Don’t Fall In Love With Caterpillars

As a kid I enjoyed catching bugs. I even did a school project on ‘entomology’ (the study of bugs) and had a showcase of the different critters I had caught over time.  Living in South Alabama, at the time, there were many to choose from and plenty to catch!  I was always fascinated by the caterpillars; the many shapes and sizes and colors. However, as beautiful or fascinating as those creatures were, they were not yet in their fulfilled state. At times it was hard to remember that because they were such fascinating creatures as they were. The same is true in our lives. The problem is, not only can we forget that we were made to fly, those around us can forget as well and try and keep us in our ‘shell’. Don’t despise them, just look past them and see the open skies that you were made to engage.

Today I leave for Brazil to go teach and lead worship at a conference in the capital city of Brasilia.  Later in the week I will go to the south of the country to be with dear friends and will be speaking and leading worship at their church.  Many of you have prayed for me and have given financially to help me make this journey. For that, I am grateful. I didn’t know when I went to Brazil on my first missions trip in 2001 that I would forever be connected to that great nation and beautiful people.  But such is the power of God… and such is the power of genuine friendship.  (Click here to read more about my connections to Brazil)

I went on my first missions trip because a friend invited me. That friend, who was a high school basketball coach, now pastors one of the largest churches in the state of Alabama. How does that even happen? The missions organization I went with on that first trip was a small ministry that began 30 years earlier because an American man became friends with a Brazilian Pastor. With no formal training or instruction, they started a ministry that would carry tens of thousands of people to Brazil over the years, building over 300 church buildings for the glory of God. Wow! In both situations, if you were to look at the lives of these men you would have enjoyed them for who they were, but could have easily allowed them to stay in that state for the rest of their lives.  However, there was greatness inside of them that had yet to be revealed. I believe the same is true of you and me. (Click here to read my post on not letting Disappointment, Dis-Appoint You)

The Power of Friendship

Genuine friendship will pull greatness out of you and others. I didn’t know when I met my friend Jean in Gulf Shores, AL, in 2000 that we would become life-long friends, that Tamsey and I would be in his wedding the very next year in Brazil and that in 2016 I’d by flying down to preach at his church (an extension of our church in NC) and staying in his home with his beautiful family for the 3rd or 4th time. Jean was a waiter at a restaurant down the street from my house who had lost his way in his relationship with Jesus. We simply became friends and invited the Lord to lead us both. I moved on to help plant a church in NC, he moved on to help plant a church in Orlando, FL, and then in Brazil.  Only God saw that potential inside two twenty-something beach bums. What about you? What about the greatness that is inside the person that works across the hall form you, or in the next cubicle, or the you sit beside at church each week. Take a moment and dream over them; pray for them. If you do, I believe God will send someone to do the same for you. Then we get to watch God do what only He can do; transform a life. (Click here to read my post on The Power Of Saying Yes)

Don’t fall in love with caterpillars.  Embrace and enjoy people where they are but keep an eye out for wings. They’re in there. Rather than helping people ‘get comfortable in their own skin’ call them to greatness and help them take flight. When they do, we will all stand in awe…. not just of them, but at the Great God that has been preparing them to fly from the day they were born.  (Thanks April, for reminding me of this)

From The Bible

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. – Proverbs 18:24 NIV

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. – John:7-8 NIV

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:21-22 NLT