Saturday, June 6, 2009

Story Threads #1

In my last blog I related how we decided upon the name “BrookLink” as the name for this new ministry. I spent a considerable amount of time pondering the “name.” One day a friend of mine said to me, “Lee, it’s not about the name, it’s about the story.” Names come and go, but it’s the compelling story that people are most interested to hear. This statement got me thinking about our story. As we wove our storyline, we discovered that the story of BrookLink contains four “Story Threads.” I’ll take the next few blogs to unravel our story threads.

Story Thread #1: We believe in running with God’s Spirit.

God’s Spirit is at work in the world. Our goal is to live in that powerful flow, drawing strength, inspiration and energy from its stream. The Holy Spirit leads us to opportunities we never dreamed possible. As we plan for each journey, for each task, we know that God has great things in store for us that we can’t imagine. At each unexpected turn in the road, each unforeseen bend in the path, we continue running with Him— anxious for the next adventure.

Years ago the great pioneer missionary David Livingston left his native England for the subcontinent of Africa. No sooner had he arrived that he received an urgent message from his home church in England which read, “Dr. Livingston, we have ten people here who want to come and join you. Let us know when you’ve found the roads.” Livingston, quite stupefied by the message, sent the following reply, “I don’t need those! I need those who will come even if there are no roads.”

Throughout the Scriptures God often told his servants to “go” even if there are no roads. One of the foundational principles of BrookLink is to listen to God; be led by the Spirit; and pray fervently. We do not always know when or where the Spirit will lead us. If it’s clarity you want, you’re most likely going to forfeit those awe-inspiring adventures with the Spirit. Clarity might be what we want, but it’s trust that we need!

S t r e t c h e d

originally posted on my old blog on November 30, 2008

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