Are you a dot?

In June 2005 Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation, delivered the commencement address to the Stanford University graduating class. A full transcript of his speech entitled Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish is available here.

He speaks of love and loss, and death; but it is his story of connecting dots that comes to mind as I contemplate how God is working in Africa.

I imagine it’s in an earthly sense that Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking back. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

Connecting the dots
Of course, we know God is well able to connect dots in the future. It’s in this sense that I think Paul writes in Romans, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

What are dots? They are events in our lives, or in a continent’s history for example, which are impossible for us to link looking forward, but are very clearly related when we look back.

What happened in the past that makes it possible for us to plan apostolic trips to the four corners of Africa? Coincidence? Chance? No – God has been connecting dots from the foundation of the world, making it all possible. It’s interesting to think of some of the great dots in Africa’s history.

Africa – the dark continent, the forgotten continent. Famine, war, corruption. Missionaries, colonisation, slavery, exploitation. Wars of liberation, cold war influences in Africa. We heard words like glasnost, and perestroika. Democracy coming to South Africa.

Apostolic trips in Africa would not be possible if God had not been there from the start, connecting our dots.

We hear about ordinary people paying a price right now, joining in a baptism of sufferings as the Bible foretold. We are touched not so much by the hardship endured by the people going to the nations, but of the people there – the locals.

There are so many stories of triumph: The gospel shared at a petrol pump leads to a church being planted; a leader demolishes his kitchen to yield the bricks needed to complete a church building; an orphan is taken in who later becomes a leader in the church.

The goal? Christ! A practical, fruitful, sustainable Christianity.

Winds of change
God is not intimidated by Islam, by poverty and hunger, by sickness, AIDS, and malaria. God is not intimidated by corruption. God has shown us how He can send people ahead, preparing the ground for His salvation. He did this with Joseph; sold by his brothers into slavery, promoted by his God into leadership. Commissioned in an instant, but called and prepared for many years before.

In Genesis we read, “Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the easy wind. They are seven years of famine.’”

This passage speaks of a God who is well able to join the dots looking forward. It especially shows though how God takes His servants – both people and nature – to work together for His purposes. Can you imagine the shift in economic power that resulted from that east wind blowing? And yet God had prepared His servant to be there to direct that economic power so that His purposes were accomplished.

Think of the great dots in the Bible from that time onward: Israelite slavery in Egypt; Moses; the Red Sea; the wilderness; taking the land; judges; kings; prophets; silence; then Jesus; the New Testament church.

God can do this in Africa today. He can cause climatic change – rain, drought, and winds to blow – according to His purpose. He can cause Africa to be the food basket of the world; He can cause Africa to prosper through discovery of oil and other natural resources. He can cause Africa to launch a spiritual re-awakening of the First World. Will we be in the right place to work alongside the Lord?

Fit for purpose
God doesn’t have favorites, yet He does use those who have positioned themselves to be available. We need to determine whether we want to be in God’s purpose, and if so, create the steps to get there.

Consider what practical steps we can take to prepare ourselves – get fitter – if called to apostolic service.

In the first place, we may need to improve our spiritual fitness. Set aside time to study the doctrine of Christ, and the biblical church model. Fast and pray for God’s greater revelation of His apostolic purpose for our lives. Take up the challenge laid down by Paul in Colossians in praying for others we do not know.

Paul had never met the Colossians, but he faithfully prayed for them. He was thankful for their faith and changed lives. He asked God to help them to know what He wanted them to do, and to give them deep spiritual understanding. He asked God to help them live for Him. He asked God to give them more knowledge of Himself. He asked God to give them strength for endurance, and to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness.

I wonder how many lives would be touched if we prayed like this?

Secondly, we may need to improve our financial fitness. We need to answer these questions: “How often do we conduct our affairs as if God knows nothing about financial stewardship? How often, by our over-spending, do we need God to provide finance into a budget that leaks like a sieve?”

Determine how much is enough – to meet obligations, needs, and even some wants. Yes, even some wants because God is not stingy, and His desire is that we prosper, but not to the point where our increase is met with an equal and opposite consumption. At that place close off your budget. Now God can use it because it is positioned so that any excess is available to be sowed into Kingdom work.

Seize the day to do those tasks we all seem to put off: Clarifying death benefits; establishing what medical and insurance cover is available in countries we may visit; getting travel documents in order; and, sorting out wills.

Thirdly, we may need to improve our physical fitness. We are sometimes presumptuous here, only relying on God’s graces for good health, and not complementing this with good diet and exercise. There are no short cuts, but our ability to endure hardship, and to work harder on mission, is greater if we are physically fitter.

Lastly, we may need to improve our emotional fitness. As we listen to stories of human suffering in Africa, we realise how easy it is become distracted by humanitarian needs, because they are so desperate. In Matthew Jesus puts it simply, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Yet, hearing of a three-year-old orphan roaming the streets of Blantyre scavenging for food, wrenches the heart.

Many feel most unfit here, in the emotions.

Is this works? Not at all. This is building away from us; putting others, not ourselves, at the center. We’ll feel strangely liberated by carrying a new apostolic focus into our work places and schools, in our family life, and even our leisure activities.

God is connecting the dots in our generation. God is always working in our lives, and His providence is revealed as we join the dots looking backward.

Go on, be a dot.

Can’t spare the time to read Job’s address? No problem, watch it here.

Video review: Institutions vs Collaboration, by Clay Shirky.

Take a moment to watch the video clip. The context is technology, but consider the principles. Now apply the concept of collaboration to the church. Have we placed too much confidence in institutionalized church to fulfill our mandate? I believe the time is now for believers of all walks of life to make their contribution felt. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to the professionals employed by institutions to get the job done.

Leadership is about stewardship; stewardship of affluence, and stewardship of influence. I urge you, don’t just read blogs and quietly disagree: Engage, debate, influence. You can make a difference.

Video by: TED Ideas Worth Spreading| Language: English | Running time: 20:46 | Produced by: TED Conferences, LLC July, 2005 | Speaker/s: Clay Shirky

Video review: Christian Martyrs, by Randall Niles.

Randall Niles examines the history of Christian martyrs as evidence for the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Any skeptic who holds to a notion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a man-made legend created after-the-fact by a group of religious zealots, should sincerely check out the legacy of Christian persecution and martyrdom.

“Eleven of the 12 apostles, and many of the other early disciples, died for their adherence to this story,” Niles says. “This is so spectacular, since they all witnessed the alleged events surrounding Jesus and his resurrection, and still went to their deaths defending them.

“Why is this spectacular, when many throughout history have died martyred deaths for a religious belief? Because people don’t die for a lie. Look at human nature throughout history. No conspiracy can be maintained when life or liberty is at stake. Dying for a belief is one thing, but numerous eye-witnesses dying for a known lie is quite another.”

Video by: Randall Niles | Language: English | Running time: 3:10 | Produced by: Randall Niles September 10, 2008 | Speaker/s: Randall Niles