Day 13 - You gotta have an ID if you are going to install a gizmo

Today I selected songs that focused on the cross. I am reading a book by NT Wright on worship and he inspired me to select songs focused on that. His message was that the cross is the image that God has selected to represent his character. It speaks of humility and servanthood and sacrifice. The cross also means so much more than my ticket to heaven. It is the ‘climax of the covenant’. It truly is God’s victorious blow over evil. Wright encourages us to study and understand all that the cross represents and how it has radically changed the world forever.

ANYWAY… Mark spoke this morning on leadership. Leaders must not hurt their flock, need to be trusted, need to have strong character (humility, integrity), that the well of ministry is dry and leaders cannot get your life from it. He talked about John the Baptist and how he understood his role that he must decrease so Jesus could increase. Failure will happen but ‘is never fatal’. ‘I have probably failed more times than succeeded’. ‘You only have to succeed once to be successful’. (I like that last quote) 

I have also been reading Uprising by Erwin McManus where he talks all about character. One point McManus makes is that if we are to seek honor in our life… we need to become humble which leads to integrity which leads to courage and then leads to honor.

Humility -> Integrity -> Courage -> Honor

Here is a quote from Uprising by Erwin McManus from page 257

The transformation of our character is more revolution than reformation. It is forged from battles fought far more than by beliefs held. It emerges out of crisis, not out of classroom. It doesn’t just come to you; you must run to it. It is like a gauntlet waiting to be conquered. Character is like a hero asleep within you waiting to be awakened. Its power sweeps through you in waves of transformation. In pursing a life that is not about yourself you find yourself living the life you’ve always longed for. And with each challenged faced, with each victory won, you suddenly come to the realization that you are a different person than the one who began the journey. Simply attempting the gauntlet has changed you forever.

He also points out these paths too:

Gratitude -> Wholeness -> Generosity -> Nobility

Faithfulness -> Perseverance -> Wisdom -> Enlightenment

The first character trait of each path forms a triad that is central to a God-like character. Humilty & Gratitude & Faithfulness

Then, in the afternoon we went door to door trying to install toilet gizmos in the community! I went with Dave (a student from Bethel) this time and we installed 14. The guy is a salesman! These ‘gizmos’ only work on toilets that are old fashioned. Dave got a guy to take 2 gizmos who was having his toilets replaced with the new models in two days! I would have given up once I heard his toilets were being replaced, but that didn’t stop Dave. He doesn’t give up!

Funny story though… the city council gave us these flimsy ID cards that are simply pieces of paper with double sided tape on them. Nobody took care of their ID’s after the first day so none of us had them. As our team spread out all over the local neighborhood some of the elderly got scared and began calling neighbors and closing their drapes and hiding in their house. You see, some of the guys in the school have beards and wear kinda shaggy clothing. And some of the guys are pretty big. Dave has his ears and his eyebrow pierced. We got chewed out a couple times because we didn’t have ID’s. And some people called the council and the policed because they were scared!

A city vehicle stopped us and said we need to quit because we don’t have ID. So Dave and I walked to the city took catch the bus home. At the bus stop a random elderly woman sat next to us and we started talking to her. She asked what we were doing and we told her and her eyes widened and said, “You are the ones! Do you know that you have people scared all over the neighborhood!!”

We finished the evening with our theophostic training.