It's Not About the How; It's About The Why
"He has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time." 2Tim 1:9
Over 6 weeks ago I was watching a sermon on my Roku and in the process of trying to do to much at once, (instead of focusing on the sermon), I spilled coffee on my laptop. What felt like hundreds of thoughts went through my head as I tipped the laptop over...and ran to the kitchen for paper towels. But one of the most prominent, believe it or not, was a thought of conviction and not of my clumsiness. I was feeling convicted because I should have been watching the sermon...and I was about to check Facebook. Yikes! Even thinking about it now makes me cringe.
But my thoughts quickly turned back to my laptop and the frenzy began. "Maybe it will be okay", I thought as I frantically tried to soak up all the wasted caffeine. As I watched the screen on my laptop start to shutter and blink on and off and then eventually turn black, I was in shock. This can't be happening!? Trying to soak up as much coffee as I could with the paper towels, I noticed the back up drive on my kitchen table and realized I had forgotten to back up yesterday. In fact I hadn't backed up in months!
To much in panic mode to even cry, I began to plan my next move. "I'll go the mac store...see if they can do anything." "It will be fine", I kept affirming, "It will be fine." But as you could of guessed my laptop did not survive. I can still remember the look on the techies face when he said, "There is nothing we can do, and the chances we can get anything off the drive are slim to none." So not only was my laptop dead...all my files were as well.
I remember slowly walking back to my car, putting the laptop down in the passengers seat, sitting down, shutting the door and crying. I mean the kind of cry that releases every emotion you have all at once. "It's all gone!" I kept saying. "It's all gone!" "All the pictures, songs, lyrics, poems, my book. Gone! Priceless, irreplaceable treasures...all gone!"
As you can imagine, the rest of my Sunday was a blur of tears, cries, shouts and depression. I hate to admit that the loss of a material possession had me so depressed, but the truth was it wasn't about the laptop at all. It was about what was on the laptop. Nothing could replace the hours of written word, recordings, and love that was loaded on to that thing!
But then God!
This was the first time God spoke to me through this "tragedy" and it would not be the last.
I decided to take out my trusty "create" journal. The one I used to write all my songs and meditations in before I decided to move to the laptop. As I opened up the drawer of my desk and pulled the journal up, I noticed a pile of printer paper underneath it. I quickly put down the journal and picked up the pile. To my amazement and delight it was hard copies of my book and all the most recent songs I had written. I kid you not! I had forgotten that two weeks before the laptop "spill incident", I had printed out all my work in an attempt to organize it and getting ready for publish and copy write. I did not know at the time the real reason God had me print those papers out until that moment.
I fell to my knees in praise! The work I had done for His glory was redeemed. I didn't have a laptop, but that didn't mean that His work couldn't be done!
So many of us think that we have to have special equipment to do the work of the Lord. But the truth is: God is not impressed with how we get His work done, He only cares that it gets done. It's not about the HOW; it's about the WHY.
We have a responsibility as children of God to share all that He has done for us. To partner with Jesus in sharing the good news of salvation.
HOW you do that is up to you; but WHY you do it should alway be Jesus.
We are all called to lead by His example and do what we can, in everything we do to reach the lost through love and acceptance.
You may not have the money or equipment to publish your words on paper. But you can share them in your small group or with a friend. You may not have the means to record an album. But you can sing and share your praise at your church. You don't have to be reaching people at a global level to make difference. Reach out to your local community. Share with your friends, family and colleagues. Encourage them to share with theirs.
You may find that God's word has reached the globe quicker than you think.
As you can imagine, the rest of my Sunday was a blur of tears, cries, shouts and depression. I hate to admit that the loss of a material possession had me so depressed, but the truth was it wasn't about the laptop at all. It was about what was on the laptop. Nothing could replace the hours of written word, recordings, and love that was loaded on to that thing!
But then God!
This was the first time God spoke to me through this "tragedy" and it would not be the last.
I decided to take out my trusty "create" journal. The one I used to write all my songs and meditations in before I decided to move to the laptop. As I opened up the drawer of my desk and pulled the journal up, I noticed a pile of printer paper underneath it. I quickly put down the journal and picked up the pile. To my amazement and delight it was hard copies of my book and all the most recent songs I had written. I kid you not! I had forgotten that two weeks before the laptop "spill incident", I had printed out all my work in an attempt to organize it and getting ready for publish and copy write. I did not know at the time the real reason God had me print those papers out until that moment.
I fell to my knees in praise! The work I had done for His glory was redeemed. I didn't have a laptop, but that didn't mean that His work couldn't be done!
So many of us think that we have to have special equipment to do the work of the Lord. But the truth is: God is not impressed with how we get His work done, He only cares that it gets done. It's not about the HOW; it's about the WHY.
We have a responsibility as children of God to share all that He has done for us. To partner with Jesus in sharing the good news of salvation.
HOW you do that is up to you; but WHY you do it should alway be Jesus.
We are all called to lead by His example and do what we can, in everything we do to reach the lost through love and acceptance.
You may not have the money or equipment to publish your words on paper. But you can share them in your small group or with a friend. You may not have the means to record an album. But you can sing and share your praise at your church. You don't have to be reaching people at a global level to make difference. Reach out to your local community. Share with your friends, family and colleagues. Encourage them to share with theirs.
You may find that God's word has reached the globe quicker than you think.
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