Have I Done Enough?
Have I Done Enough?
Over Thanksgiving weekend I got a text from our Chief Operations Officer, Wendy Johnson, that she had just seen the movie, Blindside and the Sandra Bullock character reminded her of me. Yea, I can see that, well except for the hot body and millionaire husband, that could be me. Michael Oher, the homeless youth taken in by the Touhy family, was interviewed on CNN and the anchor finished the interview with how wonderful it would be if the movie inspired others to reach out and take someone in.
Last Saturday I was in Tijuana attending the Ministry Planning Board Christmas party at Pastor Armando Ponce’s church. He has been with us almost from the beginning when his church and home were housed in a facility that resembled an aluminum Quonset hut. A lot has changed since then but what is the most inspiring is that Pastor Armando has planted 10 mission churches in the city of Tijuana.
Tonight Scott and I went to see the new Clint Eastwood movie Invictus. I’ve been thinking about that prison cell where Nelson Mandela lived for so many years and how this one man helped change the course of history in South Africa that makes it now possible for us to serve there. A great and inspiring figure in our lifetime.
These two movies and the testimony of Pastor Armando inspire me to do more. And so this holiday season I am asking myself, “Have I done enough?” I am 55 years old and I know that if I died today I could go to my grave feeling good about the fact that I made a promise as a 9 year old to be a missionary and I kept it. Honestly, since I made that commitment at Guadalupe Christian Service Camp people would say I have accomplished a great deal. And yet until the day I die I will keep asking myself, “Have I done enough?”
Have you done enough?
By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries
The concept of ‘enough’ strikes me funny. It’s not that there is not enough, surely we all know we are justified by faith, but our works are evidence of that faith. I am brought back to the context of Mt 25:14-30 and an idea that we should be working to out-serve each other, not serve “enough”. We should be giving out of our abundance not out of our excess. I am a steward (albeit often a poor one) of my time, talents and resources. Our model for giving of ourselves is Jesus, who rested and refreshed himself but never said I’ve done enough, until he said “It Is Finished” when He really said ‘I’ve done all I can’. After, we’ve worked to out-give each other, and out-steward each other and we say “I’ve done all I can”, we will meet Him, then we can hear Him say to us “Well done good and faithful servant”. I’m confident that you will hear those words Gayla, however all of us need to continue to run the race set before us with endurance, and not begin to stop when we think we’ve done (or had) ‘enough’.
Keep inspiring all of us!