What's Your Baggage?

Hi there!

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with you in this forum. This past month has been busy for me for many reasons. Spiritually, God has been working to humble me, in a good way.

In my personal readings, I’ve been reading through 1Samuel. There is so much to be learned about leadership when we look at the life and stories of Saul and David. As much as I would like to think of myself as a David type believer, there are a lot of things that I see in my walk that remind me of Saul.

It’s not possible to express it all in a blog post, but I do want to share one aspect in particular that God has been working on in me.

Saul had already been anointed King of Israel by Samuel the prophet and the ordeal was a rather private affair. When it came time for Saul to be publicly brought forth as King, he was nowhere to be found. After wondering where Saul was, the Lord Himself revealed that, “He was hiding among the baggage.” 1Samuel 10:22

I don’t do everything wrong. I don’t think there are many, if any, people in my life who don’t know that I’m a follower of Christ. I couldn’t be much more public about what I do. As public and as open as I am about my faith, there are still ways that I hide.

When God calls us into leadership, He expects us to actually lead. I’m not going to paint a picture of what kind of roles leadership should take on. What I will say, is that there is a time to step forward and do what it is you have been anointed to do. I’ve been living out a Saul type faith, in the sense that I only step forward after being sought out.

As I live out my calling, my strategy thus far has been to simply go where I am asked to go. It keeps me pretty busy. There is also an odd kind of security that one gets, having the feeling that, “If I’m asked, it must be God.”

Coming forward without being sought out feels risky. How do I know it’s what God wants for me? Maybe it’s just me, trying to accomplish my personal version of the evangelical dream.

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that I need to ‘do something’ without being asked to do it. It’s an uncomfortable place for me to be. How do I know it’s God? Will I have enough help to accomplish the vision I have in mind? What if I fail? What if people don’t like or want it?

Stepping out doesn’t carry with it the security of having been asked. If you have been asked to do something, you know that someone wants you doing it. If you step out and do something that people have not asked you to do, you have little guarantee that anyone will want you doing what you are doing. You might even face strong opposition.

The church itself tends to be a rather precarious place to live out your faith. There are usually at least a few people there who really don’t want you to play your role in making disciples. As long as you stay quiet and help pay off the mortgage, you’ll probably get along fine. Stepping out and actually doing something might make life a little more complicated.

I don’t believe that God has anything crazy planned for me, and I don’t fear losing any friends over what I might do. As the days and weeks unfold, I hope to share with you some specifics of what I have in mind. For now, here I am. I was hiding in the baggage for a while. Here’s hoping I don’t become the tyrant that Saul was as well.

How about you? If you’ve chosen to take your stand with Jesus, who even knows? Are there ways that you remain in hiding? Maybe you have your own baggage of sorts and just can’t seem to crawl out from under it.

I’ll be glad to listen.

St Thomas IPM

If anyone is going to the International Plowing Match in St Thomas on Tuesday morning, I want you to know that I’ll be there. Depending on what you’re looking for, you may or may not want to stop by my tent.

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ and would like to become one, I would recommend stopping by the CFFO (Christian Federation of Farmers Ontario). They have a proven track record of leading people to the Lord. I think you even get a cool walking stick.

If you are a believer and want to see how it’s done, I still recommend CFFO. If you are a believer and have evangelism all figured out, it might sicken you to watch me in action.

If you don’t want to interact with someone who ‘knows how it’s done’, stop by The Gideon tent and say hi to me. I tried finding someone to fill my shoes, but the people who are excellent at public evangelism are either not interested, too busy or don’t read my blog. (Or some combination of the three)

Fortunately however, I’m not the only Gideon manning the tent. I am blessed to be a part of a group of individuals who really do love the Lord, many of whom are in fact well gifted in interacting with the general public. In other words, it might be useful stopping by regardless.

I’ll be there from 8:00am to 11:00am handing out Testaments and flogging myself until I am able to share a few words of personal witness.

Until next time, remember to buy energy efficient light bulbs for your home. They might have adverse health effects, but they use less energy. Which makes it ok.....

Kevin

Who Wants to be a Christian Anyway?

If you really don’t love Jesus, I want you to know something. I understand. I get it. I really do. A friend of mine commented on my Facebook post today and it took me back to the man I used to be. My friend said that they couldn’t imagine me wearing Alice Cooper facial makeup. That’s the thing isn’t it? I really am a new creation and she never knew the man who used to be Kevin Abell.

I've spent part of my evening going through my high school yearbook looking at my Alice Cooper getup. Wow. I used to have hair. That is about the only thing I miss about that young man. This picture was taken during our high school lip sync competition when I was in grade 11. I was performing Alice Cooper’s ‘He’s Back. (The Man Behind the Mask)’ It's a nice little diddy about a mass murderer named Jason. If you've watched any of the Friday The 13th movies, you're likely familiar with the character. Some of you were with me then. Perhaps you remember the young man I was. Or maybe you never really knew what was inside of me.

I had grown up believing that Santa Claus was real. I was told that milk did the body good, that people are really just a bunch of monkeys and that the universe was billions of years old. My first contact with a Christian was young lady named Melissa Milmine. Funny. As I flip through my old yearbook, she was in my grade 11 homeroom.


