PURPOSELY FOLLOW THE STAR

Matthew 2: 1-2 "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

After all -- it all started with a star. A star was what the wise men followed. They didn’t call them wise men for nothing. It takes a truly wise man to follow a star... no matter what....

There is an e-mail that has circulated many times about such a man, although some who read it may see this man as anything but wise. I’ll get to that later. Here is the Linda version of the e-mail:

A pastor sat in a restaurant and his attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." The pastor’s heart sank.

He had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. He glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. He was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call up some response. Deep within him, the Spirit of God kept speaking: "Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square." (Oh how well Linda knows that voice)

He found the man standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

He asked the stranger to lunch and asked him the question:

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

He knew he had met someone unusual.. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story."

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God.

"Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" the pastor asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."

This homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice.

"What's it like too walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me."

"Where are you headed from here?" the pastor asked.

(Linda’s favorite part)

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon."

"Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He didn’t know exactly where he was going or really why--- but he knew he was going to follow that star, because that is where God was nudging him to go. He wasn’t walking aimlessly as it appeared. He was walking purposely, as only a few could see.

So how do you see this man? With what eyes do you see?

A dream I had explained to me about how we are "seen." I dreamt I was in a room with an elderly woman. She lay in a bed in a state of hopelessness. I never questioned why I was there, I just set about to do what I was to do. As in my real life, when I am walking deliberately in God’s will, ( I call it consciously "in the zone") no one around outside of the will matters. They are invisible. This point was extremely evident in last month’s column about my visit to my first church. All danger, all strangers, all anything-- never entered the picture when I walked in to that church purposely in God’s will. In all of the stories that I have ever told of specific incidents of deliberately working His will, all around me ceased to be, as only God and His mission took priority. I walked purposely, as only a few could see.

And yes, it comes at a cost.

In my dream, I took this woman’s hand and she explained to me the hopelessness of her situation. I listened intently but then made her listen to me and what I had to tell, as I was there with a specific message. I told her that I knew how she felt but that she had to claim her healing. Claim it. I told her that that is what I had to do and that when she did that, healing would come. While I was talking to her, I noticed no one around me --- I didn’t care if anyone was around me-- they were invisible to me as I was only focused on the mission. Purposely. All ceased to exist but God and His mission. That is why I was there.

I left the room, and suddenly people were everywhere. Unbeknownst to me, they had witnessed what I had done. They didn’t hesitate to share their opinions of what they had witnessed.

“You did that just so we would see."

“You just want attention."

“You have no right to speak of God that way."

And so on.......and so on.......

What happened next in the dream speaks volumes- not OF me, but FOR me.

I turned to these faceless people who suddenly appeared after the fact, and I addressed their claims of my motives with very few words. Words that came from my mouth but came from God.

“YOU see things that way because that is how YOU think. That’s coming from you. That is not me.

What others see is coming from their eyes and their eyes are the windows of their souls, not yours.

People don’t see clearly because their eyes are clouded. Their thinking is clouded. That doesn’t mean that what you are doing is not clear. If you are purposely walking with God, working for God, it’s very clear, especially to God. Don’t let others murk up your purpose with their ugly thoughts and comments. With eyes like that, they may never see truth even if it is standing right in front of them.

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me."

What others see is coming from their eyes and their eyes are the windows of their souls, not yours.

Once you realize that God is using you to touch lives, to change people’s concepts of one thing or another, ----once you realize that ------you see things a whole lot different. A whole lot more clearly. With a whole lot of purpose.

Frankly I agree with the man who has been walking for so long just following that star. God told him to do this, this is what he is going to do. He will be judged, in fact the closer he follows, the more he will be judged. God has a lot to say, a lot of lives to touch, a lot of people’s concepts to change of one thing or another, and very few followers who will walk blindly only holding His hand doing just that.

Was that man walking aimlessly or was he walking purposely? Are you?

Do you care what onlookers "see" or think they see? Or do you care what God sees?

Your star is somewhere out there, are you wise enough to find it? Purposely follow it?

God has a lot to say, a lot of lives to touch, a lot of people’s concepts to change of one thing or another, and very few followers who will walk blindly only holding His hand doing just that.

I know I am one of them. I hope you are one of them too. That would make us two of them.

And so on....and so on.....and so on.......

Matthew 2:9-10 "they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."
 

Copyright 2007 Linda Woodward. All rights reserved.