There was a large part of me which didn't want to. Didn't want to sit and wait and be, because often - what God has to say isn't easy. Often, it's that kind of wonderful - difficult tension which means I have to die to self, and do something. It's that kind of wonderful-difficult tension which draws me out of my comfort zone, and calls me to be bold.
But as He always does, despite my stubborn heart, He met me in my place, and He gently spoke to me a story; which simultaneously revealed my greatest fear, and peeled back the layers of my intense vulnerability.
A man gave his life to the Lord, and said "anything that you want God, anywhere you lead Lord, and I will go".
God took the man to the top of the tallest mountain, and together they built a house with windows on every side. From his windows the man could see many villages down below.
"What would you have me do God?" he asked, and the Lord answered, "as you see need, meet it simply in my name".
The man woke up and as he was pouring his cereal for breakfast, he looked out the window and saw many people down in a village below, who were starving and without any food. He looked at the boxes of cereal scattered around his kitchen table and he said "okay God!"
He gathered the boxes into his arms and was on his way out the door when out another window he saw a second village; in the opposite direction, and they were living on dry land, parched and without any water to drink. The man looked at the bottles of water he had, and the clean water running from his tap, and the hose that was resting in his garden, and he said "okay God".
But as he tried to carry the cereal, and the water, it was all too much, and he knew; he simply had to pick one, or the other. So he sat at the table in his kitchen, surrounded by water bottles and cereal - which lay scattered on his floor, and he thought about which need he should meet.
And when it was dark he went to bed, and the next morning he woke up and saw a third village out of his window and he knew that they had never heard the word of God..And so he said, "surely I must take them the Bible," and with great enthusiasm, he stepped over the cereal and water on his floor, grabbed his Bible, and headed out the door.
He only got a few steps before he realised that the people probably didn't speak his language, and if he were to reach them, he would need to stay a very, very long time. He would have to learn their language and possibly, he would never see his beautiful house again.
"That's a big decision" he said, "I shouldn't rush"; and so he sat at his table, with his Bible, and he waited for God to tell him which need to meet.
He woke up the third day and as he was pouring his breakfast he saw the first village again, "they survived two days without me," he said, "perhaps they will be fine"; and he looked behind and saw the cereal scattered on his floor, now growing stale and attracting rats, and he grumbled in his heart, 'well look what you made me do'.
And he spent the day cleaning his house so he would be ready for the work of the Lord.
And one day, the man woke up old and worn, and he looked out his window, and decided he was simply too frail to do anything of purpose, so he poured his cereal and swept the cob-webs from the corners of his windows.
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