Blog by Jeff Andrechyn, introduction by Gary Barkalow.
It is really hard for us to believe that there is a significant weightiness to our life. It’s hard because of all that has come against our glory; criticism, doubt, disregard, failure and ridicule. But it’s also hard to see the effect of our life because it is often invisible to the ‘natural’ eye and not immediate – many times it’s behind us.
Those of us who have the life of Christ within us possess an aspect of the glory of God, a particular weightiness to our life. We have been created to offer something beautiful and powerful to the world which we often discount if not disbelieve. Scripture says, “God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so men are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20) You and I are God’s creation; image bearers with whom the world gets a glimpse of His eternal power and divine nature.
Gary
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Here is an amazing illustration of this. An aircraft will leave a wake behind it while flying, the heavier the airplane the larger the wake. Ninety-nine percent of the time you cannot see the wake but every once in a while, if the atmospheric conditions are perfect, and the air is saturated with just the right amount of moisture, you can actually see the wake behind an aircraft. It’s spectacular when the unseen becomes seen. This picture is a one in a million shot.
So it is with the wake of our lives, much of the weightiness or glory of our lives remains unseen and so the question for so many of us remains, Why? There can be many reasons as Gary mentioned above, but I want to pursue just one point – mystery.
Why are our lives shrouded in so much mystery?
It has a lot to do with the life of God living in you. Let’s look at this life and why it’s so mysterious. Jesus was born at night, in an insignificant town to the most unlikely of mothers. When things heated up they escape to Egypt. For thirty years we don’t hear much about Jesus. When He started His ministry He looked normal and choses normal common men to run with. He met with His Father in secret, met with Nicodemus at night, and when He healed people He is often said them, “Don’t tell anyone.” Even to the disciples He remained a mystery, but why?
The reason why His was real mission remained undercover is revealed to us in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8:
“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”
The fascinating thing here is that the enemy did not know what the ultimate mission of Jesus was, for had he known, he would never have crucified the Lord. Once Jesus was crucified he became a Life-Giving Spirit that had overcome death and He was then able to pour His life in us. Jesus remained a mystery to the end and that life is now in you or rather has found fulfillment in you.
There is a good reason why there is mystery surrounding your life and who you really are.
Jesus was always telling people of the context of our life. We live in a world that is at war. He spoke often of the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We cannot live our lives with the idea that it is just us and God, for if we live that way we will draw some very bad conclusions about ourselves or even worse about God when we see the destruction of war around us.
So there are two things God is doing in your life. He is developing you and hiding you. Your life is hidden in God for a good reason. We often make the mistake of putting Satan on equal terms with God in that we think Satan always knows what is going on and is thwarting us now and for what will we become. But Satan does not know everything and even though he does not underestimate you, He does not know exactly how your glory will be played out or who you will become. All my (Jeff’s) life I thought I was just an airline pilot then one day God surprised us all…
While it is good for us to be developed by God and to understand our glory the best we can to effectively offer it to the world we will never fully understand everything about our lives. I think if we knew everything we would run ahead of God before being fully developed to handle our mission and we would expose our flank to the enemy. God would not do that to us because the enemy will cut us down, so we remain a mystery even to ourselves for years.
So our life is hidden in God, but there is coming a time when the atmospheric conditions will be perfect and what was unseen in your life will become seen at just the right time. When this hidden life is finally seen it will be too late for the enemy because someone will have already been rescued by the effect of your life. Everyone will be surprised that day, even you. The only person who will not be surprised will be a proud Father in heaven saying, “That’s my child!”
Jeff
Great post – thanks for sharing
Dean, your welcome.
I needed that more today than you could possibly know.
Lana, I am so happy that this helped you today. I love when God does this with us..
Thanks Lana. You wind up putting your heart out on these e-Letters and hitting the “send button” can be a real battle. So to hear that our words reached you (and bore fruit) is remarkably good news.
Jeff
Jeff, I appreciate your vulnerability in this response. So often I get sideswiped after posting something in a forum or on Facebook or elsewhere, and then wondering, “Did I say the right thing, will this communicate or just fall of deaf ears, will someone be offended”. Some of that is just the enemy’s backlash for penetrating darkness, and some of it is the Father penetrating my own desire for affirmation.
Anyway, thank you for being vulnerable here, and for exercising courage to bring the kingdom.
