Encourgaging - Own It

I chose this particular passage after watching Amazing Grace - the remarkable story of William Wilberforce's crusade against slavery.

Wise leaders understand that the single greatest determinant of whether followers will ever own a vision deeply is the extent to which those followers believe the leader will own it….Your followers take their cues from you. They will only sacrifice for the vision if you will. They will only take a bullet for the cause if they believe down to their toes that you would do the same. Are you a half-hearted, low-cost hireling? Or are you a full-on owner? Your followers are immensely curious about which it is, and over time each of them will come to a conclusion.

Bill Hybels, Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI: 2008), 35.

Encouraging - Love

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in the casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

C.S. Lewis, Four Loves (Fontana ed, London: 1963), 111-2.

Enouraging - Prayer

O give me, Lord, the tender heart
That trembles at the approach of sin;
A godly fear of sin impart,
Implant and root it deep within,
That I may dred Thy gracious power
And never dare offend Thee more.

...Charles Wesley

Encouraging - Prayer

A prayer from Charles de Foucald...

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you;
I am ready for all; I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
And in all your creatures
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
For you are my Father.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve
and with boundless condfidence.

Update

It’s been an interesting few weeks, so I decided to give you a quick update. I’ll send my normal emails again starting next week. As I write this email, both Krista and Cole are napping. Our household, like many, has been hit hard by some crazy viruses. I actually had some nasty 24 hour stomach virus and Krista/Cole seem to have the garden variety cold. Unfortunately, I figured something like this would happen. I’ve never done any research, but I’m told it’s scientifically proven that your body pushes off illnesses (running off of adrenaline) during “important” times and then as soon as you let your guard down, the illnesses are no longer held at bay.

The last few weeks included the end of our swim season as well as a trip to Houston/Austin for our winter break. Last March I was approached by the headmaster at Second Baptist to speak at their school for “Christian Emphasis” week. The desired time coincided with our winter break, so it was very apparent God was in it from the beginning. In addition, the headmaster asked their speaker last year if he happened to know me since he also attended Wake Forest. He knew me well, and thankfully endorsed me for the opportunity. I had never given six talks before (three middle and three high school), so it was definitely challenging preparing for it. It was wonderful spending time with old friends and making new friends as well.

My high school talks were in the mornings while my middle school talks were in the afternoons. The middle school talks were always challenging because the time varied each day so I had to cut things out on the fly. One of the days, we even decided to split up the middle school so I could be more direct with the 7th/8th graders. I based my three talks (with his permission) on something a friend shared earlier this year about this generation of young people, basically that they are driven by three things: authenticity, relationships, and a desire to change the world. During the planning process it was amazing how many times God offered little nuggets he wanted me to share. My talks revolved around the ideas of (1) we desire authenticity from others, but are we true to the person who God made us?; (2) our relationship to God as well as our dating relationships and (3) discerning our calling in order to play our part to partner with God in order to redeem this earth. Their school is similar to Wesleyan, and thus, it took a few days for them to “trust” me but by the third day they laughed at my jokes and listened fairly attentively. Throughout our time in Houston, the Second Baptist community demonstrated amazing hospitality and truly served us during our stay. We felt very loved and appreciated by everyone whom we encountered (for those reading on email, photos are attached on the blog).