The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Lifelong Learning Page 8 of 12

A lot more preparation required

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On October 27, 2016

In Training, Learning Attitude, Pre-field Training

My wife loves to host people.  She is a great cook, and will often spend most of the day preparing a meal for our dinner guests. My participation in the preparations is decidedly less.  Maybe all the guests are thankful for that.  Admittedly, I don’t know much about how to prepare a great meal for guests.  But I have watched someone who does!

In a parable-like format, Proverbs 9 presents two different women inviting people to a meal.  The same invitation rings out in both Prov. 9:4 and Prov. 9:16:

Let all who are simple come to my house!

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Achieving Everything You Desire by Mid-career – Not a Recipe for Finishing Well

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On April 28, 2016

In Finishing Well, Lifelong Learning, Success in ministry

A month ago, SEND U conducted a mid-career retreat for those missionaries who had served at least 15 years with our organization.   This week, as I was reading about Solomon in 1 Kings, I was struck by how much this leader accomplished by the time he hit “mid-career.”

When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.  (1 Kings 9:1–2)

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When Personal Development Became Exciting for Me

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On February 12, 2016

In Lifelong Learning, Growth Plans

I remember the minute personal development became exciting for me. I was sitting in a training room in Singapore listening to the introductory session on Christian coaching. I showed up to the training kind of on accident. I didn’t know the first thing about coaching but a few months earlier someone had asked me to consider going. He also volunteered to pay for the training and to watch my 3- and 7-year-old for a week. So, I said yes.

At the end of that first session, we were directed to a document called “Personal Development Worksheet.” It had about 15 different headings and we were instructed to brainstorm as many goals as we could under these headings. We didn’t have to figure out how to accomplish them, just list some areas we wanted to grow in or things we wanted to accomplish.

We headed back to our room and I started writing. It was hard at first. As a mom with small kids, it had been so long since I’d had 10 minutes alone to sit and think about what I wanted beyond a shower and a hot cup of coffee. But once I got started, the ideas just poured out. I was getting more and more excited about each possibility as I wrote down long-dormant hopes and dreams. I looked over at my husband very enthusiastically and said “Isn’t this so great? I have so many ideas! I’ve never done this before.”

With a sheepish grin he responded, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I do this every year.”

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Who Are the Best Students When God is the Teacher?

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On December 17, 2015

In Christ, Character, Lifelong Learning, Spiritual Formation

In the past month, I have been meditating on the idea of awe and reverence.   A spiritual audit I took in early November asked the question, “Have I maintained a genuine awe of God?”   I realized that this was a weak area of mine, and I decided to take a month to reflect on different Bible verses that spoke about awe of God. One of my last meditations was on the passage from Hebrews 5:7-10 which speaks of Jesus’ reverence for his Heavenly Father. Yes, Jesus, though he was God Himself, had a deep reverence for his Father in heaven, a reverence that enabled him to be a great student.

 Hebrews 5:7–10 (NIV)

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

In an earlier post on the value of crucible experiences, I noted how the suffering that Jesus endured, probably referring to his crucible experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, was used by God to perfect him (Heb 2:10).   Although Jesus was not disobedient before his suffering, he learned about the cost of obedience from his suffering.   In a later chapter, the writer of Hebrews goes on to talk about “the joy set before him” that motivated Jesus to persevere through his suffering (Heb 12:1-2).   Jesus learned that submitting to the Father’s will and pleasing Him is worth it all, even to the point of suffering excruciating pain and rejection.

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Crucibles Develop Our Capacity

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On July 9, 2015

In Training, Growth Plans

These days, I am following a training plan to prepare for a half marathon that I would like to run in September.  The training plan is progressive.  You start with running 4.8 km, then after a few weeks, you move up to 6.4 km.  When running 6.4 km is no longer a big challenge, then the training plan asks you to run 8 km.   A few weeks later, when 8 km becomes relatively easy, then you are asked to run 10 km, and so on.

There are no shortcuts. This is a 20-week plan and slowly builds capacity up to 21.1 km as you faithfully follow the plan.   Other training plans for half marathons may be shorter, but they all follow the same principle. You run longer and longer distances as your capacity increases over time.

I have also been reading the book of James these days and reflecting on the relationship between crucible experiences (trials) and our personal growth. James 1:3-4 reminds us that “the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James clearly says testing produces perseverance. But then just a few verses later, he seems to contradict himself by saying that perseverance is required to stand firm in a time of testing.

 

 

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

So, which comes first – the perseverance or the trials?    Do we need trials to develop perseverance, or do we need perseverance to withstand trials?

The answer is “yes!”. I believe that the biblical pattern is that trials develop our capacity to withstand harder trials in the future.  What was overwhelming for me as a young man (preparing a message, leading a ministry) is no longer as intimidating. But God has other challenges before me, stretching me and building my capacity.   Just as in physical training, we experience the training effect in our spiritual lives as we follow God and his personal training program of problems, challenges, opportunities and suffering, carefully and uniquely designed for us. The program, if we follow it, will bring us to an ever-higher level of maturity and fruitfulness.

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