The Truth About Success.

It was about 11 PM.  Getting ready for bed,  John had a toothbrush stuck in his mouth.  That's when we heard a banging at the door.  My heart began to race.  Spitting into the sink,  we exclaimed simultaneously, "Who could that be?!?"

When you live in the "hood" a knock on the door at close to midnight is unsettling.  Well,  anywhere you live an unexpected visitor at that hour is nerve wracking.

The guy on the other side of the door just started shouting,  "This woman out here is crazy. Can you do something?"  We called the police.  Sure enough peering out our window was a parked car.  A gentleman we didn't know was standing on the sidewalk.  A half dressed woman,  was sidewinding around him wielding  a knife."  John, popped his head out,  "The police are on their way."   The woman took off running.  Shaken up,  the guy knocked on the door again.  I think he just wanted someone to stand outside with him and make him feel safe.  Apparently,  he had been down the block at a gas station.   Going inside to pay,  he had forgotten to lock his door.  When he returned this woman was sitting in his car,  shoving a blade in his face,  telling him to drive.   Knowing she wasn't strong enough to overpower him,  she demanded he drive to the street down the hill from us.  This area is a known drug infested, gang area.  We think she planned on getting some "friends" to fully car jack the guy.  Instead,  he saw our house,  pulled over and knocked on the door.  She stole everything out of his glove compartment and took off.

The police car was creeping up the street trying to catch the woman in the act of whatever she was up to as John and the guy saw them.  He  flagged him down with the usual surprised response we get from being here.  No it wasn't that he was in his pajamas.  We are "all wrong" for the neighborhood if you get my drift.   He spent some more time helping the "victim,"  and talking to the police,  before entering back into the house.  Finally,  we could settle for bed.  Laying there my eyes were wide and my thoughts bounced off the ceiling.

First I drifted to a couple of weeks ago when I surveyed a group of teens about their thoughts on their future.  I asked them a series of 15 questions. Wanting true responses, they were allowed to remain anonymous.   First I inquired,  "What is a dream you have for your life?"  The responses came back with ideas like, "Go to college,  become a teacher,  and become a lawyer."  These were students that were truly thinking about possibilities in front of them.   Question number 15 was,  "If you are honest with yourself,  do you really believe you will achieve number 1?"  Meaning did they really think they would go to college or be a teacher?   At least 80% of the answers were NO.   This means that most of the students want a "better tomorrow,"  but don't really think they will get there.

Then I started to ponder this weekend when I was sitting with a friend of mine whose children are all college age.  As she perused Facebook,  she noticed that a friend of her son's had died.  With a sadness she expressed,  "Another one of George's friend's died this week.  In the past couple of years we have lost so many to drugs, suicide and accidents." Just that week we had found out that a friend of my daughter's 15 year old brother had taken his own life.

Finally,  and very simply I drifted to thoughts on one student in my group who I can barely get to talk.  Getting her to share her opinion is beyond difficult.  Ask her a straight forward question that could include, "What's your favorite color?"  and she will tell you,  "I don't know."  She hides.   This week I found out her coping mechanism is to smoke weed.  It didn't shock me,  but it made me sad.

As my mind continued to race,  I thought of so many friends who have their own heart breaking stories of ministry.  Story after story filled my soul.  I began to pray for each of them.  I know we are all scratching our heads and wondering, "Are we truly making a difference?"

As we were drifting off to sleep,  I couldn't calm down.   What if the woman had, had a gun?   Turning to John I whispered,  "Why do we live here again?"  He smiled,  "It's one of these two answers,  I don't know,  or we're called.  Let's choose called."  I couldn't help but thinking we were placed there for such a time as this.  There isn't another person on our street that would have opened the door at almost midnight to that story.  They would have wanted to "stay out of it."  I started to see beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Holy Spirit directed that car to our house.

As I mulled everything over, the Lord used each to remind me of an important truth.  My role is to help teens remember their identity is in Christ. They need us to see them with a visionary eye.  The Lord has a purpose and plan for them TODAY.  He puts me where he needs me to be his hands and feet.  The goal is to become his reflection.  Finally as my eyes fluttered to a close,  I wondered,  "Am I really successful?"

Success is that we remain obedient to the call placed before us.  Success doesn't always feel successful. Most of the time it is about showing up at the place and time that Christ told us to go.  More accurately, it is about falling in love with Jesus fresh daily.  Then all we can do is live for him,  the way he asks us to.

In America it is hard to treat small triumphs as ultimate victories.  The march of the faithful in Hebrews 11 does not smack of the famous and glorious.  (I encourage you to read it HERE) Instead it is a list of those who believed fully in what they couldn't see.  If I am honest I had to go look up Jephthah,  as he is named as a "hero."    Our final charge are the ways that these people of faith lived ridiculed lives, often ending in death.  This is hardly the portrait of US success.  Yet,  this passage brought me to tears:

"All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.  Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.  If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.  But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (vs. 13-16)

The greatest achievement I will ever have is to look to the Lord.  I may never get to "see"  accomplishments  with my eyes.  Sarah and Abraham gave birth to one son.  Isaac had two sons.  They went on to have dozens.  Yet,  in their lifetime this is hardly,  a people numbering more than the "sands on the seashore."  God said it,  they believed it,  he did it.

The truth about most of us is that in view of the world we will never gain a trophy.  Yet,  becoming a city on a hill that shines its light is too bright to be ignored.  It might be a beacon to a car ride in panic. It might be the spark to ignite a generation.  When it feels like we are "doing" nothing we need to know we aren't home yet.  Here on earth success isn't successful at all.   That night I dreamed of of a place where all there is to "do" all day is sing love songs to a Savior.  Now that it is a goal worth waiting for.