Deep Thought: Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let’s say you’re an astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into Dracula. The next time he goes out for pieces of moon rock, wham!, you just slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and say he’s not Dracula, but you just say, “Think again, bat man.”

One thing is for sure, though: fear has nothing to do with vision. If you think about it, neither does that opening story. Vision is seeing how things are and how they should be. That is the way it was looking at these kids in the housing projects of central Florida. I could see how things were… kids with inadequate clothing, a lack of beds, not enough food, no mentoring, and a weak structure to support those that want to break out of the cycle of selling drugs. That is how the vision for ministry in these neighborhoods started. That is how all vision for ministry starts. Seeing how things are and also seeing through the eyes of vision how they should be. The end result of the vision for ministry in these neighborhoods resulted in the birthing of such ministries as Sidewalk Sunday School, a bus ministry, a clothing closet, a food pantry, and somewhat of a mentoring ministry.

You really can’t talk about vision biblically without talking about Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a Hebrew slave who served as a servant to the king of Persia,  Artaxerxes. He had heard from some travelers about the condition of his hometown, Jerusalem, which was once famous for its splendor and glory and now lay in rubble, destroyed by neighboring countries.

The plight for his hometown tore Nehemiah up. Because of that, he was moved with a vision to see Jerusalem restored to its former glory. His vision: He saw how things were; Jerusalem in rubble. But he also saw how they should or could be; Jerusalem reliving its former glory with its walls intact, its gates standing strong, and its people protected. That is vision.

Now if your vision is of your partner as Dracula, that is probably leftover residue from your party years. Next time, we will see what Nehemiah did with that vision.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Pastor Eric. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.