I'm sat outside our prayer room here in Guildford, and find myself with a bit of time to blog! My last few weeks have been so busy as we finished this years Transit (2006-2007) and began to plan for next year's, as well as planning for a mission training time with 24-7 (which we are in the middle of), which mainly consisted of trying to accommodate 25 people from all over the world around the city, so I apologise for my lack of writing. Looking back, I don't know how I kept going as I was juggling all of these things. His Grace is enough I suppose!
There have been many moments I could share with you about God's goodness, provision and guiding from the last few weeks, but one moment in particular has really stood out for me and given me great encouragement.
A couple of weeks ago, I took the Transit guys to the Gower in South Wales for a time of reflection and fun. A time to just enjoy each other and the beautiful creation around us before we went our seperate ways. One night, we decided to have a bonfire up on the hill and needed to get some wood for it. One of the guys remembered seeing some big pieces on the beach the night before and suggested that we walk down and get them. He did warn us that we might need two people per log as they may be heavy.
'No problem' I thought.
So a few of us started out on the 5 minute walk to the beach through the grass and the dunes. When we were about half way there, one of the walking party remembered what the logs that we were fetching were like and started to panic a bit, while trying his best to convince us that it wasn't worth the effort and that we should just have the fire on the beach instead. But our leader had other ideas.
'We will be fine', he said.
So I continued to follow. When we got to the beach, I started to appreciate the apprehension of the others. These logs were big, pointy and awkward. But, I wanted to support my friend. He had a vision, which I could see meant a lot to him. We loaded the weighty log onto our shoulders with a grunt of effort and started out on our journey.
After 20 minutes of carrying, dropping, pain and encouragement, we reached our pit. We gave out a moan as the log fell one last time from our shoulders and hugged each other, with a few back slaps thrown in for good measure. What a great feeling! We did it! We were dripping with sweat, covered in cuts and unable to lift our arms above shoulder height (they were bruised for days after), yet it felt so good.
That night, we had an amazing bonfire, which everyone enjoyed. Stories were told, marshmallows eaten and hands warmed. A memorable last night together.
The next day as I stood in the shower (which I shared with a few spiders and a rabbit briefly that morning), God spoke to me through the previous days events.
For a long time now, I have struggled with the idea of me being a leader as I have been told that they must have vision and lead from the front, which I think is true, but have never really felt described me very well. Sure, I have dreams and ideas, but I've always seen them as very general and nothing really that grand. What God gave me in the shower that morning was my vision. He showed me that my role in life is to be a log carrier. By this I mean, a supporter and carrier of other people's vision's.
My friend had a vision. To carry a log from the beach to our fire pit. He could not do it alone and needed someone to go through the pain and ultimately the joy of seeing that vision come to fruition. I had to stand with him when others were doubting and push him on when he was struggling. He also did the same for me. There were many times we had to stop on our journey and take a breather and then will each other on a bit more. To see and feel his joy at the end, gave me a sense of joy too. To experience his pain was also important. As I said, my shoulders were bruised for days afterwards, but now they are fine. They were marks of our journey.
God was showing me, that he wants me to be a carrier and supporter of other people's vision's. To journey with other's and see them live out the calling that God has for them. Ultimately, it's not about me, but about God and His plan for others. The great thing is that if others do this for me, then suddenly we have a community that loves and supports each other and who long to see God outwork the plan He has for each other's lives come to fruition.
This really excites me as I think about what God is birthing around the world with Boiler Rooms and other such communities as we seek to live this life before us with others under God's guiding. I find it liberating to know that there isn't just one type of leader and that we don't have to be someone we are not. God knows our strengths and weaknesses and places us in communities were they can be complimented by others (a bit like a body).
I pray that we would all become log carriers for others and that together, we would see God's Kingdom come in our towns and cities as we support and love one another.
Amen.
