Contemplating Carl: April 2011
Nothing is more exhilarating than seeing someone realize that they are able to do something they never thought possible. I remember when I first started in ministry I was ripe, ready to learn, and unaware of my potential. It took leaders investing in my life, challenging me to do things I thought I was not capable of doing.
A person is not able to judge their potential until they are forced to do something beyond their defined boundaries. I did not think I could lead a ministry until I was pushed to lead one. I did not think I could deliver a sermon until I had to stand in front of a room full of people and give one. I not think I could help shape the lives of young people until I began to mentor some. With every new experience we learn, adapt, and grow through even negative experiences if we are diligent to extract lessons hard learned. Someone told me that with every click on the internet we are making it smarter; imagine the limitless potential we have if we learn from every click in our lives.
Sometimes people like computers need someone to help them organize the data of their lives in order to understand the significances of their experiences and grow as a result. The facilitation of growth, the unleashing of potential, is that not a pastor’s job? I believe that all disciples of Jesus are ministers; a pastor’s ministry is equipping the Saints for the work of the ministry.
God has called me to be a pastor. There is no doubt left in me regarding this call. When I was six years of age I was told that God had set me apart for this ministry, and until I was twenty-four years old I ran as fast and as far as I could from this call only to end up at the doorsteps of the Church. Five years later I have earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Ministry and Bible, and now currently work towards the completion of a Masters of Divinity. But I did not arrive where I am now without the aid of pastors, teachers, leaders, friends, and family pouring into my life, investing in the actualization of the call that God gave me when I was six years old. Truth be told, I could not be where I am without the aid of those who have partnered with me to see the potential in my life mined, and released.
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| A friend's Birthday party @ the Fuller Theological Seminary housing |
I have given my life to this call. There is no plan B for me. I have lost my life for the sake of Jesus, and he has given me a new life brimming with potential not yet mined. But in the same way that God uses people to mine the depths of me in order to unleash my potential God uses me to do the same in the lives of others. Every time I see one of the people who God has graciously allowed me to mentor and help release their potential I cannot help but feel a sense of extreme joy welling up inside of me as I see them divesting themselves into what God has called them to do.
It is my hope that as you partner with me in ministry, that as you invest in my life you too feel a sense of joy at what God is doing and has done through your efforts in my life. I am so thankful for every person who has laid hold of a pick ax to diligently chip away the rock that encrusts my God given potential.
A Deeper Meaning on Resurrection Sunday
I awoke on the morning of Good Friday, got ready for a day of studying, turned on my computer, went to click on the folder titled “spring 2011 quarter,” and noticed something wrong. As hard as I looked the folder was nowhere to be found on my computer or on my online backup. Somehow in the sync the night before the folder went missing. It completely disappeared as if it never existed. Panic gripped me as I realized all the work for my spring quarter at Fuller was gone, including my assignments for the week that I had just finished the night before. The nice people at Apple eventually helped me recover some of my files from their online server, mainly notes and such, but sadly none of the important ones like my homework due that evening.
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| Pastor Mark preaching "I Wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning ... —Psalms 130:6" |
Pastor Mark had asked me a few days prior if I could lead the church in communion on Good Friday. As I began to pray about what God would have me say, two passages came to me, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and Revelation 22:17-21. A summery of how I presented these passages goes as follows: we do communion proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes as a testimony of his victory on the cross and the fullness of resurrection. I asked everyone to partner with someone and pray for each other and serve one another communion. I partnered with a women who I had never met before. We took the elements of communion, sat down, and I asked her what is an area in your life that you want to proclaim the Lord’s victory in that I can pray for? Her response brought me to a still almost ashamed to tell my prayer need. She told me how her family had lost a two year old little girl in a drowning accident and how she needed the Lord’s comfort. As we sat there I prayed for her, tears trickling out of both of our eyes. All of a sudden my loss earlier that day seemed insignificant, an insult to the grief shared by this women. I stumbled to try and move past her praying for me, but she stopped me and said please let me prayer for you. She prayed that God would help me to finish my schooling strong and to redo my lost assignments quickly. We served each other the elements of bread and wine (grape juice), stood, and embraced as we said goodnight.
The cross is about taking the worst this world can deal out and God saying “is that all you got? My turn.” The Resurrection is victory. Victory over sin and death. Easter, Resurrection Sunday, was cast in a different light for me this year. A light that reminded me that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” as John 1:5 tells us. So until our Lord Jesus comes we will proclaim victory every time we hoist a cup and break bread.
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