Spent some time reading my YouVersion daily Bible-reading plan and came across the account of the life of John the Baptist. Was struck by something that I’ve no doubt glanced over before. From conception to death, John’s whole life was dedicated to someone else.

No the quick obvious observation was that John’s life was all about Jesus, that’s typically where I’ve left it. Yes, he was the one to prepare the way and announce Jesus’ arrival on earth. But what struck me wasn’t that he was proclaiming Jesus and making him known (which too is our mission) it was that his life wasn’t about him. I’ve always thought about his story about who is was focusing on (Jesus), instead of who is wasn’t focusing on (himself). He sacrificed himself utterly and completely – I can’t find a single moment when John the Baptist’s life was about him.

Mine, on the other hand, is just the opposite:

• I turn conversations to myself as soon as possible
• I want comforts that make my life easier
• I want to be the center of everyone’s world
• I tend to minimize the contributions of others because it takes the attention from me
• I overlook certain personality types because they might overshadow mine
• I need the credit for the success of our ministry
• I have needs that are more important than anyone else

So I’m broken in this way, and I want to work on it, inspired by the life of John. I want to be a youth pastor that is constantly turning conversations toward someone else, brings Jesus to the world, freely gives away credit and praise for kingdom work and puts everyone else’s needs about my own. Not exactly an easy task, but something worth living for.

JG

Late on the evening of March 18th, 2010, a fire broke out at Purpose Driven Academy, completely destroying the boys high school and jr high dormatories. Over 100 resident students were left with NOTHING but the clothing they were wearing …AND THEIR LIVES. Praise God that because of the timing of the day all students were in CLASSROOMS doing last minute ‘preps’ for the next day’s National Exams… a Kenya-wide testing that determines your position for university and other school placement…THINK SAT’s…nobody died …and if you stood in those dorms you would say as I did, ‘this is a miracle that no one perished’. The fire’s origin is still being sought by the Kitale fire investigators, but because of the fierceness of the fire and the lack of fire response and the complete destruction, that may never be settled. More details here.