I met a special lady last night. 20 years ago, in the middle of a regular business day in NYC, she had a vision with her eyes wide open; it changed her life! Karen Olson was on her way to work when she saw a woman who was living on the street, I mean really saw her. She realized that buying that woman a sandwich was a great gesture, but did nothing to actually help her out of her poverty. Over the next year, Karen and her friends developed a new strategy to help homeless families that involved volunteers from congregations linking up to provide services of compassion, care, and hope. Family Promise, now a national organization, helps to organize the efforts of more than 4100 local congregations into Interfaith Hospitality Networks that serve thousands of families each year - giving them a safe place to get their financial lives back in order and to regain housing while keeping their family intact.
I admire people like Karen, who are willing to think out of the box, who can see past the obvious, and create new solutions. We so often are content to do what always been done, to take the 'tried and true' road, to parrot the party line, aren't we? There is so little risk in doing that. People and organizations fall into the ruts of the familiar, doing what's safe over engaging the ever changing challenges of the world with new responses. The result is always stagnation, ineffectiveness, and then slow death. Someone smarter than I has said, "The system you are a part of is perfectly designed to produce the results you are seeing." Think about that!
Want a better marriage? Then change is required.
Want a better church, school, neighborhood, nation?
VISION is the starting point! We have to 'see' the new, grab hold of the possibilities and create new strategies that allow different results. Believer, here's the best part of this for you and me. God, the Holy Spirit, lives in us. He will inspire us, breathing new vision into our hearts and minds IF we have the courage to accept it. That's the real challenge. Accepting a vision demands action. Action earns enemies. Visionaries are attacked, demeaned, and criticized those who do not understand the vision or who are threatened by change to the status quo.
So, what are you complaining about today? Where do you perceive real need, or see a challenge that is going unmet, or know of a mission unfulfilled?
Are you ready to become part of God's solution? Define the problem in conversation with God. Listen carefully to what you believe the Spirit is whispering to you. Gather trusted friends and advisors and share the vision that you think is emerging. And - then go make a change!
Read this story of a teenager who heard from God, who did what others did not think he could or should do. Let it inspire you today. Yes, it's a familiar story, but don't rush through it. OK?
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"Enter David. He was the son of Jesse the Ephrathite from Bethlehem ... While his three oldest brothers went to war with Saul, David went back and forth from attending to Saul to tending his father’s sheep in Bethlehem. Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech.
One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing —Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”
David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers.
While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him. The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant—totally frightened. ... David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?” ...
The things David was saying were picked up and reported to Saul. Saul sent for him. “Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.” Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.” David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I’d go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.” Saul said, “Go. And God help you!”
Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. (the usual, the customary, the familiar!) He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off. Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath. (God's plan, a new way!)
As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and sneered—a mere youngster, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed. The Philistine ridiculed David. “Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?” And he cursed him by his gods. “Come on,” said the Philistine. “I’ll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I’ll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice.”
David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!” That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed, facedown in the dirt. That’s how David beat the Philistine—with a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. No sword for David! Then David ran up to the Philistine and stood over him, pulled the giant’s sword from its sheath, and finished the job by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw that their great champion was dead, they scattered, running for their lives." (1 Samuel 17:12-51, The Message)
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So, what's God saying to you about that Goliath in your life?
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