FINDING YOUR STARTING LINE
by Kevin Miller
It was a cold morning in early December, 2017. I sat in an emergency room holding tightly to Al’s hand as he lay dying. This man had been my spiritual father for more than a decade. He had a stroke the evening before and suffered through the night until his breakfast appointment broke into his house and found him the next day.
Al was weeping and moaning softly, but his grip was as powerful as ever. He wasn’t letting go, and I wasn’t letting go. His eyes were closed, and I was told that he was “no longer there,” that “he couldn’t hear us,” and that his grip was just an “involuntary action.”
I knew they were wrong.
I leaned forward and whispered into his ear the last words I would ever say to him. I told him about his life here and how pleased His Father was. I told him about where he was going and what it would be like. I told him that I loved him.
After those few minutes passed, I sat back emotionally exhausted. As I did, the man who they said was not with us any longer pulled up in his bed, kissed me gently on my forehead, and lay back down. By the next day he ascended into eternity.
Al’s Story
I knew Al’s story intimately. I knew his struggles and humanity. I knew how he transcended from appearing to be a Christian to actually becoming a disciple of Jesus. You know what I mean. In the Latin it’s framed Esse Quam Videri – To Be Rather Than to Appear.
At 62 Al had a revelation of his life’s purpose to change a nation, to infiltrate it with a team of devoted Christ-followers. Together they helped grow eight churches with five pastors into over a thousand churches, changing the destiny of an entire country. He was called to this new mission when he was the age I was when I gave him my last goodbye. Then at 85, with a kiss on my forehead, he passed a holy baton to fulfill my purpose – it was a new starting line for me.
Danny’s Story
Danny had found his way to the bottom of the barrel more times than he can remember. He had burned every bridge, disappointed every friend and family member. He had taken every shortcut, and those shortcuts brought him right back to the depression that comes from losing all hope. He didn’t have a home, a car, a job, his health, or any road he could see back.
Then someone from his past just happened to reach out to him and asked how he was. How he really was. They spent time reminding him who he really was and what he was called to. They invested in him like no one had in what seemed like years. A small community of people each invested in Danny the way that God called them to invest. Over the course of the next few months, Danny found things restored to him. He now has a job, a car, a home, and hope.
Your Story
You might be your own version of Danny. You used to think you had it all figured out and you started taking shortcuts. You may have just parked your faith and said, “I’ll be back, Jesus, I just need a little time off.” And then the inevitable slide begins. You can really only go forward or backwards – there is no standing still in life.
You might be thinking “God can’t use me. I’ve messed up too much.” I’ve had too many friends think that. Some took their own lives or they just gave up and believed the lie – that they were done. That is a lie from the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and devour your life. Jesus came to tell you that you were made for an adventure. Your Father made you for it, and He’s called you to it. It could be dangerous or frustrating or hard, but you were made for it, and when you partner with Him you can do more than you could ever imagine.
So many times we put a period in our lives when Jesus intends a comma. When we think we are done He has just begun to do a work in us. I meet with a lot of young men and women who are trying to navigate their lives and find their purpose. What I have found is we really need to find the starting line.
Luke 7:30 says, “But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves…” Don’t let that be you.
Make today your starting line. Say yes to the purpose and calling that God has placed on your life.
Esse Quam Videri. Make the decision to be rather than just appearing.
