And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus..."
- Luke 19:5
So this past week I had the amazing opportunity to direct the Korean American Student Empowerment conference for the first time. I attended KASE before it was KASE once as a student, and I also came several times as a college group lay leader and pastor, but this was my first time directing. I learned a lot about what it takes to put together a national conference like this, but what I want to share with you is how God impacted me personally (and, based on the fruits, it is a word that is resonating with many of the conference participants as well).
In a word, God reminded me that everything else about leadership and mission means little to nothing if it's not first grounded in my relationship with Him. No, that's not putting it well enough. It's more like this: God deepened in me a dependence on Him, to the point that I'm beginning to believe more deeply that it's worth it to set aside day to day sermon prep, ministry prep, conference prep, even counseling in order to just sit with Him and remember that He is real, that He loves me, and that nothing can come between us, not my own failures, not the brokenness of me and the world, not even my own lack of faith.
Of course I still have my responsibilities. Of course I need to do my best at all of those things. But everything I put into them truly means little to nothing unless I invest first in my relationship with God.
This is an incredibly freeing thing, and that's not all. It also means that the one thing that I have to offer others isn't food, social services, or even emotional...even spiritual healing. The one thing I have to offer is the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ.
Let me put this in slightly more concrete terms. If I grew up with John Mayer (you can substitute your own favorite celebrity here), wouldn't I be an awesome friend to invite you to hang out with us the next time we met up for coffee or dinner? And not only for a one time coffee date, but the chance to meet and get to know and even develop a relationship with him? Wouldn't that make me your best friend ever?
That's the one thing we as followers of Christ can offer the world, the chance to meet and know Him. It is more precious than platinum. It's the one thing.
PS: Here are some pictures from KASE 2010:
1 comment:
dang. looks like i missed out.
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