While reading Wild at Heart this afternoon, I was struck by a particular passage where John Eldredge quoted Winston Churchill’s statement that all his past life had been a preparation for the trials Britain was going through in World War II. Eldredge then went on to state, “The same is true of you, your whole life has been preparation.”
This is what I wrote in response:
Father, is it true? Has all my life up to this point been preparation? For what? What is it that you want me to do that it has taken fifty five years of preparation? You have told me that I am a Gideon. I want so badly to be the kind of warrior who is willing to go up against insurmountable odds, armed only with your power. Let me be a clay jar, plain and unassuming, but a deadly weapon when filled with you. Gideon led others to freedom. That is what I want to do. I want to be an agent of your grace. I want to help others break away from the chains forged by the lies they believe. I want to be in the battle and watch what you will do.
I want to hear your voice in the midst of all the noise around me. I want to be dangerous, the kind of man who can’t be labeled, who can’t be controlled because he is doing what you tell him to do. I want to live abundantly, to love with abandon, to fight with every fiber of my being for the freedom for which you have set us free. I want to go when you say go, to fight when you say fight. I want to stop and watch you work and to rest when you tell me. I want people to take notice – of you, and the greatness of your grace.
Perhaps your fight is for one heart at a time Fred? My life changed 3 years ago when I read this GK Chesterton quote:
"Why be something to everybody when you can be everything to somebody?"
I wrote about it last year here.
Bob, that is an excellent post. I think you are right. We're not called to change the whole world at once or by ourself.
Thanks for the comment