Since it is my birthday today and in light of just finishing my latest book manuscript (it is off to the publisher), I decided to dip back into the archives for this week's Memo. Actually, I found this encore Memo when I was researching some material on failure for my latest book. The Memo below appeared under the title Failure P.S. last May and was the final Memo in a series on learning to celebrate failure. I hope you enjoy this edited and encore presentation of Monday Memo 342.
****************************
My wife and I moved into a brand new house this past week! It's a lovely home and we are just thrilled to be there. It has everything we want and need, in part of town we like, overlooking a valley with lots of trees and hills. It has a full basement, from which we will run our PurposeQuest business. It's new construction and everything is, well, it's so new. What a blessing that home has already been
What the home represents makes it all the more special, for it truly represents a journey that included a lot of failures and heartache. Those failures only served to enhance our appreciation this week as we moved. When we moved out of our last house in 2005, it felt like the Bataan Death March. The trip to our new home this week could best be described by Psalm 126:
When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negev.Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
THE JOURNEY
When I started PurposeQuest in 2001, it represented a failure of
sorts. I had failed to start it earlier in life and had lost many
opportunities. I was afraid, however, and put it off too long. When I
left my church work to start the business, the people I had been with
for many years were not happy and were unable to bless my departure. I
found myself with no money, four books I had written, a purpose message
and no place to go at 50 years of age.
Starting over proved to be a struggle. Before long, we found ourselves in debt, and I was traveling long distances to pursue business opportunities, often staying away from home longer than I wanted to stay. God was always faithful and we never lacked, but the pressure finally got to us in 2005. We decided to do what we had to do to downsize, pay off our debts and save some money to buy another home. I wish I could tell you that all my business decisions since 2001 have been good ones, but they have not. Yet I learned along the way and also found and sharpened my "voice" -- my message and how to deliver it.
THROUGH THE RAIN
This morning I walked through our youth department at church and heard a song from the movie, Joseph King of Dreams. The song title is You Know Better Than I. I invite you to watch and listen to the song and see if it speaks to you like it did to me.
If that doesn't do it for you as we put the topic of failure to bed, then I know this last passage will. It's found in the short letter of Jude, verses 24 and 25, right before the book of Revelation. The verses are actually a prayer, and I hope you can hear me praying this for you as I sit and write this Monday Memo, celebrating the goodness of God while I do with my life what I love to do:
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Amen and amen. Now that you have overcome your fear of failure, it's' time to go and do something great for Him!
Feel free to write a comment to this entry on the site where it is posted.
************************************
REVELATION: I need your help. I urgently want to publish my next book, this time a devotional from the book of Revelation. I wrote about this project in my blog last week and encourage you to read what I wrote there. In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Then please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been obscured by so many weird interpretations. If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to contact me.
THE SOPHIA FUND: We received another $500 this past week for The Sophia Fund, making a total of $5,500 raised so far. That is just super. Thank you so much for responding. but please don't stop now. The need is urgent and the workers are grateful, but are requesting even more help. If you didn't read the email below that I received last week from Eddie Adembesa in Kenya, here it is again:
This is to acknowledge that we have received $1,000 Sophia Fund and $50 St. Paul’s Baptist Church which you sent to us through SARAH NETWORK towards the feeding programme for orphans under the care of WEMA widows.
This has not only put a smile on the face of the children but also the widows who have great lack due to the prolonged drought that Kenya is facing.
To every single person who made this possible, it’s a big thank you and God truly bless you and enlarge your territories. A good measure shaken together, pressed down and overflowing. I call this a divine connection from God. Let’s continue to pray for one another as we continue noble task. Once again thank you and God bless you.
As I promised, every
penny you send is going to feed the poor in Zimbabwe
and Kenya. Nothing goes to overhead or administration. With reports like the one above, won't you
consider helping orphans and widows today? You can read about my
rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother) that will help feed
widows and orphans in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more. You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.
The most recent posted entry about The Sophia Fund is here.
FACEBOOK: I continue to update my personal page on Facebook. Check it out and let's be friends when you have a chance. Also you can find me on Twitter @johnstanko. Go there to sign up and follow me.
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Psalm 126.
These Scriptures are often quoted by well meaning Christians to someone is suffering a loss or is depressed. I have heard them quoted to me –many, many times. (This may indicate to you something of the tragedies I have suffered throughout my life.)
As I read this today I was struck by the Scripture in a new way. Historically-at least in my experience- the tears have been what people look at as what is being sown. The hurt, and anguish of soul that materializes through those tiny ducts in our eyes as tears, through the floodgates of our soul, are NOT what I believe we sow. While they do come in huge volumes-enough to plant furrow after furrow in the ground and in our forehead, I believe there are a few other perspectives I think we need to look at.
The seed does not look like the fruit. The acorn does not look like the mighty oak. Our tears can yield the songs of joy with many sheaves of fruit but there is only one way that can happen-according to those Scripture we just referenced - we must go out, carrying our seed.
We absolutely must process through our loss. Through all the stages of the loss- Elizabeth Kubler Ross shares great insight into these steps in her book “On Death and Dying.” It is in processing THROUGH each step we find the Holy Spirit as our Companion and Comforter. We ache and scream out in denial, anger, seeking to bargain with God over the Whys and What ifs. Hurting, sliding further and further down the slippery slope of depression, into a miry river bottom of such pain that we want no one around. We want to be left alone. It is easier to stay by ourselves, with our thoughts than to venture back out into the pain of our shattered life –we feel what is left of our life is not worth offering to anyone- because we have ourselves convinced-or the enemy of our soul has us convinced- that we are in a hopeless scenario. Useless, we are completely spent, the best that ever was - was back then - before “IT” happened. Back in the past was better.
What stunned me today was that this Scripture encourages us to go OUT in tears-carrying our seed. What is our seed? To me it is the knowledge we gain, the comfort we receive, the understanding of His character that is revealed in the mire of our lives. The love, compassion, the shalom peace we touch in such a brief encounter that causes us to also embrace however briefly - the Scripture in 1 Corinthians- “The same comfort you have received, comfort others with that.”
I can’t comfort others if I stay at home isolated in the midst of my pain, loss and hurt. It can not happen! At some point in time- some point in the healing process - I must venture out of the deception of my isolation that I have been disillusioned to believe is a safe and good place- I MUST get up and GO. To get the joy I HAVE to leave that Egypt and the bondage of despair and WITH MY TEARS probably still very close to the surface-I MUST carry the seeds of His comfort in my life and I MUST start sowing into the lives of others. Easy? No, I doubt it. Sowing seed is work. We carry with us the seed that will –in time- yield fruit that others will be able to come by-perhaps years later, they will camp out under the shade of the fruit tree we sowed and be able to find shelter from the heat, enjoy a sweet bite from the produce that is a direct result of the seeds we sowed when we finally GOT UP and WENT OUT.
I don’t believe we can see the sheaves, until we get up and go out –still weeping- but relying on Him to help us plant the seeds of our despair that yield the songs- (plural-more than one) of joy.
Posted by: Bill Rhoades | April 20, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Happy birthday, John!
Joe Sarria
Posted by: Joe Sarria | April 20, 2009 at 04:21 PM