Gary Reeder
take a minute and read this from Jim Taylor. It will
Thursday, May 23, 2019, 11:58

be well worth your time..

DOING STUFF FOR GOD

This was an email I sent out some years ago when we were living in Mozambique, Africa. My sister Kathy sent it to me recently, reminding me of it. What I expressed in this email is still true today.

I have never done very much for God. I have been walking with him for 40-some years now, but there are very few things I have ever done for him. I mostly did whatever turned up in front of me. I never made a plan and worked to get it accomplished. Ever.

The Lord got hold of me in a Pentecostal tent meeting on an Indian Reservation. I did not want to be there but through circumstances beyond my control there I was! And he captured me. I was not looking for him and in fact had spent quite a bit of time avoiding him. I stayed away from buildings where I thought he hung out. I refused to be around people that it seemed he liked. I especially stayed away from preachers. Yet somehow Jesus tracked me down and grabbed me.

I did not want to be a preacher. I never set out to be one. It's just that I found myself talking to people about how good God was to me. And because of that somehow I ended up running a Coffee House during the Jesus People Movement, even though I was just a young learner still feeling my way along. And lots of young people came to Jesus!!

I never set out to lead a church. My wife and I had a small Bible study in our home that grew into weekly meetings big enough we had a rent a building. Those grew into regular meetings and became a Mission church! I had no idea what was happening. It was like I was along for the ride. After several years I was asked to move to another part of the state and assume leadership of a young church there. It was not something I desired or asked for or worked for. It just happened. And the truth is, I had no clue as to what to do or how to do it. So I went, wondering what the Lord was doing and figuring he would help.

Most all of my life walking with the Lord has been like that. I did not plan it. We just walked along and sometimes he would go a direction I never saw coming! He would smile at me and say something like "If you're going with me, we are heading this way." It was usually not the way I would have chosen.

Now I don't want to give the impression that I was always happy going along with the path he was walking. Nope. Not at all. Sometimes I got frustrated and angry and yelled at him. The strange thing is it never changed his mind! More than once I went off on my own. He just smiled. And when I came crawling back ... sometimes bleeding and scratched up he just picked me up, loved on me and healed my wounds. I did not understand it for quite awhile. I mean, if someone treated me that way I would have kicked their ungrateful butt out the door. But he just held me. One day a light came on and I realized it was his Grace! Funny thing .. he never punished me when I chose to go my own way. The way I chose often punished me .. but him? Never. Returning to him he accepted me and healed me. There never was any lectures ... he never bawled me out or pointed out my errors. He just loved me. And continues to do so.

So you see, I have never done much of anything for him. He has done it all for me! Once, when we were doing prophetic street ministry, a Rabbi friend said that he was impressed with my leadership skills. I tried to explain to him that I have none. I never tried to figure out who should be where doing what. All I did was ask Jesus to help and then walk along, trying to do what I saw him doing or do what he told me to do. Most of the stuff I could have never figured out in a hundred years!! All I did was copy what he did.

Our move to Africa, joining with Iris Ministries was not something we set out to do. It was something we were shown and we made the choice to do what we saw. We could not have planned it! Africa had NEVER been on our radar ... well .. other than a great place to hunt. But living in Africa? Nope. In fact, when we were first married, Twyla told the Lord that she would go anyplace he asked us to go EXCEPT Africa!! Ha! Don't try to tell me Jesus doesn't have a sense of humor.

We did not move to Africa because we have a great understanding of how to change the people here for the better. When I came I felt totally inadequate. I still do. I do not have the answer to the problems. I do not have a program that will radically alter the way things are here. We just walk with Jesus and love whoever he sets in front of us. We do whatever he puts in our path to do. Sometimes we have to stop and sort things out for there are many needs, but he always shows us the direction he is going and we endeavor to walk with him. Sure .. there are so many needs that one could get quite overwhelmed and burn out attempting to fix them. Jesus hasn't told us to do that. We aren't fixers. We are just helpers ... following Jesus .. often imperfectly .. sometimes with uncertainty .. but always relying on his love and mercy and grace. If anything gets done it is his power. He gets all the credit for it. Yes, even the credit for projects with goats.

He is Amazing!

BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL ... WALK WITH HIM!!

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The above is still true today. I have no plans other than to try to listen to him. That's all that is needed.