Wow! It's been a long time since I have written a BLOG post. I'm not really sure why. My excuses are numerous:
1. I am taking seminary classes and school work dominates my time.
2. We have been traveling, on the road, in the air, and that alone dominates my time.
3. I haven't really thought about it.
4. We have been overly involved with CMA, our chapters, secular biker events, national events, local events,
5. Any spare time is spent with family and that isn't a lot of time.
Ok, those are my best excuses. Believe it or not, I miss it.
I am not sure why I am starting to do this again, except to say that writing somehow helps me organize my thoughts.
I spent the last sixteen weeks in seminary at Indiana Wesleyan Seminary, learning about who I am. We spent so much time taking personality tests, asking friends and family about our weaknesses and really thinking about who God has created us to be.
I have found my STRENGTHS are also my greatest WEAKNESSES.
My greatest love is people. Yet, my greatest skills are planning, organizing, learning, thinking, analyzing, and strategizing. The problem is, my skills when over used, keep me from loving people. Over reliance on my gifts lead to perfectionism and setting an impossible standard for those I work with. Those skills lead me to doing everything by myself because I can do it better than anyone else. I build walls and barriers that are hard on people that love me. I really don't show much love.
Excessive reliance on my STRENGTHS keeps me from my greatest love ,PEOPLE. So what do I do about it?
Well, here is the plan? God has been calling Stephanie and I to new, great things. I just know that 2022 is going to be the year we finally understand what he has been trying to get us to do for the last three years, since retirement.
Stephanie and I have one focus for 2022, people. Specifically, we are looking for people to disciple in the faith. We are looking for people that do not know Jesus, are open to the gospel, and that God has made ready to receive his word. We want to help them discover who God is through scripture. These people we will call "Persons of Peace." That is not our term. We have been reading a book called Contagious Disciple Making: Leading Others on a Journey of Discovery written by David Watson & Paul Watson, and we love its premise for evangelism.
We have been in the evangelism "business" since 2009 when Stephanie and I joined the Christian Motorcyclists Association. Yet, in all reality, we haven't discipled to many people in this ministry. That is certainly our fault and not the ministries fault. We have helped existing Christians grow their faith and that is a good thing. We love the relationship we have with the members of CMA and God has used to us to help them grow their faith. I love this ministry and always have. It is very unique in that its members GO OUT INTO THE WORLD, to share the love of Jesus. We share Jesus through service and an exceptional love for Bikers. But, we have done a poor job taking faithless bikers to the next level, to help them grow into disciples.
We need to do a better job at that. Working events, serving others, showing them unconditional love is so important, but in the long run, we need to find those people who do not know Jesus and are open to learning more. We need to spend time with them and grow their heart for Jesus through the scriptures.
This is what God is calling us to do:
'Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples
to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always,
even to the end of the age.”' Matthew 28:19-20 https://my.bible.com/bible/116/MAT.28.19-20
We are to GO, BAPTIZE, DISCIPLE, OBEY - We have been going. We have been discipling Christians, but God is calling Stephanie and I to spend more time making disciples of those that do not have a relationship with JESUS. We are called to do this and must be obedient to his call.
Here's to an adventurous 2022!
