I don’t know about you, but life seems so busy all the time. it makes it difficult to stop and reflect on the world around us. It makes it difficult to stop and reflect on myself and my personal growth. It makes it difficult to stop at all. It makes it difficult to be still and know that He is God. Have you ever felt this way.
Reflection requires perspective. Perspective produces priorities. Priorities make it possible to stop and reflect. As Christians, we must cultivate a Kingdom perspective. We must embrace the reality that our lives are part of a plan begun long ago.
I have tried to make it a habit to stop and reflect on many things these days. My 2016 journey of personal reflection began as the Lord told me I had a story worth telling. I began to spend time reflecting on my story and myself. It has not been an easy task. I spend most of my time focused on others and find it difficult for the attention to be on me. Yet as I stopped and reflected on my life I came to realize that my story is His story. During this journey, I also began to reflect on Global Passion and realized that our story as a ministry is also His story. This year I continued to seek the Lord for fresh vision for our organization. I reflected on our history and our God given mission. I realized that God has a much larger plan for us if we were willing to step into it. Of course, this would require change. The first change was perspective. As a ministry we are easily focused on the mission trips that take place. It is, after all, what we do. However, the Lord challenged me to reflect on our trips and everything that has taken place. In this time of reflection, He revealed to me that everything we do is about building the Kingdom of God here on earth. It was fresh perspective. Perspective produces priorities. As we look forward to 2017, I am excited to say that we are stepping in to the renewed vision God has given us. It is more than a trip. Have you taken time to reflect?
2016 has had its ups and downs. It has had lefts and rights. Global Passion sent hundreds of young people from dozens of churches on to the mission field. We said goodbye to staff members and gained another. We lost loved ones and added new family members. Whatever this year may have brought, I encourage you to look beyond all of it and see how God has been at work in you and through you. Would you seek His will? His redemptive work began thousands of years ago and He has chosen you and I to be a part of it. 2017 can be your best year yet. We must allow our perspective to be greater than ourselves.
I recently discovered that my family heritage traces back to the Winslow family of the Mayflower. In fact, Edward Winslow was the first governor of the Plymouth colony. They fled England in order to pursue religious freedom and take the Gospel to a new world where it would become the foundation of a nation. What astounds me is that today I am traveling the world and taking the Gospel to new places where it will become the foundation. Could it be that God is truly at work in this world and is searching for people with a Kingdom perspective to serve in His great plan? I think so. It is you and it is me.
Lord, may we never forget that you are the King of the world.
Happy New Year!
Darryn Fisher
