knowing the value of it, would you?

Find your value.  Search it out.  Spend alone time...lots of alone time...appraising what's inside.  I promise you, it's worth it.  You'll be happier having a diamond to offer someone, rather than a lump of coal (because c'mon you're not Santa Claus).

It can then be a 'twue wove, dweam wiffen a dweam' (ok now I'm really done - promise).

I Struck Gold!

Lost.  After 2 years, I couldn't believe I had lost it.

I recently moved to Australia, bringing whatever I could fit in a few suitcases with me.  I have to fly back to the US frequently for work, so I had this 'brilliant' plan to bring all my stuff over in waves. What this basically means is that I've been living out of a glorified suitcase for 3 months and the worst part?  I left my pearl earrings at home by mistake.

My pearls with their backs.

Anyone who knows me, knows I pretty much always wear pearls.

It's my thing.

I've had these earrings for 2 years and they are my absolute favorite.

So, here I am on my first trip back to the States, again living out of a suitcase.  I've been reunited with some of my stuff, but not all and so needless to say, I'm treasuring what little I've been missing over the last few months...especially those pearl earrings.

So you can imagine my horror when I lost the earring back. I searched high and low for that stupid thing. I don't even know why the thought of wearing a rubber backing bothered me so much but...it just did.

I had managed to keep these backs with these earrings for 2 years and believe me I can NEVER do that.

So I scoured every carpeted room in the house.  I checked the bathroom high and low, my towel and even my dirty laundry.  Nothing.

My husband and me on the Gold Coast, Australia.
In pearls.

I was so irritated about it so I asked the Holy Spirit to help me and you know what?  I still didn't find it.  I complained about it for a couple days and eventually just came to grips with it.  It was after all just a back to my earring.  It wasn't like I lost the actual pearl.

I wasn't even thinking about it when I walked into my bedroom and saw it sitting on the carpet by my bed like I hadn't looked in that exact spot 10 times.

I don't know why it showed up or how, but I do know that God cared enough to bring it back to me. I know it because that's who He is.

No matter how messy, careless or - let's face it - completely blind I am, He always picks up after me.  That's what makes trusting Him so easy and these little miracles are a great reminder of that.

I'm always blown away by these occurrences because out of all the things He has to run in the universe, He somehow makes time for the little missing earring backs of the world.

The Big Finish

Since I ran my first half marathon in 2010, I've learned to enjoy running.  This isn't something I have ever enjoyed before, mind you.  In fact, I had never run more than a mile at one time in my entire life, but after mile 2, 3, 4 you start to become accustomed to the relationship of the wind in your face, the road beneath you, and the paced breathing going on in your lungs.  Breath in, and out, in and out.  There was a point in my running 'career' when I was so well acquainted with the distance I was running that I didn't need to measure it anymore.  I knew when I had a run a mile.  I knew the feeling, the amount of time, and the sweat it cost to run that distance.  Of course, I usually confirmed my distance with a mileage counter, but most of the time I really didn't need to.

Once the half marathon was over, I was feeling pretty accomplished.  I had really stretched myself and done something I could be proud of, for years to come.  So I rewarded myself with a break, but there is no such thing as a break when it comes to discipline...not really.  Before I knew it, with the exception of the occasional run here and there, I stopped running altogether.  Even now, I am sitting here thinking that I should be hitting that pavement, but I digress.

I recently signed up and trained for a 5K.  Having run 13.1 miles in the past, I thought I was pretty much in the clear, no big deal.  So I started training a couple of weeks before the race, not bothering to check my mileage because I had mapped out a mile on the course I was running a couple of years ago.  Plus I was confident in my ability to internally gauge a mile's distance(even though I hadn't run in a while).  So I started increasing my mileage, using the mile marker I had set up as a guide.  As I went along, it was 1 mile the first day, then 1.5 the second, 2 the third and so on.  The last training day before the race, I decided to turn on my Nike+ mileage app on my phone, to record my time during my run.  I started running and as I approached the mile marker that I had been running to for the past few weeks, I noticed that my phone wasn't saying anything.  Now, the app lets you know when you've run a full mile by a robotic voice calling out "1 mile complete, X miles left to go."  With no call out, I thought, 'something must be wrong.'  So I pulled out my phone and sure enough, it told me that I was still 0.03 miles away from completing a full mile.  Now, I know you are probably thinking, 'that's not that big of a deal,' but it actually is and let me tell you why.  A 5K is 3.11 miles and so being off by 0.03 per mile, means that I was actually off by almost 0.1 miles total.  If you have ever run a race that is 3.1 or 13.1, you know that the last 0.1 of the race is the most difficult.  It's the part of the race that can trip you up.  I know, because I didn't train for the last 0.1 mile the first time and let me tell you what, after you have run 13 miles, all you want to do is sit down, but you can't because you still have 0.1 miles to go and if you want to finish strong (especially since all of the people watching your race congregate at the finish line), that's the most important part of the race!

