Discover Life: Wrapping Up February 2015 - Watch Your Gauges!!!: February is behind us! What a month it has been too. The students were instrumental in their support of several retreats, including a minister's retreat. They were also able to attend and glean from the minister's retreat. The students were intensely challenged by the speakers' call for ministers to find contentment and balance in their lives and let that have its effect on their ministry. The support for these retreats is exhaustive. The students cut and stack the wood, clean the whole facility, help with the kitchen, maintain and repair all facilities and equipment, etc. It is a pleasure to serve. We refer to all menial labor as "worship" because that is what it is. The labors of the students provide much of the platform for every person who receives ministry up here in any way. It is a thrill to see people praying for someone who has relaxed enough to open up an issue while sitting in front of a huge fire place with a warming fire on wood cut, split, stacked, and replenished by our students. That's just one example. There truly is no end to the wide reaching effects resulting from a person being willing to labor in love.
We are most importantly, witnessing the results of the transforming power of Jesus in the lives of the students. Taylor enrolled in late November. He is an example of Jesus' parable of the pearl. He transitioned from inductee to student and has completed the 1st Approach (Pre-requisites of Discipleship) and is currently neck deep in his working through the 2nd Approach (Characteristics of Discipleship). Nick enrolled in the ministry in January and transitioned from inductee to student late February. He also completed the 1st Approach and is the process of the 2nd Approach.
Several of our students gave testimonies of God's working in their lives. Taylor shared an emotionally charged testimony of God's love, grace, and restorative nature as he explained his new understanding of what family is and his joy to be a part of it. Stephen shared how God is dealing with him specifically in his need to find joy and contentment in the "now" ... not in what is to come but what is happening right now. Nick shared how Jesus is remolding his understanding of who God is and what it means to be a disciple.
The students also served their community in ministry by supporting and meeting various needs. Our food pantry distributed 1500 lbs of food, greatly because of their labors. The students provided key support for a Valentine's community outreach. The students helped repair frozen pipes, shovel, plow, and even repair a failing front porch. As needs are made known throughout the community, the students enjoy meeting them. The students also provide the ministry service support, and some provide key leadership, for our mid-week, Discover Life Mountaintop Community services. This DL service is based on Celebrate Recovery but molded to the specific needs of the community.
We are looking with anticipation to the future. It is our hope to continue to spread the news that Discover Life is a great resource for ministries who are seeking to restore people to Christ. For more information on how Discover Life can be a service to the people influenced by your ministry, please go to www.discoverlifeministry.com!
All in all, the month has been a huge success in the lives of the students on the hill. We ask that you would pray for Adam Clark, our newest inductee. We ask that you would pray that God would still the raging seas in his mind so that he would be able to finish this road he so desperately desires to walk and that he would experience and know true divine deliverance as we have already seen here.
Lessons from the Hill: Jesus was brilliant in His ability to teach important lessons using the simplicity of what surrounded Him ... a fig tree, vineyard, a garden, a lunch kit, etc. Up here, our aim is to mirror His discipleship process and we also have many simple things to learn great lessons from. In closing, I would like to offer this thought. This month I would like to remind you to watch your gauges. As I started my truck to go up the hill, I thought I let it warm up sufficiently. It was about -6. I noticed that my truck was struggling in its acceleration. As I drove up the mountain, I saw the thermostat begin to elevate ... which typically up here is good, because it means heat will soon be blowing. But this time the heat didn't stop ... it continued. Before long it was close to spiking, the thermostat never kicked in, and my engine was close to redlining ... so I killed it. I opened the hood and steam was everywhere ... it happened so fast. What happened was that, though I had what should have been sufficient anitfreeze, it wasn't enough considering the frost effects of speed. The fluid in my radiator was like a Slushie and was unable to move. So the normal functions of my engine that should keep it from overheating were prevented causing it to overheat. Fortunately it vented through a loosened hose clamp and not through a crack in the engine (that would be bad!!!).
What's the point? Often we provide the people who serve God through us everything they need to properly function and we go our way. I want to remind you to watch the gauges. People who serve rarely have yellow gauges (something I harp on a lot). They only usually have green and red. Everything is green until it is red ... once red they are gone, and usually with collateral damage ... sometimes even catastrophic. It is our responsibility as leaders of the body to monitor the gauges and determine where the yellow should be ... that forces us to be close to those we lead. You can't keep your thumb on someones heartbeat unless you are within arms distances. The people we lead need our involvement ... and they need our restraint. We fail them by letting them do things that they offer to do, seem willing to do, we want to be done, but should not be done. It is the will of God that somethings are to be left undone ... can I say that? It is true. Failure brings many things to light that success keeps hidden ... and God is interested in those things either within ourselves, in others, or in the unity of the whole. If we allow people to serve us, we must take responsibility for their well-being. It is not enough to provide resources, we must provide the safest place on earth to fail, to rest, to learn, and to try again. Jesus said to Peter what He still says to us ... "if you love Me, feed my sheep." We are all sheep ... if we allow sheep to serve us subordinately we must understand that they are now the sheep we are feeding. That's my take on it anyways.
Thanks for reading!
Patrick Hazard
Director, Discover Life
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