Desktop Discoveries

One of my mentors in ministry - and I have been blessed to have several - had a very orderly approach to any paperwork. First, he would only permit one file on his desk at any particular time. One. That was it. Second, he only handled a particular piece of paper once. If it required additional action, he took that action point then. He didn't wait. He didn't come back to it. 

Almost twenty years later (and with a safety boundary of 2302 miles physically separating us) I can now admit that I occasionally went into his office when he was out and purposely placed another file or piece of paper in his work area. Sometimes I even arranged them so they were not completely square with his desk - which was perfectly square to the walls. I must admit it made me smile when I heard him sigh rather dramatically when he returned to his office.

My own philosophy to the ecosystem that is sometimes referred to as my desk is that working on several projects at once often leads to some creative solutions, or, at the very least, creative thinking. Whenever I try cleaning my desk I either end up making a bigger mess or looking through files and documents I thought I had lost. To quote A. A. Milne, the profound British philosopher of the early 20th Century, "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

This past week we had a cleaning day at IT Costa Rica. I was encouraged and even aided in cleaning my own office. One of my co-workers spent most of the morning simply shredding sensitive documents that I pulled out of long-forgotten files. However, proving Milne correct, I made several encouraging discoveries.

I found an old prayer card from a ministry I helped lead in Ecuador for 19 years. When this particular photo of the Youth World team was taken, everyone was a lot younger than they are today... including myself! As I looked at those faces, I had the privilege of remembering everything that team has accomplished - training leaders, leading youth ministries, developing a 300 acre facility dedicated to forming disciples through adventure in the mountains and much, much more. 

Action point: Thank the Lord for all that He has accomplished through the dedicated missionaries at Youth World.

I found another old prayer card of Miguel Olvera. Miguel worked for many years to help us begin IT Costa Rica. Miguel has now invested several years in developing our Sonlife team in Ecuador. Last weekend I was with Miguel in Guayaquil where he told me about the latest evangelism training his team did with 50 young people from six different churches. During the week-long training event the participants shared their faith in parks and shopping areas. As a result, over 90 people made decisions to trust in Jesus. More importantly, this was another step in the journey of discipleship for those sharing their faith. 

Action point: I need to write Miguel this week and tell him how much I value his leadership in this strategic ministry.

Another discovery that impressed me was an early executive summary our team had written to describe the hopes, plans and vision for the Multiplication Center here in Costa Rica. As I read this now ten-year-old document, I was impressed by how much has already been accomplished and by how much we STILL need to do. Today, IT Costa Rica has over 50 missionaries serving in 13 countries. There discipleship training conferences and mentoring going on in other countries as well. When we wrote out our vision statement we hoped that we would have 200 Latins serving by the end of 2014. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we hope to meet that goal by next year!

Action Point: Continue to pray Luke 10:2, begging God for workers for His harvest. There is so much to do, so many opportunities and so little time.

Robert Brault wrote, "I am never five minutes into stripping the clutter from my life before I start running into the clutter that is my life." Cleaning the office is a wonderful opportunity to straighten up the desk. Perhaps, more importantly, it provides an opportunity to strip some of the "life-clutter" out and re-focus on the strategic priorities that He has given us.