I was meeting with our leaders the other morning for breakfast. As I looked around the table, a thought occurred to me … None of these leaders existed 3 years ago. But man, did it take a lot of hard sweat, tears, and pain to get to the place where we are now.
I need to let these leaders know it’s okay to cry!
It’s okay to want breakthrough so badly that it is downright painful! However, in the meantime, believe God WILL breakthrough. He promises to be with us. He promises to be God. He promises that this work is important to Him – that’s why He sent us – here. In a year, you will be able to look back and see God’s handiwork.
Trust the process.
So, I carried along with me a floor board from my boat! (Yep, carried it down the Baltimore streets to the restaurant and plopped it onto the breakfast table.) I’ve been refinishing this piece of teak. It usually covers our bilge area, that hole in the floor. So, where it sits, it gets a lot of hard use. It had gotten scratched up, had some water damage, and was generally not so good looking when I started.
But the finished piece is beautiful, with the character of dings and nicks and some discoloration from 20 years of use. The people God calls home have got a lot of hard living under their belt. They are discolored with cynicism and distrust. They’ve been banged up.
But that refinished teak board I’ve been working on – actually looks like a piece of art now!
I talked with my leaders about the first step in the process of refinishing this board. I had to strip off all of the old varnish, scrape the wood, sand it … and then use some special acid to get stains out, as much as possible.
Preparation.
It’s like our disciple-making. Before a person can hear the word of God, there is preparation work. Before a church can be called into being, preparation has to happen. Misconceived ideas about Christians might have to be addressed. Trust has to be built. Awareness that sins are staining our life has to be given by the Father. Relationships have to begin. Introductions are made. And even our own notions of church have to be stripped away in spots. It creates a space where the Father can work miracles and Jesus can have our attention.
I’ve found Prayer is an overlooked assumption!
Nothing will happen without earnest, long suffering, and joint prayer for the lives and soul of the place where we live. Prayer not only changes us – it changes situations and lives around us because a Father in heaven has asked us to pray. “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We need to pray as much and as seriously and as ‘believing-ly’ as Jesus did!
Time.
Now, let me tell you about how much time this teak refinishing took! It took weeks. I was impatient and wanted to spend just one day from start to finish! Although that’s what I wanted, it was the wrong idea. Good things take time.
In refinishing, there are “phases.” Each phase has to be worked to completion with drying times and resting times. The next phase can’t proceed until that first phase is complete. Time is required. And usually more time than I want to give it!
It took us a year and a half before we felt like we had any real traction in our missional family at all. We had 8 people – then we had 4 people – then we had 6 people. That first year was like watching shifting sand and feeling very unsure about who was really on board and could walk the talk. We were in an environment of all unchurched people.
One lesson we learned was that we needed to go to a churched place and ask some “churched” folks to go with us. We needed some stability, as we sowed into a soil that was not eager to receive seeds. Once we figured that out, and had 2 Christians who joined us, the way became possible, and not altogether impossible!
Troubles and Tribulations.
This one board that I took to breakfast was a particularly troublesome board.
I spent days preparing the wood, un-staining it, and by the 3rd varnish coat, I realized there was damage I had missed. So, I stripped it back to square 1 again! Man, was that ever painful – to start over – again. I could have ignored it – but the final product would have showed the poor workmanship.
When I present my work to the Father, I want to have done it well. It occurs to me that the work Jesus did, which we read about, was done well. But none of the work Jesus did came without a cost. A price was always paid. Perhaps it was the frustration of watching the rich young ruler walk away. (Jesus did not chase him down, but let him go.) Perhaps it was Peter falling into the waves when Jesus had told him he could trust Jesus in overcoming the unimaginable. (Yet Jesus still reached out his hand to pull Peter out.) Perhaps it was outright fights with religious leaders who opposed Jesus’ teachings and way of showing faith in God. (Jesus didn’t run or call the names. Instead, he turned towards them and told a story – so they might see despite their blindness.)
Often, I find the art of bringing people into the kingdom, and of bringing light into darkness, is much like that troublesome teak board. Just when I think a lightbulb turned on in someone, they decide to move 300 miles away! Or they lose interest in meeting together and “disappear” for an entire month. Or underlying sin comes bubbling out. They’re apathetic. They’re suddenly like a cold fish. They’re avoiding. They’re trying to do things a different way than Jesus’ way.
Or – I lose faith. I become impatient. I struggle with the urge to run. I want an easier day.
The Father is very patient. He continues to work. Even in my life!
The Father works through troubled times. He continues … and continues … and continues.
God breaks through. The way is challenging. But traction comes with perseverance, time and prayer along the way. Believe and trust. Keep going!
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