SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #177 ---- 5/28/01
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight In This New Millennium
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #177 ---- 5/28/01
Title: "Asking Right Questions When The Need Overwhelms You"
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My Dear Friend and Partner in Ministry:
Special notification! It is possible you may receive two copies of this letter. Writing from Sarajevo, I am not certain the automated mailing system I use will recognize my address, so am having it also sent from another address that the system has been authorized to accept.
So, if you get two copies, that is great news to me. That lets me know that both the back up plan and the primary plan both worked. Next week, then, you should only get one copy.
BLESSING UPON BLESSING!
What a week this has been! Last Monday Jo Ann and I left home to spend the night in Kansas City, MO in preparation for our current trip to Bosnia and Croatia. Tuesday morning we left with our team of eleven university students, heading for Sarajevo via Chicago and a free day of sight seeing in Vienna, Austria.
By the time we arrived in Sarajevo at 2:30 p.m. Friday, we had already seen God's mighty hand at work. For example . . . .
1. One of our team members' name didn't show up in the computer in spite of the fact that she had a ticket. As we prayed for God to intervene and assure her getting on the same flight with us, we were assured she would have first priority on an already overbooked flight. Gratefully, she made the flight as far as Chicago. Then, upon arrival at the Austrian Airline ticket counter in Chicago, we discovered her name had simply been misspelled and was in the computer all along. She made the flight all the way.
2. In checking all our luggage, over half of them filled with humanitarian supplies such as clothing, eye glasses, crayons, etc., not one bag was over weight, and no repacking was necessary. In spite of that, not one single piece of luggage was lost or delayed. That is the first time in four years we have not had lost or delayed delivery of luggage. Two years ago, due to an on the ground minor collision in Amsterdam, none of our luggage arrived with us in Vienna. Last year eight team members were missing thirteen pieces of luggage when landing in Sarajevo.
3. While waiting for our flight in Chicago, the team had the opportunity to meet a wonderful Bosnian family living in Grand Rapids, MI who were traveling home to visit relatives near Sarajevo. It was a perfect exposure to prepare the team for ministry. A little eight year old girl spoke English well enough to carry on a very intelligent conversation with several team members.
4. One of our greatest concerns was that we get through Customs in Sarajevo without any problems. Last year we had a major problem with getting all the eye glasses through. With nearly 300 pairs, the agent suspected we were bringing them in to sell on the black market. This year we had over 400 pairs scattered through perhaps 20 or so bags, and we asked God to let us get them all through.
After we cleared Passport Control and picked up our bags, we headed toward the Customs counter ---- only to have the agents wave every team member through with all our bags. Not only did they not check our bags, they didn't even have us stop.
God is indeed an awesome God.
Never have Jo Ann and I been more aware of the prayer covering provided us by friends and family. And, God is already giving us evidence that this is going to be a ministry trip of monumental significance to many people. We don't know how or to whom, but we know it is true.
One of our requirements for participation is that every team member must recruit at least twenty individuals who specifically commit themselves to pray for us each day. That means that we have at least 260 people praying for us daily. Knowing that there are entire congregations along with other friends and relatives, we could easily estimate the figure to exceed 1,000 to 2,000 people.
What a privilege. What a blessing! What an assurance of blessing and success to come! If you have been praying for us, thank you, thank you! If you have not, please do!
THREE DAYS FILLED WITH A WEEK:
No sooner had we arrived in Sarajevo last Friday than our ministry time began with a youth meeting at one of the churches with which we work. And was the team ever ready! So were the young people from the church, more than twice as many as last year.
Our kids did a fantastic job of sharing testimonies, singing, leading games, and bringing a Bible study, while the local kids joined right in, and wonderfully set the stage with unbelievable times of praise and worship. Hearts were immediately linked together, and the stage is set for upcoming street evangelism, coffee house ministry, and a week-end discipleship retreat with youth from Sarajevo and surrounding areas.
While all this was going on, I hid myself away upstairs making final preparation for Saturday's seminar on "Reaching Your City Through Strategic Ministry and Prevailing Prayer." This was a highly abbreviated version of the two week course I taught last January in Kiev, Ukraine at St. James Bible College.
Totaling about 50 people, it was a special joy to see church leaders and missionaries from several communities in the region, some as far as two to three hours from Sarajevo. It was a good beginning for things to come.
Saturday afternoon was orientation and planning time, lasting well into the evening before our team retired to be refreshed for Sunday.
After our team devotional time Sunday, we hit the trail running, speaking and singing in churches in Sarajevo and Novi Trovnik. What a day it was! Simply beyond words! Our team is ecstatically exhausted. In both churches the evidence of God's choreography was clear. And what a special treat to worship together in the Sarajevo church's new worship center; it is beautiful and functional beyond words, with spacious windows behind the pulpit opening up to view the city of Sarajevo spread out below you.
So, here I am, more tired than I can describe, sitting at my computer at 1:00 a.m. Monday, trying to get this note to you before going to bed.
Monday promises to be a big day as we travel outside Sarajevo into the Republic of Srpska to minister in a refugee camp of about 700 Kosovar gypsies. Nearly 400 of them are children.
Oh, dear God ---- are we really up to this task???
