coming back to Boone is always an interesting experience for me. sometimes i feel the refreshment of this place pour over me when i get past wilksboro on 421. sometimes i feel anxious about new seasons. and sometimes i am so overwhelmed by hitting the ground running that i forget to check whether im refreshed or not. i think right now im just getting settled again and am really hopeful/desiring the Spirit to start making sense of whats going on inside of me. all i really know for sure is that i love this place. i love the people. i love the common desire we all have to push one another above ourselves. i think thats what makes this community work. everyone lifts up those around them until we all start floating. its a fragile balloon, but it sure gets us where we need to go. higher and higher.
thats my desire for this community. to take it higher and higher. we started from a mountain top (including all of the glory that mountain tops happen to share with us) and i feel the Lord taking us higher. first of all. im in love with this idea. we are called to go further up and further in and it is such an incredible journey. second of all. i really want everyone to come.
that second part has been worrying me for a while. as a leader i feel a tug to go where the Lord has called us, but i also feel a tug to make sure everyone gets there. i really believe that a balance of both is what makes good leadership, so what do you do if everyone isnt willing to come? there is a real groaning in my heart because of that thought.
pruning. thats what worries me. pruning is when the Lord's desire for His people to be in the right direction outweighs His desire for everyone to be together. ideally, (and especially in the heart of the Lord) everyone would be together AND in the right direction. we all know that it is the Lord's desire that everyone be saved and everyone to experience the fullness of His Glory (which is the ultimate good thing we were created for). but so many of us, whether it be because of pride, or fear, or the snare of sin, or whatever it is, are held back from experiencing that Glory. now the Lord has grace for this. he meets us where we are and has compassion for our shortcomings. He takes us where we allow Him to, even if we cut it off far short of His desires (which is that we ALL experience ALL of the good things He has for us), but where do you draw the line? do you allow the pride of one man to hold an entire community back from something the Lord desires for it? sometimes, yes. you do. because the Lord is working His way into that man. but other times, the Lord's desire for growth and movement outweighs His desire for everyone to sit in the same room.
let's put it this way. say you are on a ski trip. and there's ten people who rented skis and snowboards and have been looking forward to enjoying the mountain in all its snowboardy goodness. the point of the trip is to have fun, to be together, to laugh, and to fly down a mountain with the wind nipping at your uncovered cheeks. theres always that moment (and if you have ever gone skiing with a ton of people then you know what im talking about) where everyone is putting on their gear and some people are ready to go way before some of the others. impatient people bask in their passive-aggressive vibes, and patient people keep their jackets unzipped and wait for everyone to get ready. the point is to be together. everyone WANTS to be together. if you have ever been the one to lose it and say "im here to ski! not sit! i'll meet you guys at the top." you go off by yourself, and you always end up skiing a whole lot, never finding your friends, and trying to make up for your lack of community by striking up random conversations on the ski lift. it ends up being a really lame experience with a whole lot of "fun" skiing time.
now the other extreme is just as bad. you wait and wait and try to get everyone ready but (in the extreme case) someone is ridiculous. they take their time and then play on their ipod touch while everyone waits for them. it takes hours to get everyone out there and you have like 30 minutes to do what you came there to do. nobody has any fun because they are all completely disappointed at the lack of ski time.
there is a certain amount of grace to be had for these kind of situations. if people are earnestly trying to get ready, of course you wait for them. if people are being ridiculous, then your patience dwindles (which is sometimes a good thing) and you think about splitting up the group and taking those who are ready out onto the mountain.
the same can be said for the church. in fact, i think the same IS being said for the church. the Lord desires us to experience His heart and His spirit (the ski mountain) in fullness. and there are those who have gone ahead without the group, which leaves them alone but skiing. and there are those who have inhibited themselves from going further and are unwilling to work on it. both are not in line with the Lord's desire, which is for EVERYONE to experience His Glory. but do you see the point im making? the line has to be drawn somewhere. and i think the Lord is orchestrating events to draw it.
i've asked Him for a semester. a semester to try and help everyone to get their act together so that we can truly become the ministry He desires us to be. and after that, we'll be going further up and further in. to those who are earnestly trying to get ready, of course we will wait for you (i hope to God that you'll wait for ME, because i feel like, if any, im part of this group). to those who have gone on ahead, of course we will invite you back to earth to go forward with the rest of us (heck, please share your revelation once you touch down.) and to those who are unwilling to try, we'll give you this semester to change your mind, but then i'm afraid we have to go out onto the mountain. i really hope you come with us. second to actually going, its really my greatest desire.
my prayer is that we will all be together, we will all experience the Glory of the Lord together, and that we will all become the selfless, powerful, beautiful army that He desires us to be. if you're with me say amen, and if you're not, then i really hope we can trick you into coming anyway. because it's going to be great.
Amen and Amen...from Greenville
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