My running experience can be likened to our walk with the Lord.  You see, the way I set myself up for training was faulty.  Instead of making sure that the course I had set out for myself was a true mile, I went by my interpretation of what it felt like to run a mile.  It was faulty because it was based on my experience, on my recollection of my past, and on my feelings.  In church leadership I think a lot of times we are doing the same thing.  We know something so well, or have done it for so long that we forget or just don't stop to check ourselves and reevaluate if whether the guide we're using, is actually on point or not.  I'm not talking about being perfect, because none of us are, but I am talking about perfecting your complete dependence on the Lord.  You see, even just missing the mark by a small amount can add up over time.  And what is the mark?  Doing it God's way.  One day we're doing things the way we feel that God has shown us to do them, and instead of consistently checking in with God, before you know it, we've made God into a formula.    When we input A, God outputs B, and we don't like that messed with.  Well, God works by laws, absolutely, but we cannot even dream of understanding to the full, the laws that govern God.  Sometimes God wants us to input B so He can output C but you can only know that if you are depending on Him for your course direction.  He doesn't want us to run according to what we know, that's the whole point.  We must continually draw near to His heart to find out His road map.  Mile markers aren't the same in the spiritual realm as they are on earth because they aren't measuring literal distance as we understand it.  They are measuring whether or not the plan that God has for our lives is coming to pass.  When we set up our own distance goals, we may not be getting as far as we think we are.  God's our mileage counter: the ultimate truth about the spiritual distance we are logging.

As a Christian, we are constantly growing in His likeness.  Doesn't it then make perfect sense that God would reveal new ideas and ways of doing things?  It's like the children of Israel in the wilderness.  There's a reason that God told them not to keep the manna from the day before. Yesterday's manna was for yesterday.  Today's manna is for today.  What does God want to give us today?  Especially as church leaders, our methods of doing things change because the people we are doing them with change.  Even if you've worked side-by-side with a person for 50 years, that person is changing and growing.  We can't keep doing what we've always done.  God has a word for this hour, for this time, for this season.  He knew what this season would look like before you were even a thought, and He provided for you way back then.  He put people in place and plans into motion for today long before you even knew you'd be here.  He is God, after all.

God wants to mess with your mile markers so you can finish strong.  God's plan is not based on our knowledge of the plan, but our dependence on the one who formulated the plan.  When we've done something for God, it's not the end, it's the beginning.  We have to go back and reevaluate, recheck, and reorganize with God.  Our past does not have to be our future and God has the perfect training regimen to help you finish strong in your race!

The Perfect Gift

It was a couple of days before Christmas and my bags were packed to move from Alaska back to the East Coast.  I had been living there for a year and was rooming with 2 of what had become my very good girl friends. We were living in a 2 bedroom condo, so 2 of us (Tifiny and I) had to share a room that we divided down the middle (which worked out surprisingly well since my roomies and I got along really well).  It was a very emotional time for me, having made lifelong friendships with people that I now had to leave.  As we chatted and took turns opening up each other's gifts, I unwrapped the gift from Tifiny.  I took one look at what was inside the package and immediately my eyes welled up with uncontrollable tears.  It was the perfect gift.  What was it?  An alarm clock and a calendar. Wah wah wah....

