Leading or following?

Today I saw a vision cast by a high school junior to impact his entire school this next semester. Not en masse, but individual by individual. It's exciting. He understands that it's not about a few words we say, but about investing ourselves into peoples lives so that we can earn the privilege of speaking into their life. He knows that it's about love, not just the people we like or are like, but the people who are weird, smelly, or just plain rude. It gives me hope. Hope to know that all the words we say and things we do as a ministerial alliance mean more than just getting a bunch of students together. Hope to know that we are making a difference, one student at a time...

It helps, a lot, to see things like that. Especially on days when you're assailed with thoughts asking if I really make a difference, if it's really worth it, if I do anything... It's great to see students grabbing onto the truth and running with it. It also sharpens my desire to make the vision plain and to put it in plain form so they can take it and run with it. Leaders are made, not just born. That is the thing I most need to remember. I cannot just spring leaders out of the ground, I have to help them develop and become the people God made them to be.

It's a mission I love to pick up. Developing leaders is exciting. It can also be extremely frustrating. The reason being is I want to see results NOW. Not tomorrow, but right this instant. It's very much the American way: I want what I want RIGHT NOW. Unfortunately, that attitude isn't good for spiritual life. In fact, that attitude poisons real growth. It destroys so much of what we could do because we aren't willing to wait. Paul addressed this way back in the day, because they had issues then too: he told them that it wasn't about one person or another because they could see results; one had to plant, one had to water, etc. Visible results aren't the only measure of ministry success! If I could only pound that into my head, I could be so much more effective for God. But, instead I get down because I may not have seen results. How stupid am I? I need to remember that it's about God, not me and He has things happen on His timetable, not mine.

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