We had a great trip to see Taylor. We thank God and so many friends for making such a visit possible. We owe special thanks to Anna, our dear friend from Brazil, who let us live with her while we were on the big island.
I felt blessed to have a few days to encourage my son before he left for a foreign land. Almost every morning we ate breakfast by the ocean and I shared what seems most important… our love for him and God’s love for us. One of the greatest weaknesses in my life has been my competitiveness. Perhaps there’s a part of competition that’s not so bad, but I know certain aspects just don’t line up with Jesus. His only battles were with the devil. Jesus seemed to never compete with man. I don’t think he needed to; all His needs were met by His Father. If you don’t really care what man thinks, there is not much of a reason to strive to be number one. The disciples were more like us… always trying to be the greatest. Jesus constantly taught them that in His Kingdom such strivings did more harm than good.
I know I’ve passed some of these harmful pursuits to my children and I wanted to tell Taylor that God works from a totally different viewpoint. “He loves us and this love is not dependant on our accomplishments. If we know this and let Him be the source of our satisfaction, we’ll be happy. He will work through our lives even when we don’t know it. We just need to live trusting Him.”
Though I know these things are true, my actions have not always modeled such contentment. I called my parents on Christmas Eve and my dad jokingly shared that he expected our family’s annual game of charades to be the most peaceful ever because his two most competitive sons were on the opposite ends of the earth… one in Hawaii and one in Zambia. These aren’t the footsteps I want my children to follow! “Just remember, son, our ways are not God’s ways.” It was at this moment that Taylor told me a story.
“I think you’re right, Dad. Just last week our teacher told us a true story. There was a large church on the mainland that sent a missionary to an island that had never heard of Jesus. Well, this young man was not very good at learning the language. Each year he would report that he was doing his best, but he was having a hard time communicating. The home church was patient at first, but after several years the pressure for results started to build. ‘Where are your converts? Why don’t you have a church in place? What are you doing there?’ Finally, after ten years, the church concluded their mission had failed. They withdrew support and the missionary came home, quite ashamed he had done no good. It was over a year later that the church decided to try again. They sent another young man to the same island hoping this time there would be some fruit. The new missionary proved to be gifted at learning the language of the island. After one year he felt fluent enough to try to preach. On a designated Sunday, the entire village gathered to hear the missionary speak. He stood and spoke almost a full hour, explaining the Good News of Jesus and His sacrifice for us. At the end of his sermon, the young man said, ‘If anyone would like to give your life to this One who gave His life for us, would you please stand?’ To his amazement, every person present, including the chief, stood up. The missionary knew they had misunderstood, so he asked everyone to sit back down and he went through his message again. Everyone listened intently and when he concluded, the invitation was repeated, ‘If you would like to give your life to this One who gave His life for you, please stand.’ Once again, everyone stood. This time the missionary was frustrated. He knew they could not have understood because such a response after just one sermon was unheard of. When he motioned for everyone to sit down again, the chief remained standing. ‘Sir, do you think everyone understands what I have been saying?’ The chief replied, ‘Yes, we understand. You see, the person you described who gave His life for us… someone just like Him lived in our village for ten years. Because of him, we believe what you say is true.’”
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener… Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing… As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…” John 15:1-17