All of a sudden I am faced with the reality again that the task is bigger than we are. The needs are greater than we can supply. The mountains are higher than we can climb.
What can our 400 + pairs of glasses, half of them unusable prescription glasses, do to meet so many visual needs? How can 200 balloons take care of 400 children? How can four people adequately process and pass out glasses to so many people in only two hours? How can nine university students be clowns, face painters, balloon "blower-uppers", game players, and the like to so many children?
I think I finally understand Thomas" consternation when all he found to feed 5,000 men plus all the women and children was a little boy's sack lunch of five pieces of bread and two little fish. "What is this among so many?"
OVERWHELMED ---- WHAT IS THIS AMONG SO MANY?
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the need? Well, I certainly am tonight as I write. Not worried or anxious, but overwhelmed. Sitting around the table eating a late pizza supper after a full day of ministry, discussing the 700 people in the camp didn't make much of an impact. However, just now as I write to you, it has suddenly hit me ---- what can 13 people with so little resources do to minister to 700 people?
By the time you read this, we will have probably found out.
But, perhaps the most awesome thing happening right now is how God is opening up the story of the feeding of the 5,000 to me as I write to you. Thoughts are coming at me faster than I can assimilate them. (I am so excited!)
Here are just a few. According to John's Gospel in chapter 6, verses 1-14, here are some things that are getting my attention.
1. The need was greater than the disciples' abilities. I think that's pretty obvious. The Scripture says "they saw a great multitude coming toward them." We will see up to 700 coming toward us.
There were thirteen men there, just as there are thirteen of us here. The only difference is that there, one of the men was Jesus. We need Jesus, because the need we have is greater than our abilities. Jesus plus us will be more than enough. Jesus plus you will be the same.
2. Jesus' challenge was direct and to the point, confronting the limitations and inabilities of His disciples ---- "Where are we going to buy bread that these may eat?" I think He may be asking us a similar question ---- "where are your resources for these 700 gypsies?" Obviously His question was not to challenge their knowledge of their resources, but rather to challenge their focus on where their resources would come from.
Ever have Jesus ask you ---- "where do you look for your resources for ministry?"?
3. Jesus' question was not to find out the disciples' plan, but rather to set the stage for His own. "This He was saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was intending to do." (vs 6)
4. Andrew's question was too long. "What are these among so many people?" If Andrew had put the question mark after third word instead of the seventh, it would have been a good question ---- "What are these?"
Because the answer would have been so simple ---- "these are the ingredients of a miracle."
However, by continuing with those last four words, Andrew exposed his own inability to see the sufficiency of Christ in an impossible situation.
I think the Lord wants me to check my questions today ---- Am I saying, "What are these 400 pairs of glasses and 200 balloons among so many people?" Or am I asking, "What are these 400 pairs of glasses and 200 balloons?"
If I'll just ask the second question, then Jesus will have a good answer ---- "Oh, these? They're just the ingredients of a miracle. Have the people sit down, then you step aside ---- and watch."
Have you, perchance, been asking too long a question of Jesus lately as regarding your ministry or your life?
Consider shortening it. "What are these?"
5. Answering the right length question does wonders for realigning your perspective.
"What are these?"
Whatever the "these" may be, friend, you need to take a good look at them ---- for a couple of reasons.
First, to take inventory of your resources, and realize that whatever they are, Jesus wants to do two or three very important things with them ---- and you should join Him in that process. As with the little boy's loaves and fishes, he wants to "Take" them. So . . . . . hand them over, friend.
Once He gets them, then He'll do what He does best ---- He'll bless them . . . . and He'll break them. (You can figure this out for yourself.)
At that point, He'll give them back to you and tell you to distribute them . . . . because there's more than enough for your task.
Did you hear that? There's more than enough for your task.
You, finally, need to take a good look at your "these" because you need to be reminded of your true source for ministry.
It's not "These" . . . . . It's Him!
If your trust is in "These" rather than in Him, then your ministry will never satisfy the needs around you.
In what are you trusting? Your tithers? Your staff? Your denomination's resources? Your reputation? Your skills?
Don't make the mistake others have made. "Some trust in chariots, some trust in swords, . . . ."
Rather, say, "I will hope in the Lord!"
Maybe the better question is "In Whom are you trusting?"
IN CONCLUSION:
I'm excited about going to the gypsy camp. We may run out of balloons and glasses, but I'll be we don't run out of Jesus. We may come home exhausted beyond words, but we'll have become people who waited on the Lord, and therefore saw their strength renewed. And, we'll mount up with wings as eagles, we'll run and not get wear, and we'll walk and not faint.
Why do I believe that?
Because I intend to ask the right questions and and make sure they're questions that cause me to take stock of my true inventory in Christ rather than cause me to question His ability or intention.
I'll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, dear friend, when the need you see exceeds the resources you have . . . . .
Be sure to ask the right question.
One final thought ---- I'm so very anxious to share some of my perspectives again on the Balkans. Each trip it is my joy to try to help you catch a glimpse of what God is doing here. After some good rest, I hope to begin penning some of those words which I'll share with you next week.
Until then, I am yours . . . .
In His Bond,
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright May, 2001. All rights reserved.
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Hang in there! I'm with you!
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