Day 22: Vision part Deaux... what's in the toolbox?

What's in the Toolbox?

As I mentioned in my previous blog on day 21, my former pastor Rodney H challenged me  to develop my vision statement. The first step down that path was to look in my "toolbox" to see what tools I had available to accomplish whatever it is that God has me on this mudball called earth to do. Doesn't it make sense that the God of this universe would supply me with what I needed to do whatever it is He wants me to do? What are the tools that God gave me? For me there were three things:

1. Spiritual Gifts  - those special abilities given to each Christian by our Creator to accomplish His will through us.

2. Abilities and aptitudes... beyond those specific spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible, the tendencies, temperament and abilities of an individual. How do you respond to different situations? What skills do you possess? Carpentry? Music? Art? Engineering?

3. Circumstances... look around you. Where do you always seem to find yourself? Look at relationships - what kind of people seem to gravitate towards you? Where are you living?


The rest of this blog post will deal with item #1 - Spiritual Gifts.

The Bible tells us that God distributes gifts to all of us - look in 1 Cor 12,13 and 14 for the discussion Paul the Apostle is having with the Corinthian church. Not everyone gets the same gift(s), because not everyone is called to do and be the same thing. Now - lots of folks weird out a bit when you start a conversation like this, and somebody almost always bring up the subject of speaking in tongues. They will have a problem with it, because it does indeed seem a bit weird. And based on that, they throw out the baby with the bathwater, as the saying goes, and (many times) dismiss the topic of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians altogether. For the sake of brevity, let's blow right past that one - and save it for another conversation at another time. It doesn't figure into my story, anyway, and I have no energy to enter into that conversation right now. I believe every gift from our God listed in Pauls' letter to the Corinthian church is valid and has its place in the Church. Remind me later to perhaps address the topic of tongues in another blog.

There are tests that have been written that ask a battery of questions that, when analyzed, give an accurate description about which gift(s) are at work in a believer. Just Google "spiritual gifts test" and look into what you find. Answer the questions and look at the results.

I took a Spiritual Gifts test after I had the conversation with Rodney. I had also taken several of these throughout the years and the results have always been very consistent.  I would recommend that you take several  spiritual gifts tests over time. For me, these top three gifts have always shown up when I take these tests... Teaching, Administration and Prophecy.

1. Teaching - an innate ability to communicate difficult topics is a manner that is clear and understandable.

2. Administration - the ability to bring order out of chaos, to schedule and, well... administrate. (I know it is bad form to use a word in a definition of the same word, but well - there is no real special extra spiritual definition for this word, as it is what it is). Not everybody has this gift, though many could use it, methinks.

3. Prophecy - one of the weird ones that folks tend to get all wrong, or get bent out of shape over. This gift isn't about telling the future - it's about speaking God's mind in a situation. It's all about knowing God's Word to the extent that when confronting a situation or person you can begin a sentence by saying "Thus says the Lord..." and then say what God says. It's not about foretelling as much as it is about "forth-telling".

The first time I took a Spiritual Gifts test and these results showed up, I jumped up and down... God wants me to be a preacher!!!! These three gifts are a pretty typical set of spiritual gifts that you would expect a pastor to possess, and I suspect that most pastors do indeed have these gifts operational in their lives.

However, knowing what the tools are in your toolbox and knowing what to build with them are two different things. Anybody who knows me knows I am NOT a preacher. What happened? Did I miss the boat when I pursued a career as a United States Navy sailor followed by another career as an IT engineer followed by a career as a musician?

First - God made it abundantly clear to me years ago that my becoming a pastor or even a worship pastor was totally out of the picture. I will you that story sometime. Suffice it to say, God spoke with a very loud and unmistakeable voice back in 1985 (or so). Second -  He has also made it abundantly clear that I am doing EXACTLY what He wants me to do now - be a music teacher. Hmmmmm.

The Spiritual gifts I possess as a Christian are indeed part of the puzzle, but they by no means tell the whole story. They are the tools in my toolbox that I  use every day as I pursue the fulfillment of the vision God has put in front of me.

In the next two blogs I will bring in the other two items that God used to help me craft my vision statement - my aptitudes, abilities and temperament and my circumstances.

I am such a tease... I know. But it is late and I must toddle off to the land of nod.
Blessings!
mr G

Day 21: Where there is no vision....

