Flint and Steel

Flint and steel. 

An  odd picture you might think. But not an odd thought.

In my many conversations I have with my many brothers, this topic came up. Eli and I were talking about how "missional living" doesn't mean going on 20 mission trips to 20 different places. How relationships being made are SO important. It is much better to go on 20 mission trips to 3 or 4 places. This gives you relationships.
You might be still wondering, why flint and steel?

 Think about it. If you strike the flint once, nothing is going to happen. You have to continue strike the flint and put effort into it to make a fire start. Same goes with relationships. You can't go visit them once, tell them you love them, then never see them! You have to rekindle the relationship. Form it and shape it, build it.

When I walked into MLKU on this past Tuesday in downtown Winston, my student that I tutored from last year ran up to me after almost 6 months of being apart, and said, "I've missed you so much!"

That made my heart leap for joy! I have tutored Des'rae every tuesday night since she was in Kindergarten. She is now in fourth grade and becoming a leader in her school, and to think that I have helped shape her as a person is an incredible. But if I had just walked in after just one time, she wouldn't even know who I was. It took years of building the relationship I had with this little girl.

Don't just apply that to "community service" though, you can apply it to any relationship you have. Make it a point to put effort into the relationships you have formed, because they need you.

Although it is SO vitally important to seek after building relationships with humans, we seem to neglect that, even more importantly, we must do the same with the Lord. He wants us to seek after Him and form the most intimate relationship with Him, but we don't. Instead we seek after worldly pleasures that we think will satisfy us more than our Creator.

In Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love, he asks himself this question, "Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are? Even though I glimpse God's holiness, we are still dumb enough to forget that life as all about God and not about us at ALL." Honestly, why are we so quick to forget? Is it that our 'problems' get in the way of a relationship with the Creator of the universe? Is it we value people's opinions over God's?

Whatever it is, we must realize that we need God and His relationship with us, because He is so worthy. He is everything we could ever dream of needing, and it takes time to realize that. Just STOP today, and gaze at Christ. His beauty, and how He loves us. THANK Him for wanting you.


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