Pushed Aside?

This morning I was thinking through my message and praying while Jireh was leading our music.  ( As I have said before, he always does an amazing job painting a picture with music.  He knows how to drive a theme with the songs he chooses.)

  While I was praying, a scene from the 5k race I ran in on Saturday came rushing into my mind.  At the race there were tons of kids from local schools running to raise money for their school P.E. program.  At the start of the race many of the kids took off at a sprint only to loose steam after about two blocks.  Well the goofy thing was that they just stopped running and started walking right in the middle of the course.  Actually all over the place.  I was literally running through, weaving, gently nudging them out of the way and yelling, "Move to the side!  Move to the side!".  I had lost sight of the point of the event and was so focused on my goal that I was actually getting angry with those in my way.   

  I saw the picture of this crazy race scenario and I sensed God asking me a rhetorical question, "Have you pushed people aside to advance yourself?"  My first thought was, "No!  I am just not like that."  But it did not take long to come to the conclusion that in some ways I have done just that.  

  Let me paint it for you this way.  I love meeting people.  I love talking with people and discovering new things about them.  For years when I would meet people I would search for the magical point of connection.   That thing that we share in common which becomes the pivotal conversational connection.  What has come to my attention is that this, for me, had become more a window of opportunity to talk about myself than an opportunity to truly get to know them.  I have this problem that spills out all the time.  I think in story.  I see in story.  I dream in story.  Everything reminds me of a story.  I can meet someone for the first time and within seconds learn something about them that reminds me of ME.  Is this really a way to get to know someone or is it a way to get someone to know me?

  As leaders we can be so focused on the goals that we miss the mission.  This is why it is so good for us to stay focused on Jesus.  When we look to Jesus, every time we see people in his eyes.  His mode is so selfless.  My default is so selfish.  

 

Grace // Compassion //Passion  

Love.

A pure, true and evident love.