John
When I find guys like you who are secure in their walk with God that I feel most like offering my heart. To offer something new from the frontier you sometimes have to be exploring spiritual concepts and we all need a safe place to “talk” it out. Once I do that on a test group (the Inklings for me) I then write. But even then there has to be risk because you are not offer hashed out retreaded stuff. So there has to be some unknown in hitting the send button. Once you do then some days are good and others not so good. But I am always learning and want to grow in my craft. That has to please Father.
Jeff
I was trying to remember a comment you made recently about the frontier. It was something like leaving the map behind and going forward. I hope you can remember it because it was such a great picture of where so many of us are right now…truly in uncharted territory.
Do you remember that quote?
John
It might have been when Lewis & Clark got to a point on their journey west where their “maps ran out.” Thats when they had to “go celestial” and navigate the stars.
Having an indwelling Lord changes everything in ones life because its no longer “the notes on the page” but rather navigating from a new compass within that is oriented to heaven.
Jeff
Yes! That was it. Their “maps ran out”. What a way to describe where we’re at right now! thanks!
Gary and Jeff,
Thank you for invite to read the blog post. I enjoy the idea of being hidden and not having to worry about if my life is being perceived as ‘successful’. We can put our energy into more action and allow God to reveal or people to see the true purpose of our lives later. And it might after we are long gone.
It is a relieve to know that we don’t have to know everything or prove ourselves by immediate results.
Christopher
You got it exactly. We don’t have to worry about looking successful – just put your energy into what God has shown you right now and let Him do the rest. I think the worst thing about what Christianity today has negatively imparted to us is “bigger is better” mentality.
Its not that way in the Kingdom. Just offer your Glory or art to those around you (2 to 6 people) and God will honor that beyond measure.
You look like a young man in your picture so I would like to say from the other side of 50 that the effect of your life will be felt while your on the oxygen side of the earths crust 🙂
trust me on that one.
Jeff
After reading this post I have the significant sense tectonic plates are shifting deep within my soul: powerful, purposeful, and divinely inspired movement that will eventually surface in life changing, transformative ways.
Gary & Jeff, Thank you for the encouragement to live “from glory to glory” within the patience of God. I can’t help but think that more happened within the life of Jesus during his first three decades than was realized in his last three years. Thirty years of ministry preparation for three years of ministry doing is a kind of Godly Wisdom that can only be practiced with a Jesus kind of faith–it is a faith that is beyond my natural ability to grasp and maintain. “Jesus, give me the faith you lived with, the faith that allowed you to fully be prepared for who you truly were. I love you so much, Jesus; You are my Hero!”
Well said Danny.
Danny – I was saved at 28 and spent 18 years studying the bible and going to church. I was flying for US Airways and thinking “this was it, this is a good life and that’s all I am.”
One day I went out on medical (ocular migraines) from the Airline and I started a men’s meeting at my local church based on the message from WAH. Its a long story but many lives were recovered and some even saved. My dad came from out of state to visit me so I took him to church one Sunday. After the meeting there was a long line of men wanting to meet him and tell him that his son saved their life. My dad was baffled. He did not raise me to be “a church guy” but I could not deny the effect I was having.
I was 46 years old and no one saw my life coming, or the effect I would have in the Kingdom, even me. The whole thing was a mystery.
I realize that God was developing me all those years, and hiding me for the right moment. I see God doing that in a lot of men and we must be patient and always asking God “now Lord!”
Love this Gary, blessed to know how happy this makes our Father!
Thank you Deb.
Wonderful, thank you for that!
You are so welcome.
Gary & Jeff..
I really enjoyed this post. Really made me think about my journey. I had never thought about the fact that Satan would not have let Jesus go to the cross if he had known the entire story…very interesting. I know in my journey I tend sometimes give the evil one too much credit and sometimes not enough. I am also comforted by the fact that my life is hidden in God, hidden from the enemy. God’s development is a wonderful thing as well, something that has impacted my story over the past 1 1/2 years. Thanks!
Yep, our stories, while unique, are very similar.
Doug
Me too – I either give the enemy to much credit or not enough. That’s well said.
I think more is going on then we could imagine behind the scenes. I forget that only 1/3 of the angels fell and on the other side its God and 2/3’s of the good guys. We should really sleep better at night then we do.
