I believe it’s
good to live into a vision that I have put before me. It isn’t so much about the fulfillment of the
vision; it’s more about how I live my life in light of that vision.
When I was nine
years old I went to camp for a week and fell in love with that experience. I came home knowing that I wanted to be a
camp counselor when I grew up. I spent
twenty-five years doing just that. Ten
years into being a camp counselor I decided I wanted to be a camp
director. With that as my vision I
prepared and accomplished stepping stones that led to that end. At first I
suffered through a death to that vision after the death of my mentor. But twenty five years later I eventually
became the camp director I had trained for at the very same camp I had started
from. Through that experience I came to
see that while I was preparing myself God was doing some planning and preparing
and He had His hand on my life. At some
point in time I made knowing and loving God and His Son Jesus the vision I
looked to, prepared for, and planned my life around.
When Jesus told
his disciples that he was leaving but he would be coming back soon, I believe
he was putting a vision out before them so that they could prepare and plan
their lives around it. The timing of
that promise is as important as the life lived as a result of it. It made them serious about all they had
learned from him and careful about obeying what he had asked them to do. It put a sense of urgency and a sense of hope
into their lives.
That same vision
is set before me, giving me the same sense of urgency and hope. It helps me discern what is important in life
and what isn’t. It gives me focus for
planning my time, planning the stepping stones to what I want to do as I grow
older, and planning the how, who, and whys of my days. Time becomes more precious and not a thing to
be wasted. It makes me become more
selective of who I hang out with and who I go to for advice and teaching. The why’s or motivations for my activities
become just as important as doing them.
I listen to family
and friends talk about their choices to go back to school for advanced degrees
in what they do for their jobs. I
respect all of them for wanting to be the best they can at what they do. I do the same for my spiritual life. There is no STWG (spend time with God) degree
but that isn’t important to me. I spend
time with God because I love Him and want to know all about Him. I choose to be
a disciple of Jesus for the same reason.
I love reading and studying the Bible; I love talking about spiritual
matters with other folks who feel the same.
It is living out my vision and it creates a wonderful life for me.
Jesus said to his
disciples, then and now, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN and will take
you to myself, that where I am you may also be” (John 14:1-3). The Bible ends with Jesus repeating his
promise, “SURELY, I AM COMING SOON”.
This is my vision, my hope, the very thing I plan my life upon.
MARANATHA…
COME LORD JESUS, COME.
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