So I was getting some things done in the office today and I noticed a package in my in box. It was kind of large so immediately I am thinking I got a book in the mail which always gets me excited. I noticed the label on the large envelope stating that it was from the Southern New England District of the Assemblies of God. Right away I knew it was not a book but I was thinking it was a package for camp. Probably some information for planning purposes. This was not the case either.
I opened the large envelope and inside where a couple of envelopes and papers and booklets dealing with the inner workings of ministry for the A/G. I discovered that I had been given "final approval by the General Council of the Assembly of God." What this means was that I now have a "license to Preach." I am not sure if that means I have been preaching illegally for the past eight and a half years (haha) but it did mean that I was recognized by the A/G leadership as someone who could be now officially be considered an A/G minister.
It is kind of weird how one card, one signature, can change everything and yet change nothing. Receiving this card will not change a whole lot of what I do on a daily basis. At the same time there is a greater weight to what I do. It is like, before I stood alone as I preached, but now I am surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
There have been many great people who have held the card that I now have, and there have been many losers too. There have been people who have pleased God, some who have failed man; there have been some who have been honored in the halls of academia, and others banished to prison walls; some have held talks with heads of state, and others who have held the dying in their hands; some who have lived their whole life in the comfort of mediocrity, and others who have sold everything and lived a life in obscurity sacrificing every worldly pleasure and had no recognition.
Now that I have this card, this title, what is different for me now?? What kind of life will I lead, what legacy will be left when I leave this world? It seems that wide is the road of the mediocre and many travel that road (it is just easier), but narrow is the road that is travelled by the revolutionary. I hope I am known as one who journeyed on the road less travelled; according to Robert Frost, it has made all the difference.
In light of what others who held the position you now hold went on to do, what will you do in the position you hold today???
Just a thought...
