I’m just going to be real with you, the last month or so of developing partners has been difficult. We have been in Ohio since the Holidays and really going at it full steam since the first of the year, and until about the second week of March things were cruising. We had meetings galore and it seemed like the momentum would keep building and building. We were elated, excited, and confident.
And then things just… stopped. We worked and struggled to get any meetings. Some weeks we had nothing to show for our efforts. From the outside it probably looked like we had a couple really restful weeks, but on the inside it felt terrible. Like we weren’t good enough or working hard enough. We moped and worried, got physically sick (a few times), then Easter came and went, reminding us of the amazing sacrifice, sufficiency, and triumph of our Lord and Savoir.
And then the bell went off. We’ll call it the conviction bell. When did we stop giving God the glory for everything and start thinking we were pulling this off by our own strength? When did we stop trusting the Lord to lead us each day, week, and month?
I don’t remember who said it, but a Christian leader once said that he was just a donkey, a dumb animal that wasn’t good for much. But then he brought it into perspective a bit as he explained that he was like the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as everyone cheered and worshipped Jesus. The Messiah, the chosen one who would make all things right. We are just like the donkey too. Sometimes, if we see people cheering, we start to think they are cheering for us. But it is Christ who deserves the glory. And, it is Christ who gives us our identity and our worth.
I am sure I will learn this lesson again because I have learned it before. But maybe you can help remind us when we slip next time. Remind us that it is Christ we are taking to France. And it is also Christ that we need to preach to ourselves and spend time with every day.