You may be thinking (like my other roommate, Jenn) that this gift was as impersonal as the day is long, but quite the opposite was true.  You see, everyday for work, Tifiny would wake me up (inadvertently) by turning on the lights in the bathroom connected to our shared room.  She was so consistent that after a while I got rid of my alarm clock and just went by 'Tifiny time.'  It got to the point that I had even joked with her that I was nervous about ever moving because I'd have to search for another 'snoozeless alarm clock' that was as reliable as she was!  So, when I opened the package, I knew what she was communicating to me through it.  The gift was tailor-made for me in such an intimate way.  Tif knew me and she figured out what would speak to my heart and that is exactly what it did.  

The Lord reminded me of this story last night while I was in prayer.  You see, when birthdays or holidays come around, I try to think about what the person I'm giving to would want to receive   I'll be honest though, sometimes I just go and pick out something ten minutes before I am going to give the person the gift, or I'll even wrap up something I'd like and present that to them.  What's interesting about this is that for a while, this is ok.  When you aren't very familiar with someone or what they like, you have to kind of go with what you know or with what they've asked for.  As you begin to develop a deeper relationship with them though, this behavior becomes less tolerable and starts to be viewed as selfish...which is what it is.

Many times we come before the Lord with a similar attitude.  We first get saved and we don't know very much about God, so we just bring Him what we have and He loves it because that's where we are.  Then you start to develop your relationship with Him and you start to see there are things He asks for in His Word.  So you begin to not only give what you have, but bring what He asks for.  This is the equivalent of being in a relationship with someone for a while and every time their birthday comes around, you ask for a list of what they want.  It's great to start off with, but if you always ask for what the person wants, there's no effort in it from you.  It's easy, quick, and if we're not careful, eventually turns into laziness.

God, like any person in a relationship, wants you to find out who He is.  He wants you to spend time learning about His ways, what He likes, what He doesn't like, and believe it or not it's not all spelled out in the Bible.  The Bible is written in a mysterious manner.  That's part of what's so great about it.  It's living and therefore organic in nature, meaning it grows.  Once you get it inside of you, the Holy Spirit begins to cultivate it and shows you revelation about what the Word says and how it's applied.  That's where God is pleased.  That's where He draws you to Himself, where He invites you to come away with Him. (Song of Solomon 2:10)

Once we've gotten to that level of intimacy with God, we can begin to know the person of God.  The 'who' instead of the 'what', if you will.  That's when we can give God the thing that pleases Him instead of just pleasing ourselves.  Just like in my story with my roommate, Tifiny had gotten to a place where she knew who I was and what would speak to me, even if I didn't.  Her gift was about me, not about her.  It was about the receiver, not the giver.

When we offer ourselves to God, it should cost us something.  God is not a charity; He does not need your donation.  He is after your heart.  Why does God say He loves a cheerful giver?  Because you should be happy to part with your money and if you're not, you're in sin?  No.  God doesn't care about your money, He wants your heart. This thing called a relationship with God is a labor of love.  God wants us to love Him so much that we bring Him our money, our praise, our time, or whatever will make Him happy.  God wants these things not because of what they are, but because of what they represent...our heart.

It's laziness to come to church and just sing the songs for what you can get out of them.  The Bible says that God requires a sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15).  It's our basic, due diligence to praise the God who created the Heavens and the earth, who orchestrated the stars, yet still cares enough to make sure you feel loved.  He deserves praise and that's just the starting point.  It's laziness to come to church and just give your tithe.  Ask Him what He wants you to give above and beyond what is written in the Word.  It's laziness to assume that God is just happy all the time with where you are in life.  Ask Him.  Spend time learning His ways and His heart.  He wants to show you how to grow in your relationship with Him.

I'll end with this.  Possibly my favorite book in the Bible is Song of Solomon.  It is such a beautiful display of how God loves us, how He wants us.  I challenge you to read that book over and over until you understand the love of our awesome God.  Search for Him, reach for Him, long for Him, and you will find a relationship like you've never known before.  I promise!

