PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH and Peace to all of you.
I want to tell you of the wonderful things that have happened to me this week.
But first I want to tell you a story.
I grew up on a farm in Appalachia (without indoor plumbing) and attended a school where all 12 grades were in one building. In Junior High, 32 of the smartest and best 7th graders were separated out and earmarked for college. We were told we were going to college, thus we would take certain classes that were too hard for the other students. For example we had to take algebra instead of general math. At the end of the eighth grade as we planned our freshman year, we were told what we would take! We were not offered many choices. One, that we thought we would have, was language. The school had always offered French, Spanish, and Latin. We were told we must take a language but we had a choice of those three. I chose Spanish because my father had friends in Florida and Texas, and who knows, maybe someday we would make a trip and I could use the little I would learn. However when September came we 32 students found ourselves in a GERMAN class. It seems that the old language teachers had either retired or moved away. A young man had been hired who happened to know German.
I was not pleased. And by now you might suspect that I have always been out spoken about what pleases me and what does not. I raised a fuss. Since it was the ‘60s I tried to arrange a “walkout.” When that did not work, I complained to the teachers and the principal. “This is Appalachia,” I complained. “We will be lucky to get into a nearby two-year college. Spanish we might use in Florida or Texas. French we might use in Canada. Latin at least is the basis of lots of languages. But German! How will any of us use that?” But try as I might the principal insisted I would take German. I nearly flunked it. If I had spent as much time studying as I did complaining, I would have made good grades. I made good grades in everything else. But I refused to study. I learned a few words and phrases but I got the worst grades in the class. A couple of times I even looked on my boyfriend’s paper during a test. But usually I studied just enough to pass, because I was too afraid of getting caught cheating. I was 14 that year.
When I was 21 (1973) my (then) husband, an Army nuclear missile specialist, was transferred to Germany. I went with him to Augsburg where we lived for three years and then we went to Heilbronn (north of Stuttgart) for three and a half more years. While in Germany I studied German at the University and made an A. I leaned to speak well enough to shop at the fabric store, but I had to pay for the class. Now as far as I know, none of the other 31 students in that class ever went to Germany. If they did, they didn’t live there for six years! And in fact my sophomore year was at a different High School because my family moved. And the other students were offered the more traditional languages the next year, as the German teacher moved away too.
I came to realize that God arranged that German class to prepare me for what was to come. I could not imagine ever being wealthy enough to get on an airplane, less live in a foreign country. My biggest dream was to maybe get a college degree and marry someone who also had a degree. My God was too small. The funny thing is that I had already traveled more than the other 31 students in that class. Most of them had never been out side of the county that we lived in. But my father had driven my brother and I to Alaska, just to see it. Actually I had already seen something like 25 states. But I could not see outside the invisible walls that surrounded our culture.
When I lived in Germany, I realized that God knew where He would send me and what I would need to live there. In the midst of my poverty He had been preparing me for more. I realized that when God throws an opportunity your way to learn something, you better listen, you may need to know it tomorrow. Do you have any idea how hard it is to ask directions to the bathroom in a train station late at night in a language that you don’t speak? When you really have to go? That happened my first night in country. And the bathroom was downstairs and a number of turns from where I was. Just a little bit more language than, “The pencil is yellow.” might have been helpful!
OK, I told you this story to preface what happened this week. I came up to Fairfax on Sunday with Tim because I had a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday to make sure I had not damaged another section of my spine. On Monday and Tuesday I had some errands and cleaning to do for the Fairfax house. Wednesday I went to the doctor. No worries, I am fine. The physical therapist was too zealous in stretching something that should not have been stretched.
I have been trying to have lunch with Marlene Jones for over two months. But every time I am in Fairfax either she has something else she must do or I do. So this time I planned to go to Mass Thursday morning and take a lunch for both of us. I did not even ask her. I just figured I would designate Thursday as “Marlene Jones” day and work my schedule around hers. After Mass she told me that she was scheduled for a leadership conference over at Fairfax Community Church. I pressed a little more: What was she doing for lunch; were they providing it? “I think so,” she said, “I really don’t know.” We walked up to her office to read the schedule. It turned out that they were not providing lunch, and she had not brought one. “No, worries,” I said, “I have yours in the car. I’ll just meet you there at lunch time.” Then she got an idea that maybe not everyone who was supposed to go from Truro would be able to make it. Maybe I could attend in place of someone else. Do you think that this sounds like something God might do? I had planned the day around Marlene and she was going somewhere I might get some knowledge I could use in the future? ….
Of course there was an opening and of course I went. I was supposed to pack Friday for the return Friday night to Chester. But the air conditioner broke Friday morning and my husband was going to have to fix it before we could leave. He couldn’t get off from his job Friday afternoon so that meant I would have Friday free to go to the 2nd day of the Leadership Summit. Friday night he worked late on the air conditioner, but he needed parts, and it was too late to get them, so I had Saturday free for the rest of the Summit. It is now 5:30 PM Saturday evening and he just finished fixing it and it is running just fine. I got back from the Summit at 2:00 PM. And I am as high as a kite over the events of the last two and a half days.