I think the real revelation for me is that God does not fight conventionally and He would never risk us to an overwhelming enemy force. He releases us at the right time. We get scraped up but His purpose gets fulfilled.
Jeff
Thanks for sharing your heart on this subject Jeff! It was very insightful for my own life to remember why I have mystery and to fully embrace it for the value it presents. We all are ‘under construction’, regardless of our ages. Knowing that God is hiding me while he develops me for my ultimate glory in the kingdom is truly energizing and uplifting.
to each man’s wake-
–Chad
I love that last line Chad – “to each man’s wake.”
For me to embrace mystery looks like slowing down and not having to have an answer for everything.Sort of having time to look for God and not just answers. Also to enjoy the now and realize that this is Gods design. He designed a journey for my life to be fully develop and I must relax into that and be OK with His design.
I am also realizing that in the mystery I can pray and I know now through experience that God is coming to the rescue. If I really need to know something in the mystery then He will tell me or bring clarity. His voice can raise the dead so I trust it can reach me 🙂
Jeff
John Wesley : Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can
This story is a perfect example of the ripple effect… We may not be doing things every day on a grand scale, but just touching and intersecting the lives of a few people in a positive way can have far reaching effects . Our small deeds may ( we think ) go unnoticed , but they collectively shape us and yes! We may not even know ourselves the impact of our ” wake”
Enjoy the ride, the mystery , the excitement of becoming who God wants to to be and the plan he has for us. For me, ” my life is a miracle unfolding ”
And. , as a photographer… What an awesome shot! Amazing!!!!!
Those are good words Debbie. Our lives are “a miracle unfolding.”
Yeah Gary… If you told me 4 years ago I’d be speaking in public to large groups of people about organ donation because it happened to ME … I could never have imagined it. I thought my
Path was only medicine, helping people as a nurse, and if you recall my Mom was a nurse too, and she always said it was God ‘s work on earth. We never know where that little fork in the road will take us. I only saw myself as one thing, and now I see all
The doors that were opened by what I thought was a detour,
Or the end! 🙂
My life really is a miracle … Still unfolding.
Yes it is, in the truest, most understood sense of the word.
Debbie
I love those words from John Wesley; lets live that way. I can wake up in the morning and not be overwhelmed with that mission but rather energized by it.
As far as the photograph, I flew for 30 years and only saw wake like that once (sort of like my life). What surprises you is how large the wake is. You almost can’t believe it. So it is with our lives, our wake is larger than you realize so when you live like John Wesley says there you will have a large impact even in the small things.
Jeff
Thank you Jeff:)
I love those words too…it speaks to me of being humble and doing the best you can in all things.
I worked as a nurse for 30 years in a busy ER… I knew I was helping many people, but one day an FBI agent had a cardiac arrest literally in front of me…within 15 seconds I had thumped him and defibrillated him even before the ER doc got in the room. He thanked me, I felt good.:)
FIVE YEARS LATER, same man in my ER…he remembers me, I remember him, and then he says, “you know, i forgot your name but i never forgot YOU..i want to to know i have prayed for you every day since” Wow…that was my wake 😉
That’s an amazing story…saving a life…that goes on to save others.
i’d like to think i helped more lives than just the really great “saves” through out the years…
pretty ironic that my own life would be saved by the gift of life from another.
And that wake , or “ripple” continues….every time i tell the story of Emily’s life
thanks Gary and Jeff 🙂
Deb
Wow – I can not imagine bringing another person back from dying.
What an interesting way to reflect the image of God. You being right in on the chaos where a person is really struggling.
I am proud of you!
I have an idea – I am going to cut those words out from John Wesley and read them each morning for a week.
Thanks Debra
Jeff
And i will take the wake of the aircraft image and think of that each morning…
Thanks Jeff,
I really needed to hear these words this morning. I struggle so often to believe there is real glory to my life. It often feels so insignificant, but your explanation about why Pappa keeps our lives shrouded in mystery has really helped.
Scott
Scott
The wake of your life has impacted me more than you could ever know and I am a better man for it. I could not image going through life without you by my side.
Jeff
Gary & Jeff-
What amazing insight, guys. I got layed off a couple of days ago, and for the first time (after something traumatic has happened to me) my initial thought response was, ‘I wonder what God is up to?’. Of course, liar has tried to convince me otherwise, but Father keeps sending wonderful messages like this one to keep me focused and anticipating. I will be chewing on this one for quite a while.
