Recently I have spent some time with a young man from New Zealand. Over the last few days, I’ve got to know this young man who is passionate, focused and looking to live his life for God. He certainly has been an inspiration in a short space of time. I know that he would be the first to admit that he doesn’t have it all together but what he has recognised in his own life is valuable. He has prepared his heart for growth and change.
I think it is a valuable thing when your greatest asset is your name. It speaks to integrity. Because this man was recommended to me by a friend, I spent time getting to know him, understanding what God injected into his life in the way of gifts and passions. The proof was in the pudding as he talked and lived the life he espoused. It comes back to the old adage of ‘walking the talk’ or ‘practising what you preach’.
One of the things that he shared that synced up with things happening in my own life was his view on how God takes us through in the true ‘onward and upward’ sense. Over coffee yesterday we talked about how God will take us through stages of growth in preparation for an upward ‘step’. Spend too long or stop off in any ‘stage’ and the move to the ‘step’ can go on hold.
It was a physical representation for me of where I have been believing God was working on me. I have felt the Lord asking me to work on the ‘finishing’ aspect of some projects. That’s a real challenge, you find yourself in the ‘middle’ of a stage, you’ve slowed down, lost altitude and need to kick it down a gear to get moving again.
I know that when I take a step back, ‘God’s Plan’ isn’t five years or even twenty-five years long. With that in mind, we each have ‘time’ to be in the zone, growing, learning and lifting to see the view from the next step. At what point did we believe we had reached the ‘rest home’ phase of God’s plan? Oooh, that’s nasty! Looks like even if it’s a spiritual or physical ‘walking frame’ we are using we should still be moving forward.
Oh, and by the way, if you get to the end of the series of stages and need a hand-up to get to the next step, I’d be happy to help. A couple of friends of mine helped me up to this one!
