July 2013
My front porch, Nashville, Tennessee
My last Sunday in Scotland was November 20, 2011. I flew out on November 21, which made perfect sense to me because 21 is my favorite number and it is 7 + 7 + 7. Completion. And that’s how it felt. It felt finished.
At our last team brunch on that Sunday, I asked God if I was different. I asked him if I had been and done all that he wanted. And I had the most grateful heart. For my friends in that room — for Esther and Harry, Leisa, Tom and Leigh Ann, James, Melissa, Kenneth; for the students at Crossroads Church; for the realization that this lifelong dream had become my reality; for all the ways I saw God there.
And Melissa began singing a worship song derived from a proclamation of the Moravian missionaries Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann in 1732, who sold themselves into slavery to bring the gospel to the West Indies islands: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” and then she sings, “starting with me!”
And my heart rose to meet that.
Making the brave choice in your life is going to change the world. At the least, it will change your world. But I dare not limit what you are going to do on this planet, friend. Your life is Jesus’ reward for his suffering — your brave yeses, your courageous noes, hanging on, letting go, going there, staying here, all of it.
I hope you’ve already done it. I hope you’ve already taken that first step because I am sure, like I’ve rarely been so sure of anything before, that your people are waiting and your God is watching with expectancy for you to see where your map is going to take you.
And today I pray peace for you.
Because even in the scariest moments, even when the map seems upside down or you can’t see far enough ahead to feel brave enough to take a step, Jesus promises you peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
So I pray peace for you, fellow traveler. We are embarking on something new today as we say good-bye, and I pray you will never be the same because of what Jesus has done in your heart. You are stronger than you know. You are more generous than you’ve allowed yourself to be. You are impacting the people around you far more than you realize.
Will you now also be brave? I promise you I will try. I am trying in relationship and in heart and in profession to live bravely and put fear out to pasture. Watch me try and fail and pull strength from it. Because I’m watching others and pulling strength from them too. I have many more stories I could share of people in my world who are courageous — moms and teens and single dudes and musicians and artists and my family and friends. But instead, I will say good-bye and hope and pray the best for you. I can only watch as you untie your ship from the dock, and I will give it enough of a shove that if you reached back, I couldn’t grab your hand.
Instead, hold your map and the hand of your Father. And let’s all be brave.