Walk With Me

Happy Sunday everyone! Sunday is my absolute favorite day of the week because I love coming to church and seeing everyone gather together to worship and fellowship. The past couple of Sundays we have been in the book of Haggai and have been challenged to look at the things in life we need to say no to in order to say yes to God. We all have such a divine purpose in Jesus Christ that it’s so important that we act upon it every day.

The past couple of weeks have been full of new challenges and God’s blessings in the unknown. I recently started a new job at Chick fil A to have while I get through school. For those that do not know, I am studying at Luther Rice College and Seminary right now to become a missionary. It was a decision I made within the span of two weeks when I came home from my mission trip to Spain. That is my focus and priority right now and I needed a job that would work with my school schedule and provide a good environment and Chick fil A has ended up being that place.

I have worked at Chick fil A before, so I have just had to re-learn everything but with my restaurant management experience I seem to have picked up on everything rather quickly. God is so good, His blessings are many when we follow Him, and He is showing me every day why I am in exactly the place He wants me to be in right now. My operator’s daughter is actually a missionary and is oversees right now with her husband, so I have already had some opportunities to talk about missions with them and look forward to connecting more with them. They are so supportive in my hopes of becoming a missionary.

One thing I want to share that someone actually shared with me this week at work is about leadership. I am learning to become a leader at Chick fil A and one of my trainers told me something that has stuck with me ever since. I share this because not only am I a leader in my store but I’m also a leader as a Christian. He said, “Leaders are thermostats, not thermometers.” What he was explaining was leaders don’t measure the temperature of the room and follow it, they set the temperature. The environment and tone of a workplace is a direct reflection of the leadership. This is also true for Christians in the world.

As Christians I believe we are born and called to be leaders. We are shepherds for the lost and trying to guide nonbelievers to believe they have a greater purpose. We are called to not only plant seeds but also water them. Too many times, I’m afraid we forget to water the seeds after we plant them. Let us not forget where we once were when we first came to Christ. It was hard, we were still learning what it looked like to follow God and be obedient to Him and maybe we felt like we had to do it all on our own. Grown-up Christians (and I don’t necessarily mean in age but in how long we have been walking Christians) should be shepherding and helping baby Christians (those who are just believing). Satan would love nothing more than to make them feel like this is a mistake and they are all alone, and we cannot let that happen. Be there to answer any questions, encourage them, pray for them, and go to church with them.

Looking at us as the Christians of this world, we set the tone. We are called to be the light and love this world so desperately needs. Our jobs are not to follow and succumb to what everyone else is doing but to lead and be the difference. We will not answer evil with evil, when someone persecutes us, we will pray for them and forgive them. It takes all of us working together to be bold and hold each other accountable. Say you are standing in a pitch-dark room and one person lights a candle, there suddenly is a little bit of light but still everyone cannot see. That person shares their flame to light another candle of someone and there’s more light. Then they light a third. At this point there are three people in this dark room holding candles. Those three can see very well, the people close to them can see a little, and the people far from them can’t see at all. This is what the world looks like.

As Christians we have the light within us and can see everything around us clearly. The people that we are close to that don’t have the candle can see a little bit because of the light shining from us, but once our flame from our candle gets close enough to their candle to ignite it then the world gets brighter. But we can’t stop there. We have to bring our light to others who are in the dark. We must raise the temperature so that they can feel the heat from our candle and eventually have their candle lit. Imagine what the world would look like if we all walked around like this every day trying to light more candles to give light to those who are in the dark? The world would be so bright!

I want to encourage all of us to go into this week with this mental image of candles and light and see how many people we can share a little bit of light with. Let’s make the world bright together. There is a Christmas movie called “Deck the Halls.” One of the men, played by Danny DeVito, has a goal of putting up so many Christmas lights around his house that his house would be able to be seen from space. How beautiful would it be for God to look at our world from Heaven and see so much light from all of us?

Psalm 119:105- “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Matthew 5:16- “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

John 8:12- “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

Be the thermostat, set the temperature, share your light, plant seeds, and water them. Together let’s light this world so everyone can see.

Love you all and praying for blessings upon you this week,

Courtney