Why...

Are we doing this?

Last week Joy answered this question and I think it's my turn. I don't know when I decided I wanted to do this, but from an early age I wanted to make a difference. Growing up, my two favorite movies were "Glory" and "Lean on Me". These movies inspired me to want to do something great, to make an impact. After I became a Christian in High School, this desire to want to make a difference turned into a desire to be used by God to do great things. It was at this point that I started entertaining the thought of foreign ministry.

In early college, just like the movies which inspired a young kid, two books completely transformed my life. The first "The Shadow of the Almighty" about the short but glorious life of Jim Elliott gave me a personal hero to emulate. Likewise, "Rich Christians in Age of Hunger" convicted me of the type of person I did not want to be. I heavily recommend reading both.

As I neared the end of my college years I was contemplating mission work. It was then, at the beginning of my Senior Year that I met my lovely wife. We were married a year later and headed to Chicago.

Here I followed an early passion, in the footsteps of "Lean on Me", I worked in arguably the toughest High School in Chicago. It at times was too eerily close to "Lean on Me" for those who have seen the first half of the movie.

As can happen at times unexpectedly with marriage, we were pregnant a year later and a year after having the first we were pregnant with the second. Suddenly as is often the case, youthful dreams dissapear and responsibility takes over. I looked for any job I could get to pay the bills. Luckily, I wound up with a great job as an educational sales rep. Not only did it pay the bills, but with success it provided us financial blessings we never dreamed of or aspired to.

Regretfully for me, the success was intoxicating. I look back now remembering very little about a couple of years of my life that doesn't have to do with work. I have very few memories of my children at certain ages. I finally burnt myself out and as is the case it was here that I began to reflect on dreams and vision.

I remembered the person I wanted to be and realized that if I didn't embrace that desire now I probably never would. This led me to ask God again for what he desired for me. I have said this in a previous post also, but life with God is great. For years I forgot this, but daily now I am reminded that God can and will provide us with a life so abundant that our fleeting desires of this life will seem like trivial pursuits. I allowed these fleeting things to distract me for a time, but am now encouraged to think that there is no limit to what God might choose to do through me if I let Him.

"Do not where yourself out to get rich" Proverbs 23:4a Where I have been

"In the house of the righteous their is much treasure" Prov 15:6 Where I desire to be