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish....
Another translation says 
"Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained..."


When there is no vision - no forward-looking-goal-seeking-attitude - in a persons life, there are no boundaries and/or borders. You might say there are no restraints. You might go so far as to say that if you have no vision you are unrestrained.... oh wait... that's already been said. In Proverbs 29:18! 


So  - let's put wheels on that verse and see how it drives around, kick the tires a bit and check out the ride.


I had a meeting with a pastor/mentor about 7 years ago and he asked me two very simple questions:
1. Why are you on this planet?
2. What are you gonna do about it?

This was his way of saying I needed to develop a "Vision" statement for my life and a "Mission" statement for my life. His reasoning for walking me down this road was to give me boundaries, a framework (if you will) within which I can make decisions. You see, I had come to Rodney and told him how crazy my life was. I am a self employed musician, and I was taking advantage of every opportunity that came along to make a dollar. On the surface, that makes sense. But in reality, before long you can become like a hamster on one of those spinning wheel-thingies. Going real fast, but getting nowhere. I had become that hamster. Ergo - those magical two questions - "Why am I here" and "What are you gonna do about it". Their scientific names are "Vision Statement" and "Mission Statement".  
Rodney told me that once I answered those two magic questions, then the framework was in place to help me say yes or no to "opportunities" that presented themselves. He went on to remind me that the enemy of   excellence was not "bad", but "just good enough". And if I spread myself too much, I would accomplish alot of "good enough", but sacrifice excellence in the process.
Without a vision for my life, I would be unrestrained... running this way and that, accomplishing nothing but keeping myself really busy. That was a pretty good description of my life back then.
If I could nail down why God has me here, then I could (with God's help) lay out a plan to work His plans for me. That was the challenge.
 Nailing down God's vision for my life took some time, alot of counsel and some tests. I will cover that on my next blog-post. But suffice it to say that "God knows the plans He has for us - they're good plans - not evil.." (Jeremiah 29:11); and wouldn't it make sense for US to know the plans He has for us? I'm not talking about knowing the future - I prefer NOT to know much about that, to be honest. But I can tell you that knowing the task He has for us to do NOW is a very advantageous thing. That knowledge (or vision, if you will permit) gives you boundaries - it restrains you. And that is NOT a bad thing. 
There are boundaries in my life due to the fact that I am married. There are certain activities that are easy to say "no" to because of the boundaries and restraints on me due to my being married. I like those boundaries and restraints. They keep me out of trouble. Anything that helps me make a wise decision is a good thing for me.
So the next blog will deal with how I arrived at my personal "vision statement". It changed my life. It focused my life. It focused my future. It guides my present. It brings peace into what may appear to be a difficult decision. It set up boundaries for me to run between. And I am off that stupid hamster wheel-thingie.




Mr G out.

Day 20: I love you

Pretty powerful words - "I love you". I doubt if a day goes by when my wife and I don't say those words to each other.  And every time we speak with our grown kids, we tell them we love them. Every time I see Millie the Wonder-Dog, I tell her I love her.
Here is what occurred to me today - My wife knew 35 years ago that I loved her. After all, I told her so. How stupid it would be for me have never spoken those words to her again- because after all, didn't I tell her I loved her in 1976? Those words are food for her soul. She like to hear me say those words. My kids like me to say those words. My dog likes it when I say those word. And they NEVER get tired of hearing me say I love them.
About 15 years ago, I took a trip to Russia to play a series of concerts and to work in some orphanages. I was going to be gone for about two weeks. I arranged with a local florist to send my wife a bouquet of flowers every day that I was gone. So even though I was not able to call her during my time away, I managed to tell her I loved her through a stranger with some flowers.
So as I just finished reading my blog posts (nineteen of them!), I realized how often God has affirmed to me that I am doing what He wants and that He loves me through students, parents, colleagues,my family and even complete strangers. You see - I can't see God... physically. But He still manages to communicate to me His love for me... kind of like the way I did with my wife way back when I was in Russia. And the message is ever the same..."Paige - I love you. I love it when you play guitar. I love it when you teach. I love how you connect with kids." Every time a parent or a student or a stranger tells me any of these things, it's like that florist showing up with a bouquet of flowers at my wife's classroom. A complete stranger being used to communicate my love to my wife.
The message never gets old. The words never fail to encourage.
I love you.
Pretty powerful stuff.
Mr G