On Thursday morning in my prayer time God asked me, “Do you believe that prayer changes things?” “Yes, Lord, you know I do.”
“Do you believe that prayer changes things?” Whenever God asks you something twice beware. “Yes, Lord.” I was already getting dismayed and thought I knew where this was going. For the third time, “Do really believe that prayer changes things?” “Yes,”
“Then why don’t you do it more?”
Some of you may know that I have already been beating myself up because I don’t pray enough. Too often I would rather watch TV, play computer games, garden, or do something else rather than pray. I can’t understand this in myself. In the ‘70s I often prayed at least four hours a day. And I saw miraculous things happen. Over the years my zeal for prayer sort of dwindled away. I have known for over a year that God was calling me back to really pray, but I can find a dozen excuses not to. That is part of the reason why I made the apron, to help me remember who it is God is calling me to be. It does help, but not enough. And I don’t wear the apron every day. It has been a constant uphill struggle to develop a diligent prayer life. Now I don’t mean the talking to God through the day stuff. That hasn’t quit since I was three years old. I mean intercessory, fight spiritual battle stuff. Not everyone is called to a ministry of intercessory prayer anymore than everyone is called to be a nurse or doctor but I have been used this way in the past and I know that God wants to use me now in this way. So why do I struggle with it? Why not just lay everything aside that hinders me and do it?
Thursday at Mass, Father Crocker read the gospel reading for the day on the Transfiguration. I think it was from Matthew 17:1-13, but it may have been from Luke. What stood out to me was verse 4.
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
What Peter said made no sense. Suddenly confronted with a great spiritual experience, that must have been both overwhelming and frightening, Peter retreated into the world that he knew. “Let’s build something.” Building something was a safe place for Peter. It was the known. Faced with the unknown, he instinctually drew back and desired to be “doing something” for Jesus. If he filled up his time doing a “good work” he could be safe from this unknown.
I immediately recognized myself in this reading. And it is not the first time that it has happened. But each time I have tried to run away from where God was taking me, He firmly took me by the hand and led me where I was to go. Since each time I have been blessed beyond my imagination, you would think that by now I would be willing to go wherever he leads. And I always tell myself that of course I am willing to go where God leads. Only, like an errant child, I am usually dawdling along way behind. I think it is time that I put away my childish ways. But I am glad that God is a patient father and Jesus is a patient lover.
The Leadership Summit’s theme was Lead Where You Are. Although I didn’t notice that any of the talks were really about that particular topic. At the beginning of my note taking I wrote in big letters, “Do you believe prayer changes things?” Since God had asked me that question three times Thursday morning I figured that no matter what the speaker was going to talk about, for me, the theme was going to be that question.
The first to speak was Bill Hybels. Some of you may know him from his book, Just Walk Across the Room. I know a number of people are reading it. He has written a few others including Holy Discontent and When Leadership and Discipleship Collide. He talked a lot about leaders having Vision and getting people to “own” the vision. I liked the way he made the presentation because he followed an outline that made it easy to take notes. The three topics that he covered were Vision Formation, Vision Refinement and Vision Declaration. Now if any of you are interested about hearing more, Doug LeMasters will have the DVD later. Also I think he got some books for the church.
What was important to me is that he asked the question, “Would you be willing to deeply sacrifice for, or die for the vision that God has entrusted to you?” He quoted from Acts 21:10. Paul is headed for Jerusalem and the prophet Agabus tells him in front of everyone that he will be bound and handed over to the Gentiles. Everyone tried to dissuade Paul from going. But he answers, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Paul would not be dissuaded
“The single most determining factor in whether followers own the vision, is how deeply you are committed to it.”
He talked about, if we have a bucket of vision, it leaks. And then the bucket needs refilling. Now I believe that he was talking about the leadership inspiring the congregation or whatever. But in the end, (and today he talked about this) we are responsible for encouraging ourselves. Check out I Samuel 30:6 to find that is exactly what David did. We must put ourselves in the places where God can refill our bucket with the vision he has entrusted to us.
Our second speaker was Carly Fiorina. She has served as CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999-2005. She is the author of the book Tough Choices.
The things that she said that spoke to me are:
“People are afraid to try new things.
Change forces people to face fear.
People have to believe that where they are going is worthwhile.
You can’t sugar coat reality.
Leadership is about unlocking the potential in others.”
I have to say that while she was talking I was nodding my head in agreement most of the time and only made a few notes. But later I would like to read her book.
After Carly spoke we broke for lunch. Lunch was the best part of the day, because I got to spend time with the people from Truro. Many of the church leaders were there. Some of them I knew and got to know better. Others I met for the first time. By the time lunch was over I felt really blessed. I had been praying for Melissa and the youth’s trip to New Orleans but I had never met Melissa. I met her Thursday (and others who went) and got a wonderful report on the trip. And I learned a lot more about outreach.
We need better ways to keep people informed because there is a whole lot going on that I never knew existed. And if you think I am new, think again. I have been a member for six years. One of the things I will be praying about for Truro is the information flow. How can we improve it? What can I do to help? Obviously I like to write. Maybe God would want to use me in some way?
