Rich Kao

We talk a lot about the servant leader.  Now comes the servant Dad.  "Dad, can you help me with my math?"  Sounds of pencil scratchings.  "Dad, can you pump up my volleyball?"  Sounds of forced air injections.  "Honey, can you lift the rice bag up on the counter for me (we're an asian family).  Sounds of heavy lifting.  "Dad, will you pay for my text-messaging this month?  No hitting golf balls this month.  "Dad, can you help me find out if magnetic fields run at right angles to applied currents?  Sounds of typing into google field.  "Dad, can you come downstairs to get a can of paint with me? I'm scared to go down by myself."  Sounds of heavy footsteps following light footed feet.  "Honey, when we celebrate Christmas this year, can you make sure to help me put up the lights?  and also replace the little light bulbs burned out (noooo problem, just what I was thinking).  Honey-do list just grew 7 months ahead of time.  "Dad, can you play with me." Sounds of playing H-O-R-S-E.  "Dad, can you come to my computer?  What is it?  Just come!"  No, you can't post that picture of me on Facebook -- servanthood has it's limits.   Now, lest you think this happens over a span of a week, this is a REAL TIME illustration that happened over the last hour!  Servanthood - with four kids and one wife (we believe in the New Testament model!) - is all about INTERRUPTIONS, being available and dying to your own schedule and work.  Now you know why I can't wait for the kids to go to bed - so I can interrupt God with all my requests!

No pastor can pastor without some due pondering & praying of what it means to make disciples. 

I've grappled with how best to define a disciple.  Recently, I began pondering  Jesus' words in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20) and how simply he defined it..."Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...[and], teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..."  There it is (in italics) nine words (eleven including "baptizing them").  Why make it harder than Jesus does?  As I have thought and prayed and meditated on these nine words, I've come to see a three step progression in Jesus' words.

Discipleship begins with 1) learning (being taught), progresses to 2) loving (obeying "all" requires love & passion) and consummates in 3) lifestyle (obeying).

Learning, Loving, Lifestyle.  That's the process of becoming a disciple. 

From this, my working definition of a disciple becomes:

"A disciple is someone who is born-again, water baptised and has committed themselves to Jesus' teachings so it reflects in their attitudes, heart, behavior and lifestyle."

I'll post another entry soon on a fresh "system" I've adopted of late in helping people become disciples. 

"Nobody—repeat, nobody—gets it right the first time."  Tom Peters, business guru extraordinaire.

This is one of those truisms that is depressing and encouraging at the same time.  It's depresssing because we'd love to circumvent mistakes, down time, inefficiency, need to experiment, but the plain truth is the path to success involves trial and error, and multiple iterations (starting a businesss, relationships, jobs, etc).  This is part and parcel of living in a fallen world; we see in part, plan in part, dream in part, execute in part, succeed in part.   (In heaven, "Everybody - repeat - everybody gets it right the first time."  Rich Kao).

But this saying is encouraging as well because it demystifies and bursts the notion that hyper succesful people some how got there without blood, sweat and tears.  They too have to "put in the work."

The bible teaches that perseverance is one of the keys to success.

Pr 24:16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.

2Co 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance.

Ga 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

If you're a kingdom worker,  don't give up.  Keep going.  The winds will shift.  God is with us. 

Great quote. Apply this to your faith, and what you'd like to accomplish in this life.  Seeing ourselves as God sees us is one of the most important things we can learn this side of heaven.  Be defined by God and His word. Also, substitute the words "the competition" with "wrong voices" or "the enemy."  That'll deepen the application even more.  

Guy Kawasaki says:  "'Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant.'  In otherwords, consume knowlege (like crazy) and spread that knowledge around (freely)."  I like that.  It's kingdom thinking.  Actually it's a paraphrase of what Jesus said, "Freely you received, freely give (Mt. 10:8)."  (BTW, Guy is a bro in the Lord; he's also the guy who created the "product evangelist" idea at Apple).  (BTW2, this is how training in the cloud happens!).