John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

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The Family Business

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“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.”

― Henry Martyn
“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God's work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.”

Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

Sometimes we get confused.

We think we are the master and God is the servant.

I don’t know that we mean to think that, but that is the way it works out. We pray and ask God to meet our needs. We do it with the best of intentions because we know that he loves us and has good things for us. 

Then we arise from our prayers and go live our life. OUR life.

I am the master. God is the servant.

So what if instead we begin the day by saying this prayer, “Thy will be done, Father. What does it look like through my life today?”

And then listen to the Father and go do it; a life lived “simply with God and to God”.

Just working in the family business.

Silences

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[Spiritual direction} listens to the Silences between the spoken Sounds.”

— Eugene Peterson
“[Spiritual direction} listens to the Silences between the spoken Sounds.” — Eugene Peterson

Photo by Hannah Donze on Unsplash

It isn’t hard to find places of silence.

What is hard is finding the desire to be in those places.

We fill our lives with the sounds of man…noise that follows us all day. News, social media, music, chats. Sounds that speak to us of our own importance. Sounds that we hope provide answers. Sounds that mask our true fear.

We are fearful of the silences.

In the silences, doubts can now be heard. Words that were used to harm us, shame us, repeat themselves over and over in the silences. In the silences we play over and over again the failures of our lives. We despair.

So we drown our fears in sound.

But, it is in the silences that we also find God. He waits there because he is the answer to those doubts. He is the answer to those fears. He is the one who turns death into resurrected life.

He answers not with words, but with his presence—his presence in the silence with love, acceptance, approval, direction, comfort, patience.

We have to desire to be in the silences and listen. There we will find God.

Craftsmanship

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The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

― Martin Luther
“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
Photo by Nicolas Hoizey on Unsplash

I don’t remember what the project was that I was working on, but I remember my wife’s response when she came to look at it after I said I was finished.

She said, “I think you can do better.”

Better? It worked. Wasn’t that enough?

I was a little angry, a little hurt. I had expected praise because I had finished it.

What I got was, “I think you can do better.”

And she was right.

It was good enough. It worked.

But it was not my best. It was not a display of my craftsmanship. So I started over. I gave it my best.

If you are called by Christ to do what you do, then be God’s craftsman today. 

Make good stuff. Make God stuff.

Think Deeply

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Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness. Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing.” 

— Walter Brueggemann (Sabbath as Resistance)
"Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness. Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing."

Photo by @plqml | @feliperizo.co on Unsplash

Think deeply.

I can’t remember who said that to me as a student, but it has stuck with me. I have found I need time and quiet to do that, so I get up early to read, to think.

Think deeply.

If I am reading my Bible, I read my Bible. If I am listening to a podcast, I listen to the podcast. If I am reading, I read. If I am thinking, I think.

But mostly, I listen. I listen for the voice of God.

And I think deeply.

In his book Deep Work”, author Cal Newport wrote, “The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration.”

Slow down. Be present. Put down the phone. Take off the headphones. Pause and focus.

Listen to God.

Think deeply.

The Best

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We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

— C.S. Lewis
"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

I worked in sales at one point in my life. It was in the earlier days of home computers, and people were beginning to want a computer for themselves or their family. These computers were very expensive.

So, they would come to our store. They would ask questions. They would play with the computer and run the software and connect online to AOL or Prodigy. They wanted the best.

At some point, they would ask the question, “What is this going to cost me?”.

They knew they wanted the computer. They knew how helpful it would be — keeping up with their finances, playing games, connecting to the world. They knew that to prepare for the future their children needed access to a computer at home. They knew it was for the best.

We called the question “the pain point”. Was the the pain of paying that much money worth the benefit of owning the computer? Was it worth it to have the best?

Our job as salesmen was to help them see that it was.

But all we could do was wait for them to make a decision — yes or no.

We want God’s best. But, there is a price, a “pain point”.  The Holy Spirit helps us see that paying the price is worth it.

But we have to make the decision — yes or no.

Choose “yes”. God’s best is worth the pain. It is worth the price.

Heroes

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Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”

— G.K. Chesterton
"Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

My children used to love VeggieTales. Well, actually, I did, too.

My favorite was Larry. He looked at life differently. He saw it as an adventure. And, he had no use for a hairbrush because he had no hair. I can identify with that.

But my favorite memory of him was when he became LarryBoy. His catch-phrase was simplicity itself. He knew the situation called for someone to do something heroic. So he would declare:

“I am that hero!”. And he was. He was the hero needed for the moment.

We don’t need more problems. We don’t need more things to fear.

We need a hero.

When Peter and John ran to the tomb, they thought they would be the heroes to an unfolding drama. They would catch whoever removed the body of Jesus. (Hat tip here to Eugene Peterson and his great story about this in his book Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work)

But Jesus didn’t need a hero. He was that hero. He faced that biggest dragon we face, death, and defeated it.

So Peter and John became storytellers. Their story was one where people faced financial problems, sickness, lies, betrayal, even death, and declared that there was a hero for us.

Jesus.

Yes, dragons exist. But so does the dragon killer.

Have a Discussion

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The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.”

— G.K. Chesterton
"The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion."

We have all experienced it.

What seemed like a simple disagreement in our conversation boils over into an argument. We didn’t mean for it to happen.

But the emotion of defending our position takes over and soon we are no longer addressing ideas. We are attacking people.

Chesterton once said that he would never agree to disagree. He valued the relationship with someone so much that he would disagree to agree. He would continue to engage in discussions with someone until each had come to points of agreement with the other.

We will probably never agree with someone on everything. But we can find things where we do agree. And we can have continuing discussions addressing areas of disagreement instead of attacking the person. Our relationships are that important.

So, build relationships. Have a discussion.

Change Yourself

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When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

— Viktor E. Frankl 
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
Photo by Javier Allegue Barro on Unsplash

At some time or another, we all will encounter a situation that is beyond our control.

It is not very pleasant to be in that position.

We do what we always do: we try to change the situation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

When it works, it is great.

When it doesn’t, it is not so great.

So what do we do? Mostly we complain. But is there a different path?

What if we could change ourselves? That is the challenge. It means we find a different perspective in which to view this situation. 

Maybe find a Kingdom perspective?

Because in the midst of every situation, there is always an opportunity for us to become more like Christ and see what God is doing.