80 / 20 Rule?

Wear Gloves Inc.

Matthew 22:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophet...s hang on these two commandments.”

As we travel and interact with different denominations and churches we have found many that take care of their own and kind of 'deal" with this greatest commandment with a check to a international mission organization or an annual Christmas gift drive. Is that what Jesus had in mind?

We deal with the question of what does love actually look like? Is handing a $5 bill to a homeless person loving them? Is walking down the street passing out tracks loving those people? If are actions are that of Jesus we are in the clear, do those actions actually help and show the love of Jesus? Bigger question is do we really care of the results of our "service" or are we just going through the religious motions to feel better about ourselves?

Should our church leaders have the same verocity in dealing with "non service" within the flock as they do with other obvious sin such as homosexuality, neglect, attendance and not tithing? Is the 80/20 rule, 80% of the service done by 20% of the folks just oo scary to attack? Afraid to offend then they won't come back?

Just a thought during quiet time this morning.

Peace

But the water won't stop coming in!

Life in the RV is generally very satisfactory.  It was difficult transforming our family from near 4000 square ft of living space to around 400 square ft. we now occupy in our home on wheels.  Life continues to transform us as we continue to realize we are not home, we are like the Israelites who wandered through the desert waiting for God to lead them to the promised land.  We have no right to expect comfort and I thank God for that message.

We have learned a lot about RV life over these past 16 months.  After about 6 months as full timers we noticed a water leak around one of the slides of the RV, water was somehow getting into the bedroom and dampening the carpet in a corner of the room.  At that time we were parked in Ocala and decided to return the RV to Lazy Days RV in Tampa where we bought it and have them fix it since they would be most familiar with the coach and they are the largest RV dealer in the world.  While I was at work in DeLand, wife Wendy and Madi drove the coach to Tampa for the repair.  They spent the day in the waiting room while the rubber gasket was being replaced, paid the bill and had the bus back in Ocala late that evening.  After several weeks of no rain we had a rain day and the leak again was present with more water than before.  Contacted Lazy Days and made another appointment to make the 2 hour trip again to Tampa.  Wendy and Madi made the trip down and spent the night because the service department needed to spend more time to get it right this time.  They put it through rain bays to insure the RV would never leak again.  So after spending 10 hours in the waiting room doing school and the night sleeping in the garage bay it was released and they drove back to Ocala. 

With the RV now finally fixed we relocated out near Daytona, two weeks later after a good rain you guessed it, the area was again just as wet as before.  I contacted Lazy Days, they were very apologetic and promised to get it done this next time so we made another appointment.  They also agreed to fill up the gas tank as it is very expensive to drive a 45,000 lb RV that gets 5-6 MPG around much.  Made the trip in February back to Lazy Days, spent a week there while the RV was being repaired.  I drove back and forth on I-4 through Orlando and made the 3-3.5hr trip each way to get to the office daily while Wendy and Madi sat 10 hours a day in the waiting room.  Lazy Days did put me up in a hotel a couple of those days to limit the drive while they would "get it right this time"  We finally pulled away from Tampa early March with the RV finally fixed, got back to DeLand late on Tuesday night and enjoyed sleeping in our home again.  The next day while teaching a Dignity Serves class at Stetson Baptist in DeLand the heavens opened, we looked at each other during the class and cringed to look at the bedroom when we returned home that evening.  Water was pouring out of the exact same spot in the bedroom.  This past Saturday we returned the RV to Lazy Days to they can "get it right" this time.  They are putting us up in a hotel in Lake Mary near Orlando while the repairs are being done.

There are times like this that just don't make sense, why can't the largest RV dealer in the world stop a small leak?  As you can imagine this has been increasingly frustrating with no immediate end in sight.  It has been difficult at times to maintain a positive attitude, an attitude that allows Jesus to be seen through my actions.  However my family has shown me those attributes, such a level of patience and caring, actually sharing our mission with the folks in the waiting room and with those exact service folks trying to "get it right".  How cool it is to understand that God has placed our family into this ministry to love people.  And we are called to love those that are different than us, those that we don't agree with and those that just cant get it right.  Praise God.

ENJOYING THE RIDE

It was a year this past November when we drove from our driveway in Ocala in our RV in search for God's will in our new family ministry.  We were excitedly nervous but anxious to get "rolling" and at times impatient, God, why is it taking so long to pay off this RV?  You created this world in days, certainly you can just make this debt go away.  We were certainly ready, we had our ministry plans in place, made the initial hard decisions on possessions, goals, finances, etc.  If only God would let us go we could really have an positive impact for the kingdom, why is this taking so long?

We have moved the RV ministry command post around a bit, but with the job being in DeLand, FL we try to stay within an hour or so drive so we have been parked in Tampa, Ocala, Flagler and now in DeLand.  I had a lot of windshield time to bicker at our God.  "We made the sacrifice, we are being obedient, doing everything we can so God, are you going to do your part"?  It has just been recent He made it clear that it is not about what we want.  Not about our timing.  Not about what we may accomplish for the kingdom.  It is about what He wants for us.  It is about His timing in everything.  It is about what He will do and we simply need to be grateful He allows us to be involved. 

So now in retrospect, we were not ready to roll full time and still not ready.  We learned that our ministry plans were not sustainable and would have had little actual long term benefit.  We learned that the ministry is not about our sacrifice and not about living in an RV.  We also have learned just how great and powerful our God is right here where He places us at this time. 

Moving to DeLand in October was difficult, leaving friends, school groups, church's, ministries, drama club and comfort behind.  In 2 months we have connected with several church's, school is going well, we are involved in new ministries and in the local community theater. 

We now have a speaking engagement for a Pastors breakfast January 6th and a class starting at a local church for the Dignity Serves Curriculum.  Met a guy at the theater who is involved at Disney and a large homeless ministry wanting to speak to Wear Gloves about support.  Madi is loving her involvement at the theater and due to her hard work has a dance/singing part in Christmas Carol.

Thank you God for yet another lesson on waiting for You.  We see Him working here in Volusia County and if we are involved in nothing else it is more than we could have ever accomplished on our own.

What a great God we serve.

The American Dream

I was taught from a very young age to;  do well in school,  get good grades so you can get into the best college (with scholarships), or to try hard at various sports or music to get into the best college (with scholarships),  so I can graduate from college, get a high paying job, buy a home, then buy a larger home with room for the growing family and all our stuff, then buy more / better stuff, make more money, get more stuff...  You get the picture.

Our family was living this lifestyle.  Always trying to upgrade our things;  car, furniture, landscaping, etc.  We found that we were spending 60 hours a week in an office, 30 hours a week maintaining;  cleaning the pool and house, mowing, weeding, trimming, fixing up, re-arranging, decorating, entertaining, blah, blah, blah....

Is this the life that God intended for us?  There are only 168 hours in a week.  Were we really supposed to be spending over half our week working to maintain this lifestyle?  The "quality time" we spent with our kids was usually while we worked in the yard or did other chores together.  And whatever we had left, that tiny bit of energy at the end of the week, we would give to God on Sunday morning.  woo-hoo.  How could we possibly sing those hymns on Sunday morning, "Here am I, all for Thee, take my life, it's all for Thee".  We were giving the Lord our leftovers...He is worthy of all our first and best!

As the Lord is shaping and focusing our ministry, our daily prayer is that we continue to offer Him our first and best of all that we have.

Jeremiah 9:24 "But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindngess, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight", says the LORD.