kind of like giant spoke wrenches.....
Sometimes I envy the accountant. Sometimes mind you, and maybe that's because I don't understand the utter depths of frustration that confront the man who deals with numbers. I guess I envy them because, from my perspective, they are able to see an end result in their work. They can start with a stack of papers and numbers and balance a budget, or find the missing money.
Maybe a home builder would be a better example of the tangible nature of ground up project completion. Here is a bare piece of earth. Here is a house. I know it is more complicated than this but it seems simple to some degree.
Sometimes it seems that the work of a Christ Follower lacks tangibility.
I love what God is allowing Katie and I to do these days. I love being on staff with the Navigators. I love these "beginning" stages of a ministry here at the University of Tennessee. But lots of days it feels like I'm moving in insanely slow motion.
The business of relationship building is a tricky one, that is for sure. Nothing tangible when it comes to dealing with people. How do we know when we've built a successful foundation of friendship? Is it measured in hugs? Seriously though, it's hard to know how people are doing and it's not often that you run into people who are fans of total disclosure in short periods of time. Friendship is an interesting thing, it takes patience, a patience I sometimes lack.
Now, I praise God that there are tangible points of growth in the spiritual life that we get to help others strive for. What greater joy is there than watching your friend, who previously did not acknowledge Jesus as his Lord and Savior, fall to his knees and cry out to his Father for forgiveness and strength? I can think of few things that cause the heart to scream its joy like this. The angels in Heaven rejoice!
Sometimes this process of becoming a Christian can take years. I trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of so many of my friends, winning their hearts over piece by piece until finally they "confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord" and "believe in [their] hearts that God raised Him from the dead." Yet sometimes I think that things are moving too slowly! I begin to doubt God's timing, quit praying and start moping. Until that next conversation with one of those friends when it's obvious that the spark of interest in eternal things has increased it's fire starting potential.
So lots of times, when I feel the most frustrated, I like to build bikes. Or take them apart. Start from scratch on something and work with my hands until it's completed. It may take a day. It may take weeks or even months, but in the end the bike stands there completed, built up how I wanted it to look. More importantly though it stands as a visible, tangible reminder to me that God also works in His own time, with His own two hands, building us into the image of His Son. From sinner to saint. I'm glad He uses people in His process as well, like giant cone wrenches or spoke wrenches, we get to be involved in the lives of those around us, praying, befriending, sharing the gospel. Slowly piece, by piece God is completing another work of art. Pretty rad. Pretty amazing.