Anyway back to the Summit. After lunch we heard Floyd H. Flake. Yes, that is his name, Flake. And he is anything but. He is the senior pastor of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York AND the president of Wilberforce University in Ohio! He served as a congressman from 1986-1997. He talked way too fast for me to take very many notes, but I think Marlene got down more than I did. What he did in New York to improve the conditions there is outstanding. He helped people buy homes, built a school and senior citizen center, and helped people start businesses. He talked about five models of leadership and the pitfalls of each. But my notes are very skimpy. One thing he said that made me chuckle, “No matter how inspired your vision is, there will always be somebody against it because some people are just mean.”
And he said two very important things worth quoting.
“Leaders must stand for integrity.”
“Leaders have a responsibility to create for the next generation. They have a responsibility to train up those who will do greater works than they themselves did.”
I thought, “What greater work can anyone do but train up those who will come after?” And then he reminded us that Jesus Christ trained up his disciples to come after, and they trained up their followers.
Marcus Buckingham was our next speaker. I could listen to him all week! He is a very energetic, intelligent, and funny young man. And easy on the eyes! He has written four books on identifying your strengths and building on them, instead of worrying about your weaknesses. He spent a lot of time talking about why you should not worry about your weaknesses and build on your strengths, but he finally got to some practical advice. I do want to read his books.
He gave us an acronym to help identify strengths
SIGN
Success or you are effective at it.
Instinct, or you look forward to doing it.
Growth, or time seems to fly by when you are doing it.
Needs – it fulfills some need in you.
He then said, what if it is IGN, in other words you look forward to doing it, it fulfills a need in you and time flies by while you are doing it, but you are not successful at it? Then it is called — a hobby.
He gave us a plan for slowly increasing the time that we spend doing our strengths each day. He ended with,
“Let tomorrow be different. Be stronger than today!”
This affected me because I often ignore my “strengths” for my hobbies or what I think I need to be doing. A very wise old woman who was also very rich, once told me, Rebecca, hire someone to do that other stuff and use your talents. Her name was Roma Montgomery and she owned a bank. At the time I thought, “If I had money like you I could hire someone to do this.” Now I realize that if I’d have taken her advice I might own a bank by now. But it is never too late. Where there is life there is hope. Maybe I will never own a bank, but I could get a job that utilizes my strengths and hire someone to do some of the backbreaking remodeling! Especially since the doctor says that I am still not to lift over 10 pounds!
On Friday Michael Porter spoke on strategic planning. I made lots of notes on it, but I won’t bore you with the details. They did an interview with Colin Powell that was more entertaining than informative in my opinion. But it was interesting. One thing that Colin said that is worth hanging on your wall,
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”
John Ortberg spoke next. They had three of his books there to purchase. I am reading the one called IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT. I am over half way finished with it. It is really good. After I have read it twice more I will loan it to whomever wants to borrow it. Some quotes from his speech.
“If we don’t embrace our true mission we will engage in our shadow mission.
A life can disintegrate into something unworthy.”
He talked a lot about the book of Esther. He contrasted Hamen and Mordecai. He said that if the shadow mission throws you off your true mission by just 10 degrees in the beginning it would end in disaster.
“You have been given what you have been given for a reason.”
Wow! It was powerful. And so is the book I am reading.
Then there was an interview with Richard Curtis, which was OK, but I wouldn’t have spent money to see. However it was a very powerful Friday.
Since Tim was working on the air conditioner I went to the final session on Saturday too. They did an interview with Jimmy Carter, which was powerful stuff.
He said, “Secure leaders surround themselves with people who know more about their area of expertise than you do.”and “People who disagree with each other can give you differing points of view.”
Mostly he talked about the growing chasm between the rich and the poor. And about how important it is for us to break down barriers by building relationships. And of course he talked a lot about Habitat for Humanity.
Bill Hybells taught the rest of the Saturday session. His talk was on Inspirational Leadership. Most of the time was spent on how to keep ourselves motivated! One thing that he mentioned was “Saturation Study” of the Bible. He took one chapter from Romans and read it every day for a year. He found it to be a great help. I am not sure if I want to go a whole year, maybe three months. But I am thinking that if I read one chapter every day for three months, I would probably memorize most of it. Now this is on top of “practicing daily spiritual disciplines that keep my spirit fresh.” And then he said, “Inspire others by infecting them with your motivation. And celebrate every sign of progress toward your goal.” And the most important sentence spoken at the Summit:
“GOD TRANSFORMS LIVES!”
All of this stuff so fired me up that I wanted to share it, and my “high” with you. I hope that next year I will see more of you there. Now after not being able to go back to Chester on Saturday, because Tim was too tired to drive me and I was too tired to drive, I decided to attend Truro for Mass today (Sunday) and Father Marshal Brown gave the best sermon I have heard in years. If you missed it get the tape! I am going to get one and I was there. I want to be able to hear it again and again. It was just a perfect ending for a perfect week of stirring me into becoming what God wants me to become. Or maybe it was the perfect beginning of THIS WEEK! WOW! I can’t wait to see what God does next.
Your Sister in Christ,
Rebecca
