Odd Timing Or Perfect Timing?

I was sitting in my car, talking to a friend about God's calling on our lives. Oddly, it was 3.30 in the morning. Not really the ideal time and place for such a conversation, you might think. Not in human terms. But was this God's moment?

I would hope so. A good time to ask the question:

Is this my purpose in life?

Or in spiritual terms, a better question would be "Is this God's purpose for my life?"

It's a good thing, I suppose, to constantly keep our motives under scrutiny. Bringing our purposes constantly before God, asking him to double-check why we do what we do.

• Is this what you want me to do?
• Is this for personal gain?
• Is this for fame?

One of the first starting places for anyone's personal 'search for purpose' is the question, "why am I here?" So why was I sitting in that car with my friend at that time in the morning? We had just completed five hours of voluntary work. I was driving her home afterwards.

The person concerned was also seeking a similar confirmation. She was asking the Lord the question "should I stay or should I go?"

She asked me what I thought. I think I gave her a valid answer from my personal experience..

Because I've asked myself the same sort of question before. I still do. Over and over again.

Am I doing what God wants me to do, here, in this situation?  Should I stay, or should I go? Is this God's purpose for my life?

Not for weight of glory, nor for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died:
He whom Jesus nameth must be on His side.
lyrics by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)

Choices

I don't know about you, but my brain is filled with hundreds and hundreds of possibilities.
Maybes and What Ifs, Could Bes and a whole load of Must Dos. All conflicting, all jostling for position.

The problem is - I don't want to do just one thing. I want to do them all. I want the new experiences, a whole load of the challenges, and all the regular stuff that I love to do as well. I want to live life to the full.

And that means I struggle between doing new things and carrying on with my existing commitments.
As I have already established in a previous post, I only have enough time to do some of what I can do. Or enough energy. So I need to choose, and choose wisely.

Let's say, there is something important in the list of things that you have to do. Wouldn't you want to do it? But you can't do everything. So, you'd need to drop something. In extreme cases, if the thing was very, very important, you'd need to drop everything else.

Attempting to pull yourself in too many directions is the single quickest way to failure. And putting your all into a single direction is the quickest way to success.

If you want to follow your dreams, you have to say no to all the alternatives. It’s not easy, but that's the price of success.

Matthew 13:45-46 (NIV)
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

You Gotta Have A Dream...

This week I have been encouraged to step out and claim that tremendous promise mentioned in Mark 9:23 (NIV) — "Everything is possible for one who believes."

However, in order for me to step out in faith, I need to have a clear vision of where I need to be. And, let's face it, it has got to be God's vision of the future, not anyone else's. There's plenty of political commentators campaigning about next week's General Election who are keen to make promises about the way things are going to be over the next few years. What better guidance - what surer guide can I have than the Creator of the universe?

My vision - my dream of the future - has got to be right.

• It shouldn't be some rose-tinted view of the years ahead
• It shouldn't be a utopian fairy-tale where 'we'll all live happily ever after';
• It shouldn't be an idealistic 'pipe dream'...

It's got to be realistic, it's got to be from God, it's got to be true.

In the words of the song from 'South Pacific' - "You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?"

I believe that I'm here on Earth for a purpose. If I don’t have a dream to work toward, it's just 'existing'. And that's not living.

Setting Targets

"I know what I have got to do. However, how am I supposed to go about doing it?"

I've been wondering about this sort of thing whilst compiling my 2014 'to-do' list during the last few days. This is because some of the targets that I need to set for the New Year are quite daunting, to put it frankly.

I am aware of all the right things to say in such a situation. 'Aim high'. 'Be bold'. 'Step out of your comfort zone'.

I must admit to a lack of confidence in some areas; I have trouble convincing myself that these bold plans will ever succeed.  I don't possess the brash, arrogant confidence of youth (did I ever have it?). I lack cheek, nerve, bottle. I can't just breeze through life. I seem to struggle every step of the way. (Yes, I know struggling is character-building. How much more character do I need?)

I guess that with maturity I am even more acutely aware of when I am overstepping my own boundaries. The ground is shifting; I often feel well out of my comfort zone. My inner voice screams at me, “You don’t belong here!” Stress goes through the roof.

I try to 'talk myself positive'. Try to 'walk the walk'.  'Act as if'. Sometimes it works. Sometimes things go awry because this fragile semblance of confidence is undone with a thoughtless word; an embarrassing situation. Picking the pieces up can take a few days...

Why aren't I feeling it and believing it? I am led back round in a circle to one important question? Who am I supposed to be? Am I trying to be someone that I am not? If so, that's why I fail.

During 2013 members of my church were involved in the 'Purpose Driven Life' course, which did trigger a number of ideas in my mind. OK, 2014 needs to be the year that I need to embrace my purpose -  shake a few things up - reprofile my life. Let's only set targets in those areas where I know that I have a particular calling. And then, once set, I need to walk every step of the way with Him. Only then can I be sure of the ground that I walk on.

