Mentors

 

Mentors

 

By definition a mentor is a trusted guide and counselor. This is a person who has earned the right to speak into my life. Mentors are women and men who come with a variety of backgrounds and walk alongside sharing experiences, equipping life  tools and imparting practical wisdom. From personal experience, they are worth their weight in gold.

 

This past week I received news that one of my former mentors went home to be with the Lord. This man had a major influence on my life personally and as a pastor. Giving freely of his time and energy, he encouraged and equipped me for what lay ahead. Although there was a season of misunderstanding and disagreement, we were, by the grace of God, to forgive one another giving thanks for the season that we had together.

 

Mentoring is not an easy job. It takes a great deal of trust to allow another to bring correction into your life. I am no exception to the fact that there is more enjoyment to the positive someone has to say about you. Yet, life lessons are rarely learned by flattery. Embracing correction from one who has your best interest at heart is essential to maturing.

 

The goal of mentoring is not to make a carbon copy of yourself. Rather, it is the experience of walking alongside another encouraging and equipping by word and example. This allows both people to learn and experience all that God has to offer each person. In reality, mentoring is a relationship that welcomes mutual respect and willingness to share life.

 

I am thankful for the mentors God has placed in my life. Each came with unique gifts to share. I can honestly say that had I not taken the opportunity to walk with them, I would be living a less enriched life.

 

Thank you, Lord, for guiding my steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheila

Sheila

Recently my good friend and mentor died. She had been ill for some time. Talking with her long distance on the phone became an increasing emotional ordeal. For the last dozen years she lived in Florida with her friend Kit. My son Tim and I went to visit her last October knowing that this would be the last time we would see her. Watching a friend lose their physical health in old age, even from a distance, is a painful reminder of our human fragility.

Knowing that Sheila is finally home with the Lord is certainly some consolation. But the reality that all my mentors are gone invites an aloneness that I do not welcome. It was so easy to call and ask for counsel with the assurance that wisdom would speak forth. Those voices are now silenced by death. I am faced with having to seek the Lord on my own accord.

I do not write an obituary for my friend, although she surely deserves one. Rather, I am reflecting on all that the Lord gave to me as Sheila shared her relationship with God. One thing I have learned is that God puts people in our life to enrich us. That enrichment comes by allowing others to speak the truth in love. Our response of willingness to listen and apply the truth brings forth abundant blessing.

I find it unfortunate that in our age of social media face-to-face interaction seems to be on the decrease. What has happened to the old fashioned “in your face” discourse? I tell you Shelia was a pro at telling it like it is to your face. She would go where angels fear to trod. That is what I most liked about her. Lots of people have trouble with that kind of personality and I understand. With Sheila you always knew where she stood even if you didn’t agree.

The Lord never ceases to amaze me. He is so creative with his messengers. The Bible records the many ways God spoke to people. My friend Sheila was a wise woman. I am most thankful for the years we walked together.

Requiesce In Pace, Mi Amice

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

For a number of years, I travelled overseas to Great Britain. The purpose of these trips was to strengthen relationships with associated churches and to help transition leadership in a South Wales church. Although I have not been there for several years, I cherish the friends I made. Although I was kiddingly referred to as the “cousin from across the sea” or the “Yank,” I was welcomed as a brother in the Lord.

On one of these trips, while I was making a purchase with “their money”, the English pound, I noticed an inscription on the edge of the two-pound coin. It read, “standing on the shoulders of giants.” Intrigued by the phrase, I googled it on my IPad and discovered an interesting story.

Although the phrase goes way back in history, Isaac Newton is the one who is credited for making it popular. Remembering your high school physics class, Newton formulated the laws of motion and gravity. Where upon he wrote these words, “if I had seen further, it is standing on the shoulders of giants.” That inscription made me think.

It is easy for me to forget those who played a part in my life. I am the kind of person who is always looking forward and rarely looking backwards. What Isaac Newton said forced me to take a good, hard look at those who earned the right to speak into my life. A number of those man and women are only with me in memory now. Some I have not seen for a long time. But I will tell you this, God used a lot of people in a lot of circumstances to shape and mold me. By the way, he is not done yet.

More times than I care to remember, I hear myself teaching, preaching or counseling words of wisdom that my grandmother, my parents, my mentors and my friends spoke to me. There is much to say for book knowledge but it is the wisdom that comes from the giants in your life that allow you not only see but go further than you ever dreamed.

Praise God for the giants!