After an Elder meeting one evening, the Worship Pastor of Midtown Church and me (the Pastor) decided to shoot the breeze and reminisce while playing some basketball. He reminded me of something he and I did about five years ago. I’m glad he reminded me of this specific escapade; it was one that I had long forgotten.
We were out in what was called the "compound" of our city. This is a place where in the 1980's a massive home building project was abandoned, leaving nothing behind except paved streets. While out in the compound we came up on a canal about 75 feet wide. On the other side of the canal was a wildlife preserve called Three Forks Marsh. I told him about how the other side of the canal was a great place to hike to see an awesome array of different wildlife. I don't remember what brought us to do what we did next, but before I knew it, we were in our skivvies (wow, spell check actually recognized that word) holding our clothes above our heads, swimming the murky canal, not caring about what type of creatures were in the water with us. We simply wanted to get to the other side to do some hiking. A couple hours after hiking, we jumped back into the canal, piled in the truck sopping wet and muddy and called it a day.
After reminding me of that story, he really got me thinking with what he said next. He said, "Greg, the church needs more men to lead the church. Men that are willing to get in their underwear, swim a canal full of snakes and alligators to experience adventure." He continued, "Men need men to follow. And men need manly men to follow, because those are the men that free them to be who God created them to be. Those are the men that you want to be with and live life along side, men who have found their freedom in Christ to live as men while falling in love with a Savior. I would have never thought that one day you would be my Pastor and we would be starting and leading a church together, especially after doing crazy stuff like that together."
When we look into Scripture who do we see God using? We see a crazy old man named Noah who decides, by the direction of God, to build a massively large boat on dry land with no way to move it. We see a guy named Moses who kills a man with his bare hands for picking on one of his relatives, and then takes off to live in the wilderness in fear of his life. We see a guy named Gideon, who, with 300 men and completely terrified, stands against an army that was so vast the Camels of that army were as the sand on the seashore. We see a guy named Samson (need I say more) who could tear a bear apart with his bare hands or catch like a bazillion foxes and tie them together at their tails (I can't even catch a lizard). We also see the second king of Israel as a boy who would kill bears and lions with his staff and sling shot to save sheep.
Then we see God come in the form of a man, call 12 ordinary men to begin his church. He chose a cussing sailor to be the one to build his church upon, and after his first sermon, 3,000 people were saved.
For me, it’s freeing to know that God can use men like these and someone like me, and like you, just the way we are, to build His church.
Guys, the only thing standing between you and the exhilarating life of freedom in which God has intended you to live is a muddy canal full of snakes and alligators. I know it is kind of scary, but why not jump in! You never know what God is leading you to on the other side and who will jump in with you.
