Message from the Monthly Flyer from April 2010

Count!

Heb 11:32-40 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

I’m not sure how you think of the word “count”, but that word takes me back to my youngest years, when learning how to count was quite the achievement. Of adding one object to another, and suddenly, you have not one but two. One block becomes two, a few crayons become a dozen, and a new little sister makes for 1-2-3 girls in the family.

I have a list of goals, some crazy, some serious, some that are written down, others that remain deep inside me. My life goals. The most important one to me is that one simple word: Count!

That’s my goal. I want to count!

See, there’s more to counting than adding up objects, and yet counting is really what it’s all about. In my “life goal” definition, counting means making a difference, having an impact, changing an outcome. I want to count for the Kingdom. I want my life’s work, though lone and insignificant, to join with His work to make an eternal difference. bp