Visioneering

It's one thing to have a grand idea--a vision.

It's another thing to achieve the vision.

Most of the time, the "vision thing" is the work of God in and through one individual. In my experience, visions are not given to groups. Visions are communicated to groups (who then either buy-in or don't) but they are not given to groups (except through the communication of the vision by the one who has received it).

The achieving of the vision, making the vision concrete, is usually God working through a team made up of people who are either captured by the vision or are willing to follow the person to whom the vision has been given.

Those who are given a vision and then effectively communicate it to others so it can become reality, engage in the practice I call visioneering.

The church building above is located in Hato Mayor, a barrio outside Santiago in the Dominican Republic (which is a very interesting name when you stop and think about it!).

It is the concrete expression of a vision that was given to a man named Pedrito Marmolejos, who lives in the barrio of Hato Mayor and would not live anywhere else. Pedrito has a ministry, as well as a vision. He has a burden, placed on his heart by the Lord, for the people of his community--that they would have a place that represents the Good News of Jesus right in their midst.

The vision is for a place where children learn that they are valued and valuable; where adults experience the restoration that comes through Jesus; where songs are sung and lives are changed; and where hope abounds.

The photo above shows some of the work that was done since last July, when some Horizonites (along with some other -ites) joined Pedrito's visioneering efforts. He spoke of the walkway that would bring people to the door of the building. When he told me about it last summer, I could only see it in my mind, sure that my vision was not the same as the one Pedrito was trying to communicate. Now that I've seen his vision literally expressed in concrete, all of the pieces have fallen into place and Pedrito's words make so much more sense.

Last summer I walked by faith. Now I walk by sight, with my faith strengthened.

Because we are made in the image of our Creator and wired with creativity that springs from His Spirit, I believe every person is called to engage, to some degree, in visioneering--taking a God-given idea and finding a way to birth it, bring it into being. Every one of us is called to a unique visioneering task, contributing to the mosaic of life that sings in worship to our Creator.

Now that's a vision, too.

It's time to do some visioneering, don't you think?

We are all fellow visioneers. May our visioneering honor the Visioneer who makes it all possible.

Producing Fruit

That's my daughter, Jordan, on the right, standing next to a trunk full of grapefruit we had picked from the trees behind my mother's house in Sun City West, Arizona, in mid-March. Maybe 200+ pounds of grapefruit that we brought to the local food bank in Surprise. There were 5-6 bins like the one on the right, filled with grapefruit, oranges and other kinds of tree-fruit.

Jordan's smile and T-shirt are sending a mixed message--don't you think? But it's hard to frown when it's in the 80s and you've just flown from northern Indiana at a time when the temperature is in the 30s. Trading snow for sand, bare-branched trees for cacti.

My mother's two trees produced a banner crop this spring. Might have had something to do with the box of fertilizer I sprinkled under each tree a year ago! And to think that I spread another box under each tree this year. We'll have to make two trips to the food bank next spring.

Jesus spoke about being a fruit-producer. He said that you can tell the nature and health of a tree by the fruit it produces. Of course, Jesus wasn't just talking about fruit. He was making the point that who we are on the inside is going to be revealed by the "fruit" we produce on the outside. That fruit will include the nature of our relationships, our deeds and the motives that drive them, and the "aroma" we leave behind us, both while living and after we have drawn our last breath.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7), Jesus threw out a lot of clues about what it means to be a fruit producer in His kingdom. He talked about forgiveness, being blessed even when we don't think we are, judging others, holding grudges, loving others, being in the center of God's will, and much more.

The important thing for me is this: that these "marks" of kingdom-living reveal the whole "what it's all about" of Christianity. If Christianity is all about following Jesus, then we, as His disciples, ought to be leaving a wake that looks a lot like His. After encountering us, others should say they have rubbed up against someone who has "the eternal kind of life" (Jn. 3:16). The glow of glory ought to warm their face and gladden their heart. The glimpse of the holy in us should create, at the least, a mini-defining moment for them, a decision-point where they know that the "more" of being a human being goes beyond good and all the way to holy.

Whew! Who knew so much was going on?! Who knew so much was at stake?

All this from grapefuit in Arizona?

Yes, as followers of Jesus we live with joy-filled smiles on our faces while living in a "Bah humbug" world. All because of the "life of the Eternal" who lives in us, making all of the difference.

By the way, the grapefruit was delicious!