The Way Church Was Meant To Be

Anyone who has ever been to a church service knows the routine.  You show up to church about 5 minutes before the start, park your car as close to the front as you can get, walk in, exchange quick but pleasant banter with 1-2 greeters, find your seat quickly, the show is about to start!  The stage fills almost magically with the best talent around.  Guitars, drums, pianos, and heavenly voices: they're all there.  One fast song from the latest and greatest Christian pop group, followed by two slow songs which are mentally stimulating and emotionally stroking all at the same time: check.  Now the speaker.  A sharply dressed man walks onto the stage and delivers the most dramatic performance of your life, while referencing different scriptures that back what he is saying and never once does he say something you don't agree with.  You're moved to tears and laughter all right before the closing song, which you use as your time to exit the building smiling and waving at a few people you recognize.  Ahhhh....you leave feeling good about the service and yourself for the week, saying to yourself, 'now this is the way church was meant to be.'  But was it?!

Now, I am not condemning people who participate in church services.  I'm a big part of our church services and by all means, we need to have a regular place people can meet to fellowship, have communion, and get saved.  What I am addressing is why we do what we do.  When did the above mentioned template become the church standard in America?  Church is not supposed to be a place where you come and 'enjoy the show.'  That's lazy and quite frankly, it does nothing for your spiritual growth, the real church, or the Kingdom of God.  The real church is you and me, my friend.  Church is the gathering together of people who love Jesus and love each other (notice I didn't say anything about 'liking' each other) and are unified around the same purpose: salvation.

Sometimes I think that small groups are actually a better representation of church than big services are.  In Acts, they had accountability.  Ooooohhh....I just said the word we don't speak of.  Well let's start speaking about it.  What is true accountability?  You tell me your sins and I beat you over the head with scriptures about why you are wrong and what I think you should do?  No, that's control.  Biblical accountability is being responsible to someone else, allowing yourself to get close enough to another human being to know what's going on in their lives.  It's spending time in prayer for another person, encouraging them along the way, and yes, bringing up scripture to them when they need it.  If we never get close enough to another person to develop this relationship, we're not really being the church, are we?  We're being 'Me Monsters', saying things like:  "I don't have time to talk to others because Sundays are my only days off," and "I choose a church based on if my spiritual needs are getting met."  Church is not about YOU or ME!  It's about WE.  You are only one person and can only see as far as where you've been (and for most of us, that isn't much farther than our own state or country.)  That's why God gave us the provision of the church, so we wouldn't be condemned to only seeing from 1 person's vantage point.  Thank God! 

You see, you actually aren't a very good judge of whether or not your church is a good one for you.  The Apostle, Paul says:

As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.        I Cor. 4:3-4

If the Apostle Paul, who paid an enormous price to see the fullness of his ministry the way he did, isn't qualified to judge whether he's right by his own conscience, than how can we?  My point here is that your conscience is not how you navigate your life.  God's voice and His Word are how you navigate your life.

So then, how should we chose a church?  WE don't.  GOD does.  If you are saved, then you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.  He'll tell you where to go and I can almost guarantee that wherever you go, at some point, will be difficult for you to stay.  Not because you're called to be a martyr, but because where God wants to bring you, will be a place where you will experience growing pains.  You're going to be pushed to what you think your limits are, because again, you likely don't know what your true limits actually are.  God does though, and He won't give you more than you can handle.  He will give you the opportunity, however, to rise to your own potential. Who better to do it than the One who created your potential in the first place?!

If we want to get down to brass tacks here, emotions are what guide most of us.  For instance, you like this person or that person, so you befriend them.  You feel stressed so you take a vacation.  You want something sweet so you eat a whole box of Twinkies.  These are obviously natural things we deal with, but the point is clear that emotions/feelings drive us to action.  The reason the Lord says so many 'different' things to different people is not because God is bipolar, and shame on us for making Him appear that way.  It's because we think whatever's talking loudest at the moment of our decision, is God.  That's just not the case.  I'm not saying God couldn't be talking loudly to you in your struggle, He's a God of grace.  What I am saying is that your emotions are loud too.  Jesus taught us that 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.' 

Emotions are not to be ignored, but they are to be put in check.  We recognize this principle in the natural world.  In that world, unchecked emotions could make you do things like quit your job after a bad day, punch a hole in your wall because you are angry, not change out of your pajamas for 3 days because you are sad, etc.  It's the same way with God.  Let Him check your feelings and sift out what is you and what is Him.  Hint: the 'feelings' that make it through the sifting process will line up with the fruit of the Spirit as laid out in your Bible: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  It's not that we will 'feel' self-control, it's that when we 'feel' anxiety or chaos, we swap God for His self-control.  It's the same way when you diet.  At first, you crave sweets and you have to starve yourself of them and it's hard.  But gradually, as time goes on, you begin to crave things that are good for your body like salads and vegetables.  Your feelings change.   You take on the nature of a healthy person.  That's the way we are to put on God's nature.  Starve ourselves of pouting, sadness, bitterness, etc., and let God give us the 'feeling' of joy.

