the gift of ignoring

The last place I want to be tonight is Springfield Illinois. It seems like these IMB meetings never come at convenient times. I am not really in the mood for long meetings and plenary sessions. The contrast of the bureaucratic minutia to our experience in India seems very stark at this late hour- especially after two very good worship services this morning.

I really wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight. I really wanted to go to work at my own office tomorrow.

Those of you who know me well know that I am not big on meetings- I incline away from the details and toward the action. I want to get to know our new missionaries. I want to hear how God has called them and what their hopes and dreams for the future will be. I want to know how to pray for them, to get involved with them. I'm a "get your hands dirty" kind of guy- I prefer a backpack to a briefcase.

I could skip the meetings details- just get me to where the action is.

So, my attitude is not really all that great coming into this meeting at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel. We learn on the drive to the hotel from the airport that Springfield has a population of 110,000. Not much action here at 11:00 p.m. on a Sunday night, the shuttle driver tells us.

I will be in meetings here until Wednesday, so I do appreciate your prayers.

One of our problems on the board, it seems to me, is that we meet too much. The other problem is that we have too many board members. Someone is always creating a crisis- with so many board members the possibility of clashing agendas goes up exponentially. I have been around long enough now to observe how this works in any body of fallen men and women. Increase their numbers, you increase opportunity for dealing with the crisis the members create instead of dealing with the important matters of the mission.

It is the "straining at gnats to swallow the camel" phenomenon.

I read the latest example of this phenomenon sent out via email by one of our trustees while sitting in a hotel room in Orissa India, where millions of Hindu were chanting prayers to their idol gods outside my window. I had just flown from Lucknow where millions of people live on the street and untold numbers die from hunger every day. I had just observed some incredible Christian schools and ministries in which active rescue effort is taking place on a daily basis- but their ministries are like fingers in the dike. The sheer millions of people who are suffering in places like India and Africa can be terribly overwhelming. I guess you could say I was not exactly in the proper frame of mind to read what we in our particular brand of American Christianity think of as a crisis.

It would be good for all of us to spend a couple of weeks in the slums of Delhi or Manilla or Kibera. We should all get a great big dose of the hungry, the naked and the imprisoned that Jesus talked about when he said, "when you did this to the least of my children, you did it unto me..."

Our perspective of a crisis would certainly change. Our sense of urgency about the Lord's command would gain a blaring certainty in our consciousness and those things we thought were so important and urgent and necessary would begin to pale against the blazing sun of the world's harsh reality.

Pray for good leadership this week. We need logical good sense steady handed leadership- the kind that says, "millions of people are going to bed hungry tonight; children are homeless in the streets of Calcutta and Darfur and San Paulo; millions will go into a Christless eternity in the three days that our board will meet- I think we should pour our energy into the weightier matters of our global mission and not get hung up on every little crisis someone wants to create.

Effective leadership and wisdom is knowing what to ignore, and discerning what needs attention and focus. Good leaders know the difference between camels and gnats. After all, we only have so much energy- and our time is finite.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Wisdom is making the most of every opportunity. It is choosing the VERY BEST in each situation. This means that there are many less important things in life that must be ignored in favor of what is most important.

The ability to ignore is at times a wonderful gift.

There is an interesting story in Mark 5 where Jairus's daughter has just died and some men come to him and tell him the terrible news. They were obviously not the gentle comforting tpyes- they said to this man who is in the throws of horrible tragedy, "Don't bother the teacher anymore, you daughter is dead."

Hows that for subtle?

The Bible says that Jesus, "ignoring what they said", turned to Jairus and said to him, "Do not be afraid, only believe!"

I love that passage. I love this passage not just for what it says of the words of Jesus but for what it says of Jesus. I think that one of the important things we learn from our Lord in this chapter is that sometimes the very best thing we can do is IGNORE.

I am trying to convince my wife that this is a spiritual gift- the gift of ignoring.

There are times in our lives that we must ignore what is being said and hear the words of Jesus, "do not be afraid, only believe."

That is what all of us need, it seems to me, a little LESS fear and a lot MORE belief.

On a brighter note- I am very much looking forward to meeting our new missionaries who we will commission for the field this week. I know of at least one couple that has a connection to our church (the Minnicks). Another couple we are commissioning this week, Mike and Jennifer Beck, used to serve in the church I pastored in Wichita Falls. Mike and Jennifer are heading to Lisbon, Portugal. I am also hooking up with some good friends from Tulsa who are being commissioned to a very remote, volatile part of the world.

It will be great to see them again and celebrate this new chapter in their life.

I ran into John Brady, the regional leader from North Africa Middle East at the Chicago airport. It was good to see him. John is one of those guys on the board who gives you great hope and optimism for the future of missions. He is a very effective, creative leader. He doesn't get to come to many of these meetings because he is constantly moving around the middle east, tending to his "flock". I will enjoy spending time with him.

I asked the Abe Lincoln hotel shuttle driver at the airport if it is true that Lincoln used this hotel when he was traveling through Springfield?

He tells me the hotel is only 20 years old.

It is obviously too late for weak humor. My body wants to go to sleep but my brain still thinks it's India.

The gift of ignoring will come in handy this week.