Looking Back

Been doing some reflecting on some of the things that I think we could have and perhaps should have done differently at Real Life. I can think of two decisions I would like to have back (There are way more than that but right now there are 2 things I am wrestling with.) Both decisions were my call and I wish I had approached them differently. I am not going to write what the specific decisions were (at risk of hurting people that I care about's feelings) rather I will explain why I regret them.

• Decision #1: A few years ago I felt lead to make a directional change at church. I floated the idea and was met with resistance. At the time, and to this day I felt that God was leading in that direction, Had we gone down that path over the long haul we'd have had the support we needed, and been in a much better position to weather the storm we'd been in over the last few months. I am not saying this single decision was ultimately our undoing as a church rather I am saying I believe (at least right now) we'd have been in a stronger place. Short term, it would have cost us, no doubt about that, but long term I believe we would have been much stronger.
  
• The lesson for me (and perhaps all of you) is that I needed to pay closer attention to what I believed God was saying to me than listen to the people in the church. Whether it's your family, your job, your ministry, in in this case even your church, no one has the stake in it you do. If you go for the fence and you strike out so be it....at least you went for it. On this one, I bunted and it cost us.
• Decision #2: I filled a position out of need and not out of inspiration. Early on in the life of our church I allowed someone to serve in leadership because I needed what they could offer. Looking at what they offered in a sense blinded me to the fact that they had so much baggage we would spend endless hours dealing with that baggage instead of ministering to hurting people. Now some might argue couldn't this person have been someone you were supposed to minister to? I would say yes, without a doubt. But, had I taken a step back and trusted God for this position I would have never placed them into a position of leadership. If I had listened to God I would have helped them find a place to be served instead of trying to serve on empty.
• The lesson here is that all of us need to trust God as our provider. Had I not moved so fast and gotten way ahead of God, I would have seen that God had someone else I already knew ready, willing, and able to do the needed work. In the end it would have been better, by far for everyone involved. There would have been less heartache and our energies early on in the life of the church would have been better focused at reaching those God called us to reach.
  

Just some things I have been thinking about as I prepared the lasagna dinner for tonight!