This is where the rubber meets the road.  You are called to live a life of trusting God, not your feelings.  He was faithful to pull you out of your own personal hell and bring you into the Kingdom of Heaven, so you know that He won't let you down now.  He's got a purpose for you, one that is bigger than what you can dream of.  So let Him place you where you're supposed to be.  Seek Him for the answer and He will answer you.

I encourage you today that if you don't know if you're in the right place, do some serious business with God.  Ask Him where He is not the lord over your life.  Ask Him where your emotions or feelings have led you astray and pray for the strength and wisdom to make the right decisions in the future.  God is on your side and He is here to help, so utilize Him!

 

Wisdom Beyond Your Years

This past Sunday at church, I had the privilege of hearing Howard Pittman give his testimony about physically dying and meeting God (and the devil) face to face.  Obviously, Mr. Pittman came back into his mortal body to tell the story after the ordeal, but his testimony is nothing short of astounding.  I was sitting there listening to him give a detailed account of Hell and Heaven and somewhere deep inside, I know it’s true without ever being there myself.  It’s funny how we are designed as human beings, to recognize truth when we hear it.  Yesterday, I even had the honor of taking this man out to a dinner to talk one-on-one.  He spoke at another service that evening and once again, I was dumbfounded by what he had to say.  But what is really interesting here is what impressed me about this man was not his testimony or his experience with unearthly powers.  What impressed me so greatly about this man, was his wisdom.

As we talked over dinner last night (and by talked I mean he talked and I listened) I was blown away at his personal experiences in just everyday life.  He was sharing stories about when he had been to this place and that place and how it was to raise children and be in ministry.  The whole time I was just soaking it up.  Here I am sitting across a dinner table from a man who has so much life experience that my own life seems like it hasn't even ever started!  He even taught me that the interstate was engineered in the USA as a copy of the famed Audubon in Germany and was designed to move military equipment without stopping from one side of the country to the next.  Maybe you knew that already, but to me, that was the icing on the cake!  This man was a living history book and I had the chance to ask anything I wanted to know. 

Google is great, but it can’t tell you what it was like to live during World War II.  Sure, it can give you a detailed description and can give you all of the factual information about it, but it cannot provide the emotions that accompanied living through such a tumultuous era.  As I was listening to this man talk about ministry and all of the places he had been, sharing the Gospel of Jesus, I suddenly felt very humbled.  I thought to myself, this is how Timothy must have felt in the presence of the Apostle, Paul.  Now I make no claim to be a disciple of Mr. Pittman, but I could feel a connection with Timothy, being a young person in the Faith, gleaning everything you can from a war hero in the army of the Lord.  When Mr. Pittman got up from the table, I felt like I had learned so much in such a small amount of time.  His perspective on the way the modern church is headed down to how to read your Bible was nothing short of sensory overload.  I didn't want to leave! 

I’ll not soon forget that time I spent with Howard Pittman and his son.  The Lord used the time to remind me how He has designed his Kingdom.  Consider Proverbs 1:8-9.

      My son, hear the instruction of your father; reject not nor forsake the teaching of your mother.  For they are a [victor’s] chaplet (garland) of grace upon your head and chains and pendants [of gold worn by kings] for your neck.

As a young person, this verse of course applies to me in the natural realm of wisdom, but as the church of the latter days, it has a greater application.  We have the awesome advantage of having fore-runners in the Faith, otherwise known as ‘fathers’ and ‘mothers.’  So what does that mean for us?  It means that someone else paid with their blood, sweat, and tears what we can accept freely.  Someone’s ceiling of potential can be our floor.  The Kingdom of God is organized just as any kingdom would be.  There is a king who conquers and rules as best he can to leave his heir a better life than what he had.  His heir then conquers more and rules better than his father so that one day his heir has the same opportunity.  It would be rather a waste of life if a king’s heir decided to give up everything his father gave him and go start his own kingdom, leaving the previous kingdom with no one to take it over.  What will happen to all of that conquered land?  What will happen to all of those people depending on a king to rule them?  Most likely, those things will become spoils and anarchy will divide and conquer, leaving the king and his great kingdom a glorious memory and nothing but. 