Thanks, again.
Pressing On- Keith
Keith, I’m sorry for your lay-off, but I’m grateful for your heart-reaction. You have my admiration…and my prayer.
Keith
Gary and I did a podcast recently on Base Camp about ‘transition.’ You are in a transition and it might be helpful to listen to it. Maybe Gary would download it and send it to you. Give him your email.
I would like to say that I have lived long enough to know that God will realign you during this difficult time. He will come through! Hang in there. I would love to walk through this with you.
Jeff
This is why the enemy tries to get us not to believe it and constantly tries to counter it, because as my faith grows, so the light shines before men. At times recently, while in transition from one “duty station” to the next – I have started to ask myself, “what real impact am I having, and on who?” The temptation is to tell myself nothing and no-one. Thankfully, at the time, it was exposed for the lie it was.
Christopher
Yep, God is really good about giving us those moments when we get to see the wake of our life. I know I must learn to offer the weightiness of my life simply because I love to and out of my love for others…and God.
Chris
Look at that picture again of the jet. I flew for 30 years and only saw that once, it was a 747 taking off in LA. What’s so amazing is how large the wake is. When I saw it myself I could not believe it.
Thats the way it is with our lives – we just don’t always see it, but rest assured as you abide in Him you will have an effect like that. So cut that picture out, put it on your mirror and ask God to speak to you about the effect of your life and where you should be offering your glory.
Jeff
Man did I need to here this… to be reminded (again!) of the backstory I live in. I just finished hosting a LIFEQUESTweekend (bootcamp) and I felt all that you described… Doubt… Vulnerability… The urge to hide… I even questioned the content of a prayer request afterwards! But… I never feel so alive as when I’m offering myself to others in this way. Thank you for the timely encouragement! … it is air to breathe.
It’s amazing our similar our journeys are.
Gary and Jeff–great post and imagery of the God-given glory in each of His kids. The impact of that glory, like the wake turbulence portrayed, is most clearly felt (not seen) by those whom it touches, those clearly within the sphere of our influence–whether we recognize it or not. Isn’t that the domain and modus operandi of the Spirit, after all?
Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
Thanks for sharing!
J.B.
You said it better than me “The wake… is most clearly felt (not seen) by those whom it touches…”
Thank-you for that
Jeff
When reading this, I thought right away of two movies I saw this week. Both show the true story of men who lived simple, uncelebrated lives, but whose wake was amazing. The black man who figured out the procedures for the world’s first heart surgery (Something the Lord Made) and the man who mentored the King of England to find his confidence at England’s hour of need (The King’s Speech).
Sometimes my life seems like Nazareth and the stable. How good it is to be encouraged to our eyes of faith. Little is much if God is in it!
Tom
I am going back to see The Kings Speech tonight for the third time. I don’t think I ever saw a movie 3 times in the theater. King George V1 is a perfect example of a man coming into his own exactly at the right moment and taking down a monster.
Thanks for the tip on Something the Lord Made, I will get that.
Jeff
Now THAT is the place to shout: “When this hidden life is finally seen it will be too late for the enemy because someone will have already been rescued by the effect of your life.” All satan can do is say “Foiled again!”
You see this partial perception of the wake of one’s life in people, famous and not famous, who’ve lived a God-centered life of service.
Thanks, Gary, for adding another nugget to my understanding life’s purpose.
Cathy
Cathy
I don’t know any famous people but all our wake is larger then we can imagine, like in the picture. Its important to be cognoscente of our wake because if we are then are words towards others will be seasoned with more grace and our actions more helpful and less condemning.
Because we don’t know exactly how God will use us next we then have the privileged of living curious lives. Explore passionately the things you love and God will develop you, then one day when the timing is right , Bam… the unseen will become seen and that will be a cool day.
Jeff
I am moved by your words Jeff and every person who has had the courage to post a reply. Thank you Gary for sharing this will all of us.
I find it amazing that I am sitting in an airplane as I write this post. Some guy at the gate was handing out cards as people were entering the walkway to get on the plane about WiFi. I happened to take one, thinking it might be free, NOT! But after about an hour of restless sleep I gave up. Part of my restlessness I’m sure is being caused by the enormous engine that is positioned right outside my window. My view consists of a close up look at cracked paint and the thousands of rivets they use to make a commercial aircraft engine. Actually I just took another look and they aren’t rivets at all they use a particular hardware of screws, the phillips variety.
