Saturday, August 28, 2010
Seeing the bigger picture
As I heard Lee Strobel speak at church tonight, he made a comment that immediately tied three separate stories all together as one, and I'd like to share. I'm going to start with two quotes from the Wild Goose Chase by Mark Patterson that I read last week, both from the very first chapter: "When God puts a passion in your heart, ........that God-ordained passion becomes your responsibility." When "you forfeit the adventure God has destined for you,...you won't be the only one missing out or losing out. When you lack the courage to chase the Wild Goose (passionately pursue God), the opportunity costs are staggering. Who might not hear about the love of God if you do not seize the opportunity to tell them? Who might be stuck in poverty, stuck in ignorance, stuck in pain, if you're not there to help free them? Where might the advance of God's kingdom in the world stall out because you weren't there on the front lines?"
So I've been chewing on that one for the last week, which actually coincided with a message I've been thinking a lot about over the last month or so since Bill Hybels came to speak at our church. The title of his message that night, which is also the title of one of his books, was "The Power of a Whisper". Basically, he put it simply. When God whispers your name, you have to respond. You have no other choice. He told his story of how he was all set up in the business world, carrying on his father's dream for him. Yet he undeniable heard God whisper in his heart that he needed to start a church. He didn't have a background or the education needed, it would sound absolutely insane to his family and would undoubtedly break his father's heart, but he knew without a doubt that this was what God told him to do. It wasn't an easy experience, he did break his father's heart, he did lose the support of many of those around him, and he questioned the call many times, but eventually he started a church that met in a movie theater. Today, he's over a church with thousands of members. That was an extremely short version of it just because I don't remember enough of the exact details. But his whole point was, when you hear God whisper your name, you just have to obey.
Now enter Lee Strobel, an atheist. In his teenage years, he was convinced that God just did not exist--that people just made God up in order to have something to feel good about. His wife was agnostic, and they had a neighbor downstairs who was a Christian. His wife and the neighbor downstairs hit it off, became friends, attended church together, and his wife accepted Christ. She met with a group of ladies from the church and basically told them that there was no hope that her husband would ever believe in Christ, yet she was very gently told that NOBODY is beyond hope. She began praying for her husband. He at first wanted nothing to do with her faith, but the change in her made him curious, so he visited the church with her one day. It was a church that met in a movie theater, and Bill Hybels was the pastor! After visiting the church, he decided to launch an investigation (he was trained in law, so this was a very educated investigation) in an attempt to disprove Christianity. After two years of research and investigating, he came to the conclusion that it would take more faith to stay an atheist than to just believe what the evidence showed--Christ is real, and He is who He says He is. Now we have his very well known book, The Case for Christ, with all of the evidence He found, along with many other of his books. His books are changing many, many lives and helping others see the evidence of Christ.
So, the connection I made tonight was, What if Bill Hybels ignored that whisper and stayed in the business world? What if he didn't see that God-ordained passion brewing within him as his responsibility? We now know that Lee Strobel's wife would have missed out, meaning he would have missed out, and then the world and all the readers of his books today would have missed out. It's a chain reaction. What happens if we become the missing link because we didn't respond to the whisper, or we kept our passions and dreams buried out of fear or just inconvenience? We have no idea who is missing out.
So, what is God whispering to me? Two things, I believe. #1--Go to Colombia. I don't know how the details will work out, I don't know how long we will stay or if we will go back again later, I don't even know what our purpose will be. We both just know that He said Go. Our plan at the moment is June (for reasons that God has made clear). There are other "dots" that seem to obviously be part of this picture, but for some reason He has not connected them yet, so I am really learning patience in His timing, AGAIN. However, if I've learned anything, it's not to try setting plans in stone. The second thing I feel He's saying to me is I need to be writing and I need to share it. I shared a poem with my summer Bible study ladies' early in the study, and they all encouraged me to please share more, so I wrote and shared a few others with them over the summer. One of them has a daughter who I've been praying for, and tonight she told me that her daughter was so touched by my poems that she has been sharing them with her friends. I can't even begin to tell you how that touched my heart. She (the mother) said, "Rachelle, your poetry really ministers to others, you need to get it out there." That just once again reiterated the whole point--it's not just us missing out. Whatever God is telling us to do will without a doubt touch someone else's life. When we hide it or fear reaching for it or just never get around to it, we're cheating more than just ourselves.......
