svgmissionary.com

A few weeks ago I filled out a twenty-one page application that included character references, a background check paid for by me, addresses along with work history for the last eight years, and a 

The amazing thing is it’s for a volunteering position [1]

Please don’t think I’m being negative about this organization because the amount of paperwork just makes me respect it more. The truth is many groups make it far too easy for a person to start volunteering.

The real reason for the lengthy application is this group focuses on mentoring instead of volunteering. While it may seem as if there isn’t a difference, trust me when I say there is.

Volunteering:

1. Involves forty-five minutes to an hour of your time
2. Very structured (you are there for a specific reason)
3. Ministers to one specific need (reading or writing)

Mentoring:

1. Normally involves a lot more time (two to three hours)
2. Little structure (can be something different every day)
3. Ministers to many different needs

The point is we have many volunteers [2], but few mentors [3].

It doesn’t take long to understand why mentors are so desparately needed

It takes massive amounts of time and energy
It can be messy (dealing with real struggles)
And there are massive legal issues involved [4]

In my opinion however mentoring is worth whatever price we have to pay, because it deals with real life.

Yes it’s important for young people to discuss a book or complete a difficult math problem…but beneath the surface there are personal struggles they have no idea how to deal with.

Mentoring ministries [5] give young people the freedom to bring up those deeper things they may be struggling with even if it has nothing to do with academics [6].

I believe kids crave this kind of relationship but they won’t initiate it…instead they wait for someone else to take the first step in mentoring.

A few years ago I was finishing up a mentoring session with a High School senior about time management and asked if there was anything he wanted to talk about.

After looking down a picking at a spot at the table for a minute he said in a quiet voice “yea man I was wondering how do you ask a girl out on a date?”

In that moment our focus swung from tutoring (helping with organization) to mentoring (dealing with real life). And I noticed there was a passion and excitement about our meetings once this change was made [7].

There is definitely a need for tutors who make sure children are prepared academically, but there also is a need for mentors who stratch beneath the surface, and prepare them for real life.

Every Wednesday I tutor Phillip [1] a kindergartener at a local elementary school who struggles with spelling. Last week after going through our ABC’s, we began reading a book about animals, and found a picture of a porcupine.

Phillip was fascinated by the spikes (quills) of the porcupine and asked me why they had it had them. After explaining that it was the way they protected themselves something in my heart encouraged me to talk to him about God.

Our conversation went something like this…

“Me: You know Phillip Mr. Wilburn believes that God created the porcupine

“Phillip: Oh I know who that is, he lives up there! (pointing to the ceiling)

It’s my belief that the Lord brings many moments into our lives when the Gospel (or part of it) can be shared in everyday conversation [2]

Lately I’ve noticed though that even when the Lord brings a “God moment” into my life I don’t take it

This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m ashamed to share the Gospel, but there are many legal issues involved with sharing it (particularly while tutoring in the school system) [3].

This is why the Lord creates God moments:

1. Moments when the Gospel can be used to answer a persons question (like why does the porcupine have spikes?)
2. Moments when the Gospel is shared in a conversational style (here is what I believe and I would be very interested in finding out your view)
3. Moments when the person is dealing with a great struggle (let me tell you how the Lord helped me in a situation like this)
4. Moments when your testimony leads to a deeper conversation

The thing about God moments is they aren’t obvious…God’s not going to hit you over the head with a hammer when He wants the Gospel to be shared.

Instead they come quietly

The friend whose having a bad day
A conversation at lunch
A co-worker who needs someone to talk to
Or a book about animals

It’s the will of God that the Gospel would flow through us so that we are constantly (in humility) bringing it into our everyday conversation. So it won’t always be easy to find a God moment.

But when you do, it’s incredibly exciting.

One of the frustrating things about my return to Melbourne is there isn’t much I can personally do to move things forward.

The Immigration department of Australia is going out of their way to help during the process, but there’s still something annoying about not being able to help with a problem.

In the past when this frustration reached a boiling point I would try to work harder..somewhere in my head was a voice that said “if you just try hard enough things will work out.”

The problem is of course this voice lied to me. Eventually each of us encounter problems that cannot be fixed by working harder.

It took me a while for me to get that message into my strong-willed [1] head. However once this finally registered the question was, “how do I respond to this waiting period?

Eventually an unexpected answer came to me…be faithful in the small things.

You see we serve a God who deserves first place in life [2] but doesn’t want to demand our obedience. Instead He gives to each of us a choice; do things the way we want to, or obey Him

Those who obey God (obey faithfully) will encounter His blessing, while those who choose their own way will face consequences.

In practical terms faithfulness involves:

1. Finding what it is that God wants us to do in that moment
2. Then obeying, and allowing Him to do the work

God doing the work means these acts of faithfulness will often seem random or unimportant. But it’s as we follow the Lord in these that He does an awesome work.

Last Thursday the Lord led me to call the office of my Immigration Lawyer after hours [3] and ask if there was anything that I could do to help with the application.

To be perfectly honest I had very little faith this would make any difference, but as the Lord continued to challenge me I decided to simply obey.

The next morning at 8:30 I received an email from him saying important paperwork had been sent off to Immigration.

Now maybe he would have sent that email even if there wasn’t a message on the answering machine. But I can tell you all of the “hard work” on my part never resulted in paperwork being sent to Immigration.

This experience along with others has taught me hard work isn’t the most important thing to God [4] because I get the glory from it. Instead the most important thing is faithfully following Him one step at a time so HE gets the glory.

Of course this doesn’t mean God doesn’t want us to sit on the coach and watch tv while eating oreo’s all day. However we must make sure our hard work is invested in His plan.