So instead of trying to sleep I decide to check out the wifi deal, $12.95…DOH. I actually hesitate a bit, but than I decide well I’ve been gone for a week and I have a lot of emails I can check on and get a head start at deleting them before I get home. Plus I have been working all week long with a lot of over time in fact yesterday was 20 hours of OT, still not sure if I should spend the 12.95….. I make an impulse decision and hit confirm….actually feeling guilty about spending the money. (enemy)
Well when I opened my email account, I had 39 emails. But the one that caught me eye was the one from Noble Heart. I actually got excited, Gary I really enjoy getting your emails, truly. The timing of them is always so right on. (Uhh hello I’m reading about the wake of a plane and I’m sitting shotgun to the actual thing that helps make the wake…does it get any clearer)
Anyway, I was so pleased to see that I had received one from Noble Heart. Well, all I can say is WOW and I am in tears because all of your posts have resonated with my heart and it has stirred something so deep it is hard to put into words.
In fact even as I type this I can sense the enemy trying to disqualify me about my thoughts and writing ability….but alas, “He who is in me, is greater than he who is in the world”. “I will not be afraid and I will have good courage for he is with me”…
And after reading all your posts it is a lot clearer to me now and helps with all of my struggling with unbelief and that we are not alone in our search for life and yes we really do live in a much larger story and what an amazing story it is.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your wonderful words and how all of you have so eloquently shared your stories, it gives me such great hope.
I will never view an airplane the same way again…how cool is that! I also saw The Kings Speech, it brought me to tears. It is such a great example of all of our stories, a wound, a feeling of disqualification, an offer from a very humble servant to help us see who we really are and that we really do have what it takes. Then when we begin to walk in it and trust our teacher with patience and perseverance we eventually do get to become kings and rule over a kingdom.
There is so much that has been stirred in my heart I feel like I could write for days. But I will save it for another time…..
Okay wait one last thought….Jeff you said something in reply to another persons quote that really hit home:
“Just offer your Glory or art to those around you”
The word art hit me like a ton of bricks. You see I’m a camera operator and I’ve always felt that I was an artist and I feel I have a talent for composing a picture. Now I have to explain just a little back story. I work in Television and I compose my shots during live broadcasts, so it’s a very pressure filled occupation, but I love the pressure and challenge, in fact I thrive on it. But I also deal with a lot of disqualification, don’t get me wrong, I get lot of compliments from my peers and my coworkers. In fact, I’m traveling home right now from probably the largest live TV broadcast in history or near the top 5, and yes I worked the event. I got lots of compliments and atta boys from just about everyone. In fact even my whole family was there and was able for the first time to see me at work. But all the accolades and pats on the back, they just seem to fall short and I get assaulted by the enemy.
But it was those words you offered Jeff, “Just offer your Glory or art to those around you”
Again, now you have to picture the setting, here I am sitting in seat 32A near a window seat with the view of an airplane engine and I’m reading this email. The tears are really beginning to flow now. I’m almost embarrassed. But it was as if my Father just put his arms around me and said….You did good son, I am so proud of you. You are an amazing artist, see what you created….its beautiful. I love you and I am delighted in you.
Thank you, all of you from the bottom of my heart…
Edward Field
I have to put up my tray table now and I don’t have to reread what I wrote, but I feel blessed and I’m full of Joy right now.
OK Ed – you had me in tears reading this.
Airplanes are where I interact with God the best. You know in “the old days” they built grand cathedrals so people could get a better perspective on what heaven is like as they looked up.
Now we can fire up a 757 and climb to 41,000 feet and view a thunderstorm while “on top,” and watch white icebergs sparkle in the blue waters off the coast of Greenland. How could you not think of God “up there.”
My favorite place in the world is watching the sky turn from blue to midnight blue and fade to black over the North Atlantic and looking at the curvature of the earth up there.
Hey I wrote a piece on The Kings Speech and I would love to send it to you. I read it (to music) in a large meeting the other day and we were all broken up (even me) after it was over. Write me at Jeff@expeditionsoftheheart.org
I could not think of a job that would require more artistic intuition then a camera man. I think movies are the medium that has changed everything about our lives and how we perceive things. I heard recently youtube is now the largest search engine out there.
