Connecting Those Dots...

I'm in my hotel room after a full day of learning, brainstorming, deliberation... knowing that what we decide - the 30 or so of us - may chart the course of life for thousands for the next year and some. That feeling is supposed to give me a sense of power and authority, right? Wrong... I'm humbled and my knees are shaking.

Out there, I think there are people who are better, who know better, who talk better, who plan better, who are older and more mature than me. So if the key is handed to me, I cannot sit and simply wear myself a crown, I must pray that while it is a key that holds liberation for others as is my life purpose, it is also one that keeps my cell door locked. The grace that I have to give life must work personal death and sacrifice in me. For every reward or promotion or appointment that I have, there must have been a corresponding sacrifice made, or attitude exhibited, or grace exhibited. So to retain my rich path of reward and promotion and appointment, I must continue to fan the flames of sacrifice and attitude and grace. I must continue to sow in order to continue to reap. Oh, better still: I'll just keep my eyes and heart on the need to sacrifice, walk in personal government and under grace. Not for a moment should my eyes and heart shift towards those juicy results of the blessing.

So... I'm in my hotel room after a full day of learning, brainstorming, deliberation... I'm humbled and my knees are shaking: I'm grateful that I am given this opportunity, but goodness me... I must not violate that principle that I am following, distort that perspective that I have, invalidate that covenant life that I'm walking in... whatever it might be - that makes this key keep coming into my hands.

Cause and effect... one day soon (hopefully) I'll connect those dots for my life. That's the kind of dots-connection that makes an old man - lying in his bed with one last breathe left in him - teary-eyed and satisfied... waiting eagerly for the life to come.