The Power of One

My husband and I watched a movie tonight at a theater in Oklahoma City. I can guarantee this new release will not be a block-buster or win any awards! The story was super sweet, the message challenging, but the acting … well, let’s just keep things positive.

In this movie, an elderly man asked a young boy to mow his yard. After the task was completed, the senior saint invited the pre-teen in for a glass of lemonade. That small gesture began a friendship between the two of them that opened the door for one-on-one mentoring.

For what seemed like months, the young boy and his friends met with this man for refreshments – physically and spiritually. They learned, through his teaching and example, simple lessons about life, God’s Word, and relationships with others. Their lives were changed, as were the lives of their friends and families. Neighbors noticed their newfound faith, generosity, and attitude. Family members noticed their hunger for God’s Word and their desire to be more like Christ. Friends began searching for the source that brought change to their lives. These “new creations” (1 Cor. 5:17) impacted their part of the world with the Gospel message.

What began this revolution? One elderly man willing to reach out and mentor someone God placed in his path. He could have used the excuse that they didn’t have much in common, or that the generation gap was too large, or that his illustrations would be out-of-date. This gentleman could have thought of a number of excuses that would have been valid to many of us. Instead, he used what he had – time and a love for God – to influence young lives. For generations to come, people will hear the gospel message and lives will be changed because of one life. That young lawn-mowing boy became a pastor, some of his friends (also influenced by the elderly man) are in full-time ministry, and all those portrayed in the boys’ “Bible study group” are serving the Lord where God has placed them.

An elderly gentleman with a love for the Lord and a willingness to invest in young lives made an eternal difference in the Kingdom. It didn’t take much talent or skill to do what he did. It didn’t require seminary training to pass on what God had taught him. It took a willing heart and a little bit of time.

We all can be that ONE … that reaches ONE, that reaches ONE, that reaches ONE. Whether it be thru a lecture in a classroom, a lesson in a Sunday school class, a casual conversation in the donut shop, or a heart-to-heart on a living room couch, ministry takes place when one person is simply willing to pass on what God has taught them and/or done in their life. I want to be that ONE! Do you?

Each One Reach One
(words and music by Babbie Mason)

Today a man is somewhere proclaiming the Good News,
Winning families to Jesus all around his neighborhood.
He tells them that God is able to make their house a home.
He wants to win his world for Christ,

But he can’t do it alone.

But each one can reach one.
As we follow after Christ, we all can lead one.
We can lead one to the Savior,
And together we can tell the world that Jesus is the way
If we each one reach one.

The message is unchanging – “Go ye into all the world”
And share the love of Jesus far away or door to door.
You see, just like somebody told you

That Jesus loves you so,
You must tell someone who will tell someone
Until the whole world knows that

Each one can reach one.
As we follow after Christ, we all can lead one.
We can lead one to the Savior,
And together we can tell the world that Jesus is the way
If we each one reach one.

So will you go and labor?

Will you hold high your light?
One by one and two by two

We can win our world for Jesus Christ!

Each one can reach one.
As we follow after Christ, we all can lead one.
We can lead one to the Savior,
And together we can tell the world that Jesus is the way
If we each one reach one.

Scrapping the List

I am a very organized person. I am a list maker, and I am so diligent about this that if I do something that is NOT on my list, I add it to my list so I can mark it off. Seemingly insane, I know. I know how long it will take me to accomplish each task, and I thrive on a schedule. I can’t seem to rest until every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted. Seriously, I can’t. I will lay in bed at night and think of all the things I didn’t accomplish that were on my list and how I can cram them into the next day’s schedule. A curse for sure.

Yesterday, I had my entire day planned out and list made – laundry, changing the sheets, bathing the dog before his hair cut, cleaning the bathrooms, running errands in town, and other various “important” tasks, all to be done before I could fix supper and take my Sunday school class of 7th grade girls to a new animated movie at a nearby theater. I was a woman on a mission and nothing would stop me … or so I thought. Then the phone rang. It was Melanie (name changed), a former youth group member from years gone by. She and her husband live many miles away and work with the youth in their church. They have been ministering with students since they were college age, and are now in their 40s. My youth pastor husband and I have been their “sounding board” off and on for years, the ones they call when they need advice on youth ministry or life changes. The first of many calls yesterday was a cry for help, filled with heart-wrenching sobs on the other end of the phone. Melanie’s marriage is in shambles. Her world is falling apart.

For hours I counseled Melanie. I cried with her, prayed with her, agonized with her, and loved on her over the phone. I wished she was in my living room having a heart to heart over a cup of hot tea, but she was miles away and needed a friend, a confidant, a mentor. And for this, I scrapped my list. I sat aside those things that were once so important to me, and focused on a friend in need.

We all need to do that when “duty” calls. We need to scrap the list of our personal desires when we hear of a financial need so we can give sacrificially, we need to scrap the list of our scheduled time when our child needs our attention or a friend drops by for a visit, we need to scrap our list of planned thoughts when a student reveals a need in the middle of a lesson or Bible study, we need to scrap our list of activities off our calendar when there is a greater need, we need to scrap our list of “needed sleep” when the phone rings in the middle of the night, and we need to scrap our list of “BFFs” when God brings someone else into our lives that needs a friend. We all need to be flexible and be willing to put our life on hold so we can truly minister to those whom God places in our path. John 15:13 (NIV) gives us the same message: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. I’m not even challenging you to lay down your life … just be willing to adjust your schedule or scrap your list.

Princess

Most little girls like to play “dress up” and be a princess for a day. Although I liked to play “dress up” as a child, I usually chose a cowboy outfit or one that represented a superhero. I was not your average little girl. My dad, though, treated me like a princess. In fact, that’s what my daddy called me ‘til the day he died. Recently, a friend of mine asked the question: When I get to be (let’s say) 50, will my daddy still call me his princess? It reminded me of the power of our words.

One little word – princess – spoken to a little girl makes her feel like royalty! How many little girls out there are waiting for that kind of spoken love? Sad to say, many will never hear it from their dads or the men in their lives. They need us, as Christian sisters, to reveal to them that, as the King’s daughters, they ARE royalty! They ARE His princesses! They ARE His treasured possessions! What kind of a difference do you think that would make in the life of a child, a teenager, or a young woman? Proverbs 25:11 says, A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Sounds to me like our words are pretty powerful and, when spoken appropriately, bring much delight. I encourage you to look around you for those young women who never “hear” love spoken to them. What can you do to change the way they feel about themselves and about the Father?

As a little girl my mom would dress me in frilly dresses, curl my long hair with ringlets, and gave me a pink bedroom complete with canopy bed and French provincial furniture. As a teenager, my mom enrolled me in charm classes and insisted on proper etiquette. Raised in the north by a British mother, my mom was surrounded by china tea cups, tea parties, frills, lace, and finery. She was a Victorian-style woman and she wanted me to be a girly-girl like her. Now, imagine the opposite of that and you have a picture of ME – at home in flip flops, jeans, and a t-shirt, my goal is comfort over style … and that applies in most areas of my life.

For over 30 years, I have served alongside my husband in youth ministry. While not “polished” in any way, our approach to ministry could be classified as one filled with comfort – food, relaxation, friendship, mentoring, fun, Bible study, trips, and sweet tea. It’s the kind of ministry methodology that sounds a bit like the words of the Beverly Hillbillies’ song: “You're all invited back again to this locality to have a heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality … Set a spell, take your shoes off. Y'all come back now, ya hear?”