I went to church once in a while, but she was still the first Christian I knew of. Pastors don’t count as being Christians. It’s their job. Youth pastors aren't really Christians either. That’s just what they do. I remember Melissa talking to me in English class, asking about the kind of music that I listened to. Knowing what I know now, sitting on this side of life, I wonder what was going through her mind. Was she intentionally ‘witnessing’ to me? Did she know how lost I really was and did she hope that I would come into a personal relationship with Jesus? Probably.

I don’t remember everything about the conversation. I probably told her about Alice Cooper, Motley Crue and Anthrax. Then she asked me this weird question. “If I gave you some Christian music, would you listen to it?” What a silly thought. ‘What was Christian music anyway?’, I wondered. I really didn’t know what to say. What could a bunch of Christians possibly sing about that I would want to listen to? What do Christians do? What do they talk about? As far as I was concerened, I couldn't imagine that they would have sang about anything that would have interested me.

So I asked. “What do they sing about in Christian music? Sure, I guess I’d listen to it, as long as there are some love songs. I don’t mind slow music as long as it’s in a love song.”

I had listened to hymns in church before, but that wasn’t Christian music. That was church stuff. And it had to be played on an organ. That was the rule.

Whatever these Christians were, I really had no intention of becoming one. Even though I had no intellectual idea of what it meant to be a believer, something inside of me knew. There was a voice inside my head telling me that the life I was living really wasn’t consistent with being a follower of Jesus Christ, in spite of the fact that I had no idea of what that entailed.

Now that I am ‘one of them’, it’s as if I’m stuck between two worlds. The people in my life now find it odd to see the person that I was. While some of the people who knew me before say things like, “Man...Abell has gone off of the deep end.”

So if you aren’t a believer, I really don’t expect you to want your life to count for Jesus. Why would you? I don’t expect you to give up your personal crutch. Maybe it's something as simple as beer or food. After all, what else do you have to fall back on? Maybe you just need a holiday. You're right. I really haven't walked in your shoes, nor you mine. Why would you want to be a new creation? I mean, if living life to the fullest is your gig, then Jesus really isn’t for you anyway. Is He?

I don’t think that many nonbelievers read my blog anyway, so I’m probably speaking to myself. If this does make it in front of you, do you believe that I love you? Do you think I’m trying to mess with your head or ruin your fun? If you are anything like the man I used to be, you probably do think those things. Everything that Melissa said to me sounded like nonsense. Do my words not sound the same?

By the way Melissa, if you ever find this – let this be a thank you. Knowing what I know now, you likely did a bit of praying for me. When you listened to a sermon about reaching out to the lost, I likely came to mind. You likely had me on your heart and you were probably a bit apprehensive, if not afraid to do your best to share your faith with me, but thank you. Even though I never liked your music at the time, thanks for being willing to listen to The Lord’s prompting. If you like the kind of believer that I have become, maybe it had something to do with you being willing to do what you could to reach into my Alice Cooper world.

And since Alice Cooper is a "Christian" now, maybe I should start buying back my old cd's.

You need to do this.....

There is a letter sitting on my desk. The letter is requesting that I consider becoming an ambassador for home education.

How do you feel about that sort of thing? I don’t mean homeschooling. I mean, how do you feel about being an advocate for a specific cause? The letter takes some time in proclaiming some of the benefits of homeschooling, highlighting the fact that home schooled children are, “5 times as likely to become Christians as their publicly schooled peers who are raised in a Christian home.”

Wonderful.

I’m happy with our decision and quite pleased with what I see coming out of our children, but I really don’t feel called to champion the cause. To be honest, I’m really not led to campaign for any cause but the cause of Christ Himself.

I often have mixed feelings for activists of any flavour, be it Christian or otherwise. I’m often thankful for their efforts, but find that when I don’t put my name along with their cause they seem to think less of me. If you are speaking with an environmentalist, how does the conversation go if you tell them that you aren’t going to participate in Earth Hour?

What about in Christian circles? How do you feel about the following statements?

All believers need to go on at least one mission trip to the developing world.
All believers need to evangelise door to door.
All believers should be actively involved in street ministry.
All believers should home school their children.
All believers should send their children to Christian School.
All believers should send their children to Public School. (Being the light in a dark world)
All preachers should sound like Paul Washer.
All preachers should preach like Charles Stanley.
All Christians need to be focussed on fighting child poverty.
All Christians should boycott products sold by companies that sin. (Child labour, racism, slavery)
Believers should live downtown.
Believers should live in suburbia.
All believers need to make and baptize disciples.
All believers need to be actively serving others in need.
All believers need to attend weekly Bible study meetings.
All believers should attend the weekly prayer meeting.
All believers should be actively involved in ministry and outreach.
All believers should be an active part of a life group.
All Christians should have some kind of leadership role within the church.
Believers who live in the country love Jesus more than those who live in urban areas because they are closer to God out in the open spaces. (That one must be true!)

What do all believers need to be concerned about? Are The Gideons better or worse than The Canadian Bible Society? Is World Vision more or less worthy than Compassion? Does a missionary in Morocco deserve our support, but the one in Pakistan does not? If I want to live and give the way that God wants me to, where does it begin and where does it end?

Do what you want with this topic. For me, although I am involved in a few different Christian ministries, I don’t intend to advocate any of them. If you want to know more about home schooling, here is a neat study that you can check out.

http://www.hslda.ca/cche_research/2009StudySynopsis.pdf