My friend Paul went home to be with the Lord last week. The deep groan of sadness that I felt when the news first came out, began to give way over time to reflection on the impact that this one brother had on my life. 
As I ‘re-watched’ the videos in my head of the many times we had shared life and ministry together, three words or word images came to mind
Persistent challenge. Paul regularly put challenges out in front of you. The reason I started running marathons came about the day Paul called me up to announce he had an entry for me for the London marathon. I had never put my name in for the London marathon (a lottery system)! Apparently Paul, however, had been putting my name in, along with his name and his son’s name, for three years until our names had been drawn! Paul didn’t just challenge you in life activities, he challenged your capacity to believe that ‘God could do above and beyond what we could ask or think’. He pushed you to believe that God could work among a resistant people group; that He could spawn movements of multiplying churches; that He could work in and through us to reach others for Christ.
Dogged perseverance. I cannot think of Paul without thinking of how he was constantly ‘moving forward’. I still marvel at how he, a former wrestler, finished the London marathon in a very respectable time. He doggedly pursued the difficult tasks. More importantly, he doggedly pursued God. There was always that new thought, fresh insight that the Lord has laid on his heart and that he wanted to share with you when you got together in a meeting. He not only shared, but he lifted you up before the Lord in prayer, and you could count on that when he told you so. He kept driving forward to the ‘upward call’.
Amazing adventure. You never quite knew where Paul was ‘taking’ you when you set off with him. One year, he decided to rent a boat on the Thames for the week long meeting of the Europe field directors. After that ‘week on the boat’, we all said that we would never do that again. However, his ‘adventure’ worked to draw us together in a way we weren’t expecting … and part of the proof is that we’re still talking about that infamous ‘boat trip’ to this day! It wasn’t the craziness of the activity that finally characterized Paul, it was the context of grace he tried to create where you came to recognize the One in whom we put our trust and confidence, and who gave us the grace we needed to keep moving forward.
I will deeply miss my friend Paul. I have missed him being part of my team for the past number of years. Detlef got that privilege in recent years. And we are all better people for having rubbed shoulders with Paul.
I will not forget the impact that Paul has left on my life.
Don’t miss the opportunity to share with another how they have influenced your life!
Filed under: Friendship, Grace, Teams | 8 Comments »
Perfection is elusive. In fact, it’s unattainable in this life. However, that does not keep us from expecting that standard of ourselves and of others. Oftentimes, I either say to myself or I hear other people say: “Why couldn’t (I) they just have done ____?” And you can fill in the blank.
We as workers in God’s mission must give the time and energy necessary to understand another’s world (language, culture, worldview and context) in order to ‘put the Bible in their hands’ for them to discover, learn and apply for themselves in their culture and context.
I listen to a lot of messages and sermons. Sometimes in the midst of all the teaching that you and I receive (or give), we can miss the essential, the very heart of the Christian faith. And that is Jesus.
Then another thought came to mind. How should we pray for one another in a ‘gospel centred way’? Prayer is one of our guiding principles, and the Gospel is the ultimate guiding principle from which the others flow. So, what would it ‘look like’ to pray in a way that drives us back to the Gospel and our dependence upon Him?
Archibald Alexander was a professor for many years in the mid nineteenth century at Princeton Theological Seminary (USA). In his work, Thoughts on Religious Experience, he asked ‘why’ we grow so slowly as Christians. 
Thoughts Along The Journey 