This is from a weekly update called Tuesday Briefing.
It is significant because it comes at a turning point.
It gives insight about how by life has been.
1. Graduation has past and I have said good bye to some dear friends. Most of them I will not see again until Heaven. This separation anxiety and grief happens each year at about this time. I accept that this is part of the price of coming along the side of seminary students. Part of my motivation to get the subsidized web sites operational for these laborers in God’s harvest is so that I can keep in communication. Primarily I want them to have a growing support base when they leave here. But secondarily I want more than the monthly newsletter if that. There is a pool of sadness in my soul. I will miss these that I have invested my heart into over the years.
2. People have repeatedly told me that I have an important ministry as I minister one-on-one with these fine people. It is such a natural part of my week that I hardly notice it. Loosing several such contacts suddenly has been a wake up. It was the Holy Spirit that helped me to see me through their eyes. In the hurry up world that they learn to cope with, God uses me as a reliable friend. Most of them do not have another close friend during this critical season of transition. Probably they did before and they will later. But I have been an expression of God’s heart extended for this season. In twenty years of following Jesus I have NEVER had someone like me to come along my side. My coach, Cathi, is perhaps the first.
3. It is important that I maintain confidentiality in each relationship. Notice that I rarely give names. I do not even give much specific information. In reflecting on this I can count 5 to 8 people that I impact personally, at depth and in an on-going way each month. I am trying not to look around campus to find others to replace these holes in my schedule and heart. I would rather find such people over the web where the relationship does not need to end in just a few years.
4. As I am faithful to follow Jesus, I expect that I will continue to minister to people that are passing through these complex transitions to prepare to follow Jesus into ministry. Most of them have very little money so I will need to find other ways to pay my bills.
5. It is difficult to express what an honor this is to be used by God in this way. I genuinely honor and respect these who respond to God’s call. They count the costs and pay the price.
6. God uses your prayers and encouragement to strengthen me so that I can express agape love to these brothers and sisters.
The archive of Tuesday Briefings is on this blog http://tuesdaybriefings.blogspot.com/
It is significant because it comes at a turning point.
It gives insight about how by life has been.
1. Graduation has past and I have said good bye to some dear friends. Most of them I will not see again until Heaven. This separation anxiety and grief happens each year at about this time. I accept that this is part of the price of coming along the side of seminary students. Part of my motivation to get the subsidized web sites operational for these laborers in God’s harvest is so that I can keep in communication. Primarily I want them to have a growing support base when they leave here. But secondarily I want more than the monthly newsletter if that. There is a pool of sadness in my soul. I will miss these that I have invested my heart into over the years.
2. People have repeatedly told me that I have an important ministry as I minister one-on-one with these fine people. It is such a natural part of my week that I hardly notice it. Loosing several such contacts suddenly has been a wake up. It was the Holy Spirit that helped me to see me through their eyes. In the hurry up world that they learn to cope with, God uses me as a reliable friend. Most of them do not have another close friend during this critical season of transition. Probably they did before and they will later. But I have been an expression of God’s heart extended for this season. In twenty years of following Jesus I have NEVER had someone like me to come along my side. My coach, Cathi, is perhaps the first.
3. It is important that I maintain confidentiality in each relationship. Notice that I rarely give names. I do not even give much specific information. In reflecting on this I can count 5 to 8 people that I impact personally, at depth and in an on-going way each month. I am trying not to look around campus to find others to replace these holes in my schedule and heart. I would rather find such people over the web where the relationship does not need to end in just a few years.
4. As I am faithful to follow Jesus, I expect that I will continue to minister to people that are passing through these complex transitions to prepare to follow Jesus into ministry. Most of them have very little money so I will need to find other ways to pay my bills.
5. It is difficult to express what an honor this is to be used by God in this way. I genuinely honor and respect these who respond to God’s call. They count the costs and pay the price.
6. God uses your prayers and encouragement to strengthen me so that I can express agape love to these brothers and sisters.
The archive of Tuesday Briefings is on this blog http://tuesdaybriefings.blogspot.com/
