Michael Staires

Here I am!

I just got back from Forest Home…a great camp in the SoCal San Bernardino mountains. Sunday, while on a tour of the facilities, I ran into John Clarkson, a Forest Home staffer working in one of the camp’s kitchens. John was working getting lunch ready for about 500 junior high winter campers but his mind was busy trying to get wrapped around a repeated phrase in the Bible…

Here I Am!

When it was time for God to test Abraham’s faith with his son Isaac, he called for Abraham. Abraham replied, “Here I am!” (Genesis 22:1)

An angel calls for Jacob during a dream and his reply is simply, “Here I am!” (Genesis 31:11)

God calls Moses from the burning bush and his response is the same, “Here I am!” (Exodus 3:4)

When Samuel was just a boy serving the priest Eli in the temple, God woke him up calling his name. His response? “Here I am!”

What is your response when you feel the voice of God calling your name? When you feel that inner leading to go or do or say or act...what is your response? It’s so easy to respond with reasons why you’re not available or not willing or not ready. Of course there’s always outright rebellion but I think most of us are guilty instead of trying to delay our obedient response, which is of course…disobedience.

It seems a natural tendency to hesitate to step up when called. God’s plans for us tend to be big and scary. We hedge and fudge or squirm and twist and look away hoping He’ll get distracted and turn his gaze away. But He never does. He’s after your heart and He won’t stop until He gets it.

Many years from now, what will be remembered about your response to His voice? When He calls you, how will you answer?

Thanks John for the insight...and the challenge.

Are you waiting for something you already have?

For no particular reason today I’m reminded about a dream I had a few years ago. I was standing on a train platform waiting on a train. I remember that I wasn’t merely a commuter waiting on a train to take me to work…a routine process repeated almost daily. No, this was different. I was waiting on a train to take me somewhere…somewhere I had dreamed of going for some time. The day had arrived, my bags were packed, I was ready to go.

On the platform with me were others who were excited about leaving. They were looking forward to the trip and the anticipation was building as we waited for the train to come. This wasn’t just any train. This was our train. This was my train. It was taking me away to the next chapter in my life.

In the distance we began to hear the distant rumble of the train on the tracks. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the train’s mighty whistle blast coming from the valley in the distance. The roar grew louder until the train finally came into view. As it rounded the bend, it began to slow down in anticipation for stopping at the station to pick us up. Like the others, I stood and gathered my bags and prepared to board.

About this time in the dream, I look up and notice that something is very, very wrong. My train has switched tracks and is not coming to my station platform after all. My train is going to another platform…one on the other side of mine. It stops, picks up its passengers and moves ahead…without me.

I’m stunned. All that anticipation spills out of me and I’m spent in disappointment. I watch the train disappear behind the curve as I realize the inevitable truth—either I’ve missed my train or I’ve been waiting for the wrong train all along. Either way, it’s clear, I’m not going anywhere today.

OK, OK, I’ll admit to some deep-seated issues here. But have you ever felt like that? Your big opportunities are passing you by as you stand helpless on the wrong platform. You peer in the windows of the departing train only to see the passengers laughing and drinking and singing…all thrilled to be on that train…your train. OK. Enough of that.

What’s the lesson here? My tendency is to always think that my destiny is something “out there,” something that will come someday and sweep me away to a better place: a place of fulfillment, of significance, of meaning, of reward. But I’m wrong. My destiny is inside me. It may only be a microscopic seed…but it’s in there. There’s no need to stand and wait for it. It’s already there…just waiting to be nurtured and developed.

It’s sad to think that we all might be standing on a platform waiting for something that we already have. It’s already in our grasp. It’s inside of us. It’s a part of who we are. But it needs to be developed and nurtured. It needs water and rich soil and warm sunshine.

Stop waiting for something you already possess. It’s in you.

The gift of anticipation

I was listening the other day to a re-broadcast of Fresh Air on NPR. The host was interviewing the great British actress Helen Mirren and they were discussing Mirren’s role of Mrs. Wilson, the head housekeeper in Gosford Park, the 2001 Robert Altman film.

They played a short clip from the film where Mirren’s character, a very prim and humorless woman, said something that really struck a chord in me.

What gift do you think a good servant has that separates them from the others? It's the gift of anticipation. And I'm a good servant. I'm better than good. I'm the best. I'm the perfect servant. I know when they'll be hungry and the food is ready. I know when they'll be tired and the bed is turned down. I know it before they know it themselves.

The truth of that statement really settled in on me. I have known for so much of my life that as Christians we are called to be servants. Further, I had assumed that the most valuable character quality of a servant was willingness or availability. My assumption was that the excellent servant would willingly stand-by, at his master’s beck and call, always available, ready for further instructions.

But I can now see the truth…that’s too passive. A servant who has to be told to do everything would be viewed as dull or stupid. A servant who waits to be told what to do before acting would be considered lazy or insecure. No, the truth of Mrs. Wilson’s words ring true…the difference between a great servant and a average one is the gift of anticipation.

When God calls us to be servants in His kingdom, He is calling us to know one another so well and love one another so completely that we know what the other wants and needs. We can anticipate needs much in the way that Mrs. Wilson does as head housekeeper, I know when they'll be hungry and the food is ready. I know when they'll be tired and the bed is turned down. I know it before they know it themselves.

When we allow ourselves to become passive in our servanthood, we place all the responsibility on the other. It’s easy to say, “I didn’t know.” But as an excellent servant, it’s our job to know.

Today you are surrounded by people. People who love you and need you…people God has called you to serve. But what kind of servant are you? Do you sit back and wait to be told what to do or are you always thinking about what they are going to need next and rushing to be there with what they need? What do you need to do to be an excellent servant today?

On becoming the

I love Seth's blog today about the importance of becoming a "the" instead of an "a." What are you doing today to become the "the" that God designed you to be?

The urgency of NOW

I took the occasion of the day to listen to Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. I don't think I’d ever actually listened to the whole speech. Most of us are probably only familiar with the few famous phrases spoken on that day in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

But buried in the middle of the speech there is a section I’ve never heard before. Dr. King talks about the urgency of NOW. He said, We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

What was true in August of 1963 is certainly true today. This is no time to sit back and wait for things to happen. It’s no time to play defense…only responding to what life throws our way. It’s no time to sit back and allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep by the apathy of our times.

Today is the day…now is the time to make good on our promises. Now is the time to rise to the level we once dreamed was possible. Now is the time to pull together and become excellent in a way we could never achieve on our own. Now is the time stop our pettiness and strive for the greatness within. Now is the time to step out in our divine design and be the person we were born to be. The time is now.

The promise of more...

You never know when the inspiration will strike. You don’t know the times when you are listening or looking or smelling or tasting when all of a sudden like a lightning bolt, you see or sense something you have never sensed before. You become aware of a reality or a truth that until now lay hidden beneath the surface of your consciousness.

It’s like a link on a web page that looks innocent enough at first but lights up when you pass your mouse over it. It’s then that you realize there is more there, the promise of more…if you just click your mouse.

When the Lord is passes His hand over certain things in your life…they light up. You become aware of something inside that you never realized was there. That’s part of your design, part of your destiny.

You need to be aware of those “links” in your life. What are those things that light up when the hand of God passes over? What is it that causes you to stir inside? God gives all of us the promise of more. There is more to you than meets the eye.