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 october 6, 1996
Notes from the Road what a blast. this day couldn't have gone better. God really showed up here tonight. nothing could've gone better. the sound was incredible, the lights were incredible (don was working them with his feet. we're thinking of getting him some little cymbals for his knees next time), and the people here at duke were incredible. if there's anyone in the country that we've encountered over the years that knows how to put on a concert, it's the folks out here. christina ponig is an old friend of ours, and she was the one who really organized this thing, as well as the concert that we did here last year. God brought us so much needed encouragement through these people here tonight. this was a much needed payoff for us. shows like this, where we stand around talking about songs long after the show has ended, really remind us of what it is God has us out here doing. these are our peers. we all go through the same things. it's so encouraging to discuss a song about temptation and struggle of natures with a guy after a show, and really get into a discussion realizing how universal this stuff is. i spent about 20 minutes with some folks talking about a song called 'bus driver,' and how we all have equal jobs in the kingdom of God, and the importance of having patience and being God's person where He has you, and it was so humbling. God is really teaching us to keep perspective out here on the road. the point is that while God has many of us involved in corporate ministries of various kinds, those things are just extensions of our true ministries. i believe that the most pure ministry that we all have as Christians is the life that we live 24 hours a day, in public or in private. there's a difference in a vehicle for ministry, and your ministry itself. anyone can get up and play Christian for two hours on a stage. that's not the destination. the real ministries that we all have are the same, and equally as powerful and effective. in the same way that a bus driver watches people go off to their 'big important' jobs all day, feeling that his or her life is inferior to theirs, and never realizing that he is the vehicle that gets them to those 'big important' jobs, we often feel like we're ministering to no one, when the truth is that there are people that we could never realize we're affecting. i believe that the most profound ministry that any of us have is the one that God keeps a secret from us; the people that we'll never know listen to what we say, and watch what we do. i'd bet that the people who discipled mother theresa as a child might have felt that their lives were of little worth at times. how were they to know the huge part that they were playing in evangelizing to the whole world. we have to remember that we're serving a cause greater than ourselves, and needless to say, much more powerful and insightful. there are no menial jobs in the kingdom of God here on earth; a.k.a. the church (the body of Christ). be encouraged, as God has encouraged me tonight. thanks for your prayers. take care- |