I need to believe in God's purpose for my life.
I need to fully embrace the truth.
I need to set targets to enable me to do this.

1 Peter 4:10 (NLT)
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

Picking Your Team

In all honesty, I am not a soccer fan. But in recent months I found myself having to give myself a crash course into the fundamentals of managing my own team!

One of the younger members of the office suggested that we should set up our own Fantasy Football League. Each of us could make up a team, form an office league and see how our squads perform. And, impressively, everyone else agreed. A bit of fun to brighten up the winter months...

So, how should I go about picking my team? As intimated earlier, my knowledge of The Beautiful Game is sketchy to say the least. Would I hastily try to digest pages and pages of info about the number of goals each player had scored? Pour over match stats? Pick a team totally at random?

Nope. In a moment of inspiration I picked a whole team of players whose surnames began with 'B'.

And with a mighty fanfare, The 'Banana Splits' made their Fantasy Football debut on Saturday 17th August.

Would my method of team selection be a viable one? We're just starting Week 13 and, out of a league of 10 my team is currently... er... 10th. Oh well...

However, this process has made me think deeper about the tricky task of allocating leadership positions within a small church. Unlike premier league teams with practically unlimited budgets, small fellowships like these attempt to build a great volunteer workforce from a restricted pool of people (namely, Christians who attend that church!). Similarly, in my footballing example, I restricted my choice only to players starting with one particular letter. Does that make my task of winning the league totally impossible? I like to think it wasn't.

In soccer, you need a good goalkeeper; reliable defenders; a versatile midfield line; assertive strikers to score goals. Each have their part to play. Without the right people in key positions in church, Sunday School classes are not taught, planning committees don't function, opportunities are missed. So how can small churches strive to get the right people in the right place?

The ideal candidates in either team should be purpose-driven, not reward-driven. They should not be trying to promote themselves but striving for something higher. This has to be something they are called to do. One writer I read recently said that such people "do not quit, and could not quit if they wanted to." I like that.

Team members should have integrity, not just an image to uphold. That's usually something that you only find out after months or even years of getting to know someone. More than just a good reputation; these people possess a character that speaks volumes about them. They should be committed, not just 'along for the ride'. Can they 'walk the walk'? Are they the genuine article?

Team members should also be compatible. There's no point in selecting a team of high-fliers if they can't work together. They need to fit. By way of example, let me tell you about Vince Lombardi, who was coach to the American Football team, the Green Bay Packers. A different kind of sport from soccer, but one requiring teamwork nonetheless. He once told his team, "In terms of skill and ability, every one of you is easily replaceable; there are plenty of players around with athletic talent to equal yours." He went on to explain that his team had something much more precious; an ability to complement each other. That's the way to turn diversity into unity. Can the team work together? Each team member helping each other to achieve their best so that they can reach their common goal.

Team members also need to be coachable. Just because you aren't doing exactly what you need to, doesn't mean you can't learn how. A good leader will choose individuals who might lack experience but will possess the other attributes - provided that they are willing and able to be trained, nurtured.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (CEV)
We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things. Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.

Finding My Purpose

"Ah … ! What’s happening?
Er, excuse me, who am I?
Hello?
Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life?
What do I mean by who am I?"
- the thoughts of the 'innocent sperm whale' from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

I'm coming to the end of the book 'The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?' by Rick Warren - and have come up to the part where it asks you to define your purpose in life, to write it down to ensure you can retain your focus. Thinking about what to write has been at the back of my mind for a couple of days now - although it seems to be mixed up with a few other things - particularly the quotation about the whale from the Guide (my mind can be a strange and chaotic mixture of wisdom, stray thoughts and ephemera)...

In an effort to pin things down a little, I've been surfing the net to obtain additional background information on 'purpose'. Here's a few quotations that I'm mulling over today...

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better. " ― Robert F. Kennedy

"Remember that our Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and knows what's best for us .... Surely, His knowledge is greater than ours. We just have to have faith in Him. If we don't, well, that doesn't change what happened, it just makes us more miserable because we refuse to trust His will. Our Heavenly Father wants us to have joy. And happiness. But we need to look for those opportunities that give us joy. If we don't, what would be the purpose for existing?" ― Jeri Gilchrist

There's also something in the back of my mind which seems to be relevant to today's blog entry. Somehow. These are words from a worship song called 'The Power of Your Love' (by Hillsong). The words simply won't go away today. It's linked to this topic. The lyrics say:

"Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side.
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love"

There's something inside me, so vital, so desperate to be heard, nagging away, insistent that I get ready to spread my wings; encouraging me to fly. Not just to plummet helplessly, like our friend the whale. To soar, unfettered, on the currents of air. This persistent prompting encourages me not to give up, to keep on trying. To that end, here's a smattering of quotations about flying - including another quote from Douglas Adams!

"If you hang out with chickens, you're going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you're going to fly." ― Steve Maraboli

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci

"There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. … Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties." - Douglas Adams