Preparing Others

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 Posted by Unknown

“I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also

I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12b)

“It’s not about being the first one done,” I remind my fourth graders. “It’s about finishing by doing your best.”

Even at my age, two years shy of my 6^th decade, I wonder if I’m doing my best. It’s not that I have to be the first or even on top. In fact, I struggle with the tendency to move along slowly, not like a turtle but more like a slug. It’s even hard for me to get excited about something—it means I have to exert energy.

Thankfully my “energized bunny” friends remind me often: “Wow! Look what you’ve achieved! I’m so proud of you.” If it wasn’t for them cheering me on, I’d find a lone shade tree, like Jonah did. Only I’d go a step further and dig a nice cool hole to lie in.

Still, there’s competitiveness in me. My card-playing friends tell me that all the time. And I do love the outdoors: bike riding, kayaking, or walking. But what’s the purpose of it all? If I didn’t know who I was in Christ, I’d have a harder time getting back up onto the racetrack of life. An Olympic runner? Never, but as I cleaned out a file drawer the other day, I realized I do prepare others to run—toward God.

“I’d like to share with you my relationship with God,” the ending read. It was from my brother who passed away three years ago. Completely clean the last decade of his 52 years of life, he had responded to a letter I had written 14 years earlier, during one of his struggles to become free of addiction. I had apparently asked him where God stood in his life.

“This has not been an event, but rather a process in which . . . His presence has been felt in my life. We’ll talk sometime.”

Even though we didn’t get that talk opportunity, his letter reminded me that as I “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” the teacher in me prepares and encourages others in their “Olympic" eternal journey with God. Part of my best is preparing others to recognize their run with God. (Philippians 3:14)