Welcome to the April 13th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week.
I did something I hadn’t done in a while this week.
I did multi-day fasting whilst still working.
Why don’t I do this often?
Because my work requires a lot of energy that makes it difficult to bring my A-game when I am fasting.
I can’t claim I am offering a service to God that makes it impossible to bring my best to the workplace God has planted me in.
So, what was different this week?
Well, I guess this week’s fast was something God wanted for me. So, the strength to do it and do my work well at the same time came from Him.
And no, I didn’t push it by doing long hours of fasting. I stayed on as long as my concentration to pray was still sharp.
Yes, praying was an important element of fasting.
I fast as a way to improve my ability to pray. Once hunger gets in the way of praying…it might be time to put a stop.
Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to fast for 40 days. Once the 40 days were over, hunger came knocking at his door.
This is something to remember when I fast.
Things I Learnt
1 - Not Taking On Something God Did Not Ask You To: My church in Senegal had its Annual General Meeting on Sunday.
During the meeting, our pastor took time to answer some questions that had come in.
A more interesting one was this, “What is the Church’s 5-year plan?”
To which he responded, “Nothing. We don’t have a 5-year plan. We don’t even have a 2-year plan.”
A fitting response.
He explained the reason for this.
Our church is an international church that focuses on English-speaking expatriates. The nature of our membership is that on an annual basis, about 25% or so leave Senegal.
Why? Because the same job that brought them to Senegal also takes them out of Senegal
Over a 2 to 3-year period, you could see a situation where almost 75% of the church membership has spent less than 12-15 months as members of the church.
Adapting to this changing membership means the church needs to have an overall vision which is lived out in the short term.
A simple vision that focuses on building people - since these people will be moving on to other countries soon.
The work of the church is done by the people who are part of the church. There is no need to develop a 5-year plan when there is no long-term continuity in membership to implement.
God has not placed the typical long-term planning burden on the church based on its membership.
Knowing this is peace and rest.
2 - Always Place Bets on People: Something happened at work. I have had to reverse an earlier decision I made about one of the teams I lead.
Someone stepped up to the plate and literally asked me to bet on his ability to lead his department.
I decided not to just do that. I decided to give him the best chance to win. I gamed the system in his favour.
How?
Let’s establish some background. My assessment is that he needs about a year or so before he can be ready to lead the team.
But he is willing to do everything necessary to succeed.
So, I decided to also get a firm in their industry to work with him and the team over a 6 month period.
The firm will be offering mentoring, coaching, training and technical support to help him and the team deliver on their targets.
I am rigging the system in their favour.
I’m betting on him.
Postscript
May you work towards goals that align with your season of life. Amen
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ-focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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