You know what was interesting about you response was you coming off a significant environment where you offered your glory (with plenty of overtime) and that voice is saying “no don’t spend 12 dollars for internet.” The enemy is always trying to merge with our wounds and say “you’re not worth it.”
It happens to me all the time to Ed.
So you know what’s interesting is it came right after people recognized and affirmed what you offered that weekend. The enemy wants us to believe we have no talents and we are unworthy and Father is exactly the opposite. God is always restoring us to a place of dignity and validates us on the cross by paying the ultimate price for our redemption.
So Ed, the same thing happens to me all the time. Somebody says something affirming and it’s quickly taken away. You know what we are choosing to do there is live in the lie of our life and let that lie be the sentence over us. But God comes along and says believe me, trust me on how much I love and value you and if you believe that then I will pour out the blessings of heaven on you.
So Ed you and I are worthy. So worthy that the King of Kings calls us sons.
Your wake is much larger that you imagine.
Much love
Jeff
I am richer for having read this and all the posts. Thank you all.
This is really good!
Thank you.
It might seem to be a stretch, but this post and some comments came to mind when I read this article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6015125
The way that story relates to this blog is somewhere about halfway down as you read it. Aaron wanted to do one thing to make a change in the world, but others in his life recognized that he could do some great things simply by swinging a bat. And the effects were tremendous. The long-term affects of his willingness to listen to that advice are much more than he could have anticipated at the time.
2 Corinthians 5:16
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…
20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled (to bring two or more people back into a friendly relationship with each other after a dispute or estrangement)to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
How then does our Father in heaven feel about us? I mean he really knows us. He must really be into our lives, right? He’s not trying to play a game with us; he’s not seeing who’s the smartest, who can figure him out. you in the He’s simply saying, I’m here, I love you, I made you in my image; I want to walk with you “Come follow me”. I know the way. I’ve seen you all your life, I love who you are, and I know you are in a fight.He realizes that what and how we are have impact. We do make a difference. We are not in a flight simulator, it’s the real deal, that’s the only way we would have it, right. Gary, I sure we would be stunned if we heard what God calls you in the morning.
Pete
I think all your thoughts about Father and how and what He thinks about us are spot on. We would be amazed to know what He calls us and we must live as worthy of His love and affections; “live worthy of your calling.”
That’s where “belief” comes in.
As to your conclusion about this walk not being a flight simulator I would say this. You are right in that this is not a game – it never was and never will be. However the flight simulator is where good pilots are made. God is training and developing you for the mission of your life and as a loving Father will only release you when you are ready.
My sense is that I am sure you know this, but it bears repeating, because He is always developing you. Even we don’t know for sure always where we next have an impact for the Kingdom but we submit to His leading, guiding and developing.
So what is He developing? Well the answer to that is, what are you most curios about? What do you love to do? What do you wish to know more about?
Look no further then that for God. He will be found in what you are most passionate about.
Jeff
Thanks for your reply, Jeff. I think many Christian men don’t feel the invitation to live in community with Christ is for them until “we live worthy of his call”. My point is Christ’s invitation is now. We are invited with blemishes. He sees us radiant in his robe of righteousness. He loves his creation, you and me. Here’s a real life example
My son was building out a coffee shop in Denton, Texas. I was helping with some of the work. One morning I overheard an electricians talking on his cell phone to him wife. The conversation was not unlike my conversations with my wife, money was the topic, lack of it that is. I waited until he was off the phone awhile and I when over to encourage him. “You know man God sees you” I said. He replied “I hope not” I heard what he was saying.
My life is so despicable, so bad, so beyond redemption that I don’t want God seeing my mess. He meant it. This guy was a church goer. He learned “show up clean and pressed or don’t show up”. I had a chance to be around him several days, he was fun to be around I enjoyed talking to him. Who taught him that you want to hide from God?
My point being, press the send button, write the book, it isn’t perfect, chances are, The accuser will see the fault , your brothers will see your good heart.
Pete, great scripture and great point – regarding no man from a worldly point of view and that God sees the wake of our life throughout the years, months, weeks and days.
I think this is the message you bring to others all the time, through your words, actions and presence. Thank you.
Gary thanks. This message of reconcilation,invitation,who we are,haunts me. This is the message I read on a church sign board here in Gville yesterday. ” A closed mouth gathers no foot.” This is from the church? Sound familiar? Shut up. I hope you are writing another book, help me write mine.