With a limp..I lead

Oh boy! The last few weeks have been a mix of some of the best and the worst of times...Some great highs and very low lows...interesting how life is isn’t it?  I can remember reading a quote from John Wimber where he said he would never trust a leader who did not have a limp. Now for some that is an absolutely crazy statement.  Who wants a crippled person to lead?  And how could a guy with a limp stay in front anyway?  Everybody could pass him by couldn’t they?  You want the fastest guy in front, the strongest, the bravest...not someone with a limp.      I guess I think it is more like John was saying, I want a battle tested person leading, one who has taken a few hits and has recovered...one who understands it takes more than brute strength to win a fight.  

As someone who has been leading a church for almost 17 years, I always knew I had a limp.  I knew that I was not called because I had impeccable qualities and gifts but really I was called because I was available.  My problem on too many occasions was I let me limp turn into an amputation.  I not only limped I needed crutches or a wheel chair to get around...my leg was not broken it was gone!  I focused on my limp...I thought it was what made me humble...kept me so lovable:)  What I did really was magnify my limp...when I needed to magnify God...make Him bigger...allow Him to be God.  

Lately I feel like God is healing my limp...actually I know He has healed and has been healing it for quite a while. A few weeks back in the Experiencing God class we talked about the fact that God is really not in a hurry...He never takes shortcuts, or allows us to take shortcuts, when it comes to building character into us.  He is patient...and slow...so slow...painstakingly slow.  Because He cares more about us than about what we do...He is building us not ministries...He is healing our limp...but we will always have a scar from the surgery.  

I think I am really coming to grips with Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12...”My grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore I will boast all the more greatly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”   So I know I have a limp...but even more so in my limp Christ’s power is made perfect.  It is not about my limp anymore...it is about His power...about time!!!

Bill