A few night ago I was in Newark for our annual Night of Broadway Stars fund raiser. I was sitting with a few staff noshing away on a salad when my work cell indicated I had a message. I checked and it was Mike's wife (from previous Jail Mail post). She said she had a message from Mike she wanted to relay to me. I waited...and then it came up:
"I have committed to 40 days of A Purpose Driven Life". I gasped and, "Ohhhh!"'d out loud so intently that the staff all turned around like, "What!?" and as the tears ran down my face I said, "It's good, it's GOOD!" and texted back to his wife how in awe I was, God is good, etc. I couldn't believe it...As if Mike's reference to even remembering the Perfect Plan and Purpose writing I'd sent 10 years earlier wasn't enough, he was now committing to Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life study which I'd also sent him excerpts from over the years (and still do to other youth in jail). I was undone and just...amazed at how God works. I shared this all with a few staff and felt a bit of pride for all the years of investment into this kid...finally perhaps some fruit!?
A load of humility was dumped on me this morning while I was re-reading my devotional journal from 2 years ago. I had written this verse from 1 Corinthians 3:6-8:
6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor".
Wow...geez...yup...a very, "Who the heck am I?=nobody!" moment...all glory to God.
So that got me thinking...One of my consistent prayers, especially for the kids who are in prison or who have moved on from Covenant House, is that someone else will come along behind me to emphasize all the things I've been trying to teach these kids...in short, someone to water the seeds. I'm quite sure Mike didn't seek out Purpose Driven Life in ____ County Jail on his own...someone must have come along to offer it to him, whether it was another inmate, a chaplain, an officer...someone is up there watering. I had one small part years ago...now it's someone else's turn...but ultimately, God will make the seed grow.
I read up on seeds a bit and learned that there are some that take years to germinate...They lay under the soil, just waiting for the prompt to begin to sprout. My mother-in-law had a great sign in her garden that said, "Grow, da--it!"I have often felt that way about the seeds I've planted over the years and even recently with donors. But these verses were a great reminder that I have one purpose and I will be rewarded for that...but the rest of my part, I feel, is to trust and pray...Pray for a waterer, pray for sun/Sonshine, pray the birds don't come and snatch the seed away, pray that once the seeds begin to grow, the weeds won't come and choke them.
I'll be interested to hear from Mike who introduced Mike to Purpose Driven Life and how it will have an effect on his life. Only God knows...and I trust Him to fulfill His perfect plan and purpose in Mike.
A load of humility was dumped on me this morning while I was re-reading my devotional journal from 2 years ago. I had written this verse from 1 Corinthians 3:6-8:
6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor".
Wow...geez...yup...a very, "Who the heck am I?=nobody!" moment...all glory to God.
So that got me thinking...One of my consistent prayers, especially for the kids who are in prison or who have moved on from Covenant House, is that someone else will come along behind me to emphasize all the things I've been trying to teach these kids...in short, someone to water the seeds. I'm quite sure Mike didn't seek out Purpose Driven Life in ____ County Jail on his own...someone must have come along to offer it to him, whether it was another inmate, a chaplain, an officer...someone is up there watering. I had one small part years ago...now it's someone else's turn...but ultimately, God will make the seed grow.
I read up on seeds a bit and learned that there are some that take years to germinate...They lay under the soil, just waiting for the prompt to begin to sprout. My mother-in-law had a great sign in her garden that said, "Grow, da--it!"I have often felt that way about the seeds I've planted over the years and even recently with donors. But these verses were a great reminder that I have one purpose and I will be rewarded for that...but the rest of my part, I feel, is to trust and pray...Pray for a waterer, pray for sun/Sonshine, pray the birds don't come and snatch the seed away, pray that once the seeds begin to grow, the weeds won't come and choke them.
I'll be interested to hear from Mike who introduced Mike to Purpose Driven Life and how it will have an effect on his life. Only God knows...and I trust Him to fulfill His perfect plan and purpose in Mike.
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