Monday, February 09, 2009

A Pulling Back of the Curtain


I heard an illustration once about the walk of faith and how God will, once in awhile, encourage us in what He is doing in or through our lives. It goes like this: Most of the time we are called to be content to believe that God is at work “behind the curtain,” trusting Him to reveal His work to us in His time. But once in awhile the Lord, knowing our need for encouragement on the journey, will pull the curtain back for us to get a glimpse of what He is doing on the stage that only He fully sees. He will then let the curtain fall back after we have had that glimpse and gently say to us, “Okay my dear child, continue to walk by faith.”

In my journey over the past several years seeking to encourage greater father involvement I have facilitated and coordinated many different events. I have sought to promote opportunities that I felt would help connect dads with their kids. I have to admit most of the time I felt “let down” with the turnout. I have been “the glass is half empty kind of guy” despite my greatest desire not to be. I wanted more men to respond than usually did and couldn’t help but feel disappointment. One such case was back in 2002 when our Foundation sponsored Jim Moore, the founder of Watch Dogs, to come and speak to some men at one of our Fathering Forums. The turnout was about 20-25 men. I wanted so many more. In my mind we had failed. Watch Dogs was a great program that got dads to become involved with their kids’ school. I wanted to see the program throughout the state but only a handful of men showed up to hear Jim speak.

Fast forward the DVD to last Monday when I had lunch with a man named Scott Kelly. He had attended that 2002 meeting yet I had not had any contact with him after that meeting. What I wasn’t aware of was how this guy had been instrumental in starting Watch Dog programs in numerous elementary, junior high and high schools throughout Snohomish County. He had a mailing list of some 30 “Top Dogs” school coordinators like himself that he used to keep them encouraged. He was doing this as a dad of a couple of elementary school kids because he believed in the program and wanted to encourage other dads’ involvement. For me this was a “pulling back of the curtain.”

A seed was planted, later sprouted and then began to bear a lot of fruit through this one faithful man. I was deeply heartened and reminded that the reason that I am usually disappointed with results, with turnouts, with numbers is because I think in terms of ADDITION when God is in the MULTIPLICATION business. Take that event back in 2002. Of the 25 “seeds” that were planted, let’s just say that 24 of the seeds fell on hard ground and nothing happened with them. The 25th seed fell upon one Scott Kelly and that makes the event an astounding success! Thank you Scott for your faithfulness in making Watch Dogs happen in Snohomish County. And believe me, I know this doesn’t just happen; "someone" needs to make it happen and you, Scott, are that someone! And thank you Heavenly Father for pulling back the curtain for me. I will now continue to walk by faith and please help me to view things I do in the future more by faith and less by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great story Jamie. You're absolutely right that we most often do not know what God is doing through us. Keep pressing on brother. The Father Daughter Summit this yer was very powerful. My daughter and I connected on some issues that have had a real impact