BrianIngraham.com | ASPIRE

My mentor is someone I aspire to be like. When I was a boy I watched him in his role of camp director. When I was 18 I had the joy of spending a summer under his direction while working at Lakeside Bible Camp. When I was 24 I began to work at the same church as he did. Now I call him once a month for some great long distance mentoring. I remember the first week at this mega-church Don asked me if I would go on a prayer walk with him. As we walked he told me not to get too caught up with the hustle and hurry of DOING ministry. He told me not to be afraid to take time to calibrate to the Spirit of God during my ‘work day.’ He told me God is more interested in who I become at this stage in life than what I produce today. He told me not to lose grasp of the eternal, big picture perspective of what God is doing.

This month Don and his wife were let go from their jobs (the guy is around 60 years old) and this was his reaction. “Isn’t the Lord just Something special! As Psalms 115:3 states: “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” So one of His current good pleasures is to release Bunny and me from the ministry here at OCC…”

Isn’t that the kind of response you would hope to have? Godly. Eternal. Big picture. Biblical. Recognizing the sovereign and guiding hand of God.

Throughout the generations there have been men and women worth imitating. Don is one in his, who will be ones in ours?

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfil every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes. 1:11-12)

Yesterday I went spelunking with Dan and Rob. Rob knew this mostly unknown ‘living cave’ out just past the middle of nowhere (we stopped at the ‘middle of nowhere café’ on the way back.) For two hours we found stalagmites, stalactites and hidden caverns on the other side of tiny cracks.

I was thinking the definition of a ‘living cave’ is one where the stalagmites and stalactites are still growing. Where they are still having access to the mineral rich water that when it passes leaves growth behind. I guess that is a good analogy of a ‘living Christian.’ Someone who is still in the process of growing, who is continually saturated with mineral rich water of the Spirit of God leaving spiritual growth behind.

New Mexico has been great, yet today, this Sunday, I find myself praying for Re:Hope in Scotland, and my team scattered around the globe.

"One of the outstanding ironies of history is the utter disregard of ranks and titles in the final judgment men pass on each other….The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart."  — J. Oswald Sanders

I may have said this in a previous post but when I was reading the biography on John Hyde, a missionary to India, I was continually struck at all the forgotten 'more important' missionaries in his day.  Yet John, a quiet man of prayer, a man of godly character is remembered by someone like me 100 years later.  They wrote a book about that guy, not because of his role or title (which he didn't have one of note) but because he lived a life of prayer and had a faith worth imitating.

Our generation is searching for people whose lives are worth imitating.  People of Character.  People with integrity.  People who really do pray. Who really do love God.  What quality of person are you in the process of becoming?

As I type this I am sitting outside of our church building. I am keenly aware of the fact that tomorrow I am flying away from Glasgow for almost 6 weeks, during which the church building we meet in is coming up for sale. It is one of those moments where I have to walk away surrendering the future to God. I can’t make anything happen. I can’t do anything else, but attempt to raise funds and pray.

As I was praying this passage came to my mind.

“If I find favour in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me again see it and his dwelling-place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to Him.” — 2 Samuel 15:25-26

I feel I am in that place today. If God wants to see his name revered and lifted up in this old church building then he will make it happen, but if he has something else in mind, then I am ready to let him do to us whatever seems good to Him.

And so I leave with my hope in a God who does do amazing things even in my day.

"We have somehow got hold of the idea that error is only that which is outrageously wrong; and we do not seem to understand that the most dangerous person of all is the one who does not emphasize the right things."

– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

“As we advance through the centuries, light and life begin to decrease in the Church. Why? Because the torch of the Scripture begins to grow dim and because the deceitful light of human authorities begins to replace it.” — Merle d’ Aubigne. (1794-1872)

Who will stand up in our generation to lead people to both love and whole-heartedly seek to obey the bible?

“…For I delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands o your commands, which I love, and meditate on your decrees…My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.” (Ps 119)

I have a zit. For me, a zit is the outward sign of an inward reality. It is the result of prolonged inner tension that lingers long enough to express itself on my face for the world to see.

I have been thinking about why I am stressed out. Am I anxious that the church will fall apart if we don’t get this building? No. Many churches have survived worse. Am I stressed because our ability to purchase the building is entirely out of my control and is exclusively in the hands of God? Maybe. Ultimately, I think I’m torn on the inside because of love and hope.

Love. I love the building we are meeting in. I love its location and potential. Since we first started renting it I dreamed of what we could do if we owned it someday. I love it.

Hope. I have what some might say is an ‘unreasonable’ amount of hope in God that he is giving us this building. I see things coming together in perfect timing and always in the right direction for us. Although we have no money and no credit history, my hope is that God will continue to bring things together so that we can buy it.

Love and hope are killing me when weighed against things possibly not working out in the end. I hope that God will bring things together so that we can continue to worship and minister in the building I love. But in the end, God may have a different plan for us. And so we pray, surrender and dare to hope.