Unfortunately, we do this a lot in the Kingdom of God.  Blame it on culture or independence, but either way, we abdicate the throne that was handed to us by our forerunners.  We disregard the sacrifice of the people who have gone before in the name of ‘making something for ourselves.’  But that’s not the way it was originally designed and so we will only grow to the potential of one that way.  God designed it so that the church would grow to the potential and the synergy of many.  The problem is, when ‘many’ do a great thing, ‘one’ is lost.  We have all heard the age-old adage, ‘there is no I in TEAM’ but imagine this:

A relay race team, made up of 4 of the world’s fastest runners is set to compete at the Olympics.  Each member on the team has a special niche for the part of the race they are supposed to run.  For example, Runner 1 is an excellent starter and knows how to get off of the running blocks better than anyone in the world.  The race is about to begin so the starters get to their marks.  The beginning shot fires and the runners begin racing.  Our team, let’s call them Team A, is off to a great start!  The first runner has a 3 meter lead to the next runner behind him and has set up the race beautifully for Runner 2 to continue the huge lead.  But while Runner 2 is setting up on the blocks, he decides that if he takes off where Runner 1 started, he will never be remembered as the 1^st in the race.  So when Runner 1 makes it to Runner 2 and hands the baton to him, Runner 2 lets the baton fall to the floor, takes out his own baton that he has in his coat and decides he is going to run the 1^st lap over again in addition to the 2^nd lap he was originally supposed to run.  Of course this fails miserably and Runner 2 runs out of breath just after he has completed the 1^st lap giving the other contestants in the race a 1-lap lead over Team A.  Runner 3 then decides he will take up the baton and try to run what Runner 2 failed to complete, starting again at the 1^st lap.  Again he fails miserably, putting Team A behind 2 laps and almost ensuring defeat for Team A.  The final runner approaches the track and tries to do what the others could not, again starting from the 1^st lap.  By the time he finishes the first lap, he is crossing the line with all of the other contestants who are finishing their race.  Team A never even got to the 2^nd lap.  How sad that a team who was designed to work together and claim victory couldn't even get to the 2^nd lap of the race because they would not work together.

Team A is the church in this allegory.  We have people who have gone before us as 1^st lap runners who are trying desperately to hand off the baton so we can continue the race, but instead we decide that we want to run the 1^st lap.  Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things who ran 1^st?  Of course not, but we let things that are this insignificant stop us from completing the race.  There are men of God, much like Howard Pittman, out there who have blazed a trail for us and are getting ready to hand off the baton.  It is irresponsible for us to ignore what they have done and try to do our own thing.  It is in our best interest, and in the best interest of those people that we are trying to reach with the Gospel, to take the baton from these forerunners.

What does that look like?  It looks like spending time with the man or woman of God that He has assigned to you.  It looks like taking the older generation out to dinner and just listening to what they have to say.  It looks like getting around the people who know more than you (and I guarantee you, there are plenty) and asking questions, serving them, and building relationships with them.  Take time to learn from their successes and their failures so you don’t have to repeat their mistakes.  One of my favorite quotes from George Santayana is, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and it is so true. 

We have a job to do here and it’s to get passed that finish line into Heaven with as many people as possible.  We don’t have time to allow Satan to distract us with visions of grandeur that don’t amount to anything in the long run anyway.  Our goal is not to gain the world and lose our soul (Mat 16:26), it’s to serve Jesus out of love and to the best of our ability, consistently becoming made perfect in Him.  We don’t have time for pettiness, it’s a detour, a distraction and the consequences are unimaginable.  We have been created for the lap of the race we are in right now.  Whether you’re a 2^nd lap racer or a 4th lap finisher, you have been given the tools to finish the part of the race that is set before you.  Turn your head, get prepared and allow the people who have gone before you to hand off the baton and give you a lead in the race.  It’s the way the race is designed to be run, but more importantly, it is the only way the race can be won.