There's something to chew on for awhile.
So I've been chewing on that one for the last week, which actually coincided with a message I've been thinking a lot about over the last month or so since Bill Hybels came to speak at our church. The title of his message that night, which is also the title of one of his books, was "The Power of a Whisper". Basically, he put it simply. When God whispers your name, you have to respond. You have no other choice. He told his story of how he was all set up in the business world, carrying on his father's dream for him. Yet he undeniable heard God whisper in his heart that he needed to start a church. He didn't have a background or the education needed, it would sound absolutely insane to his family and would undoubtedly break his father's heart, but he knew without a doubt that this was what God told him to do. It wasn't an easy experience, he did break his father's heart, he did lose the support of many of those around him, and he questioned the call many times, but eventually he started a church that met in a movie theater. Today, he's over a church with thousands of members. That was an extremely short version of it just because I don't remember enough of the exact details. But his whole point was, when you hear God whisper your name, you just have to obey.
Now enter Lee Strobel, an atheist. In his teenage years, he was convinced that God just did not exist--that people just made God up in order to have something to feel good about. His wife was agnostic, and they had a neighbor downstairs who was a Christian. His wife and the neighbor downstairs hit it off, became friends, attended church together, and his wife accepted Christ. She met with a group of ladies from the church and basically told them that there was no hope that her husband would ever believe in Christ, yet she was very gently told that NOBODY is beyond hope. She began praying for her husband. He at first wanted nothing to do with her faith, but the change in her made him curious, so he visited the church with her one day. It was a church that met in a movie theater, and Bill Hybels was the pastor! After visiting the church, he decided to launch an investigation (he was trained in law, so this was a very educated investigation) in an attempt to disprove Christianity. After two years of research and investigating, he came to the conclusion that it would take more faith to stay an atheist than to just believe what the evidence showed--Christ is real, and He is who He says He is. Now we have his very well known book, The Case for Christ, with all of the evidence He found, along with many other of his books. His books are changing many, many lives and helping others see the evidence of Christ.
So, the connection I made tonight was, What if Bill Hybels ignored that whisper and stayed in the business world? What if he didn't see that God-ordained passion brewing within him as his responsibility? We now know that Lee Strobel's wife would have missed out, meaning he would have missed out, and then the world and all the readers of his books today would have missed out. It's a chain reaction. What happens if we become the missing link because we didn't respond to the whisper, or we kept our passions and dreams buried out of fear or just inconvenience? We have no idea who is missing out.
So, what is God whispering to me? Two things, I believe. #1--Go to Colombia. I don't know how the details will work out, I don't know how long we will stay or if we will go back again later, I don't even know what our purpose will be. We both just know that He said Go. Our plan at the moment is June (for reasons that God has made clear). There are other "dots" that seem to obviously be part of this picture, but for some reason He has not connected them yet, so I am really learning patience in His timing, AGAIN. However, if I've learned anything, it's not to try setting plans in stone. The second thing I feel He's saying to me is I need to be writing and I need to share it. I shared a poem with my summer Bible study ladies' early in the study, and they all encouraged me to please share more, so I wrote and shared a few others with them over the summer. One of them has a daughter who I've been praying for, and tonight she told me that her daughter was so touched by my poems that she has been sharing them with her friends. I can't even begin to tell you how that touched my heart. She (the mother) said, "Rachelle, your poetry really ministers to others, you need to get it out there." That just once again reiterated the whole point--it's not just us missing out. Whatever God is telling us to do will without a doubt touch someone else's life. When we hide it or fear reaching for it or just never get around to it, we're cheating more than just ourselves.......
There's something to chew on for awhile.
Today, Mike and I went to go see the movie Case for Christ. A few details changed in the movie (making it BASED on a true story rather than an actual true story), but the main events are still the same. If you haven't seen it, go! You won't regret it.
Once again, it left me with the same thoughts. What is it God is asking me to do? Am I doing it? Who might be missing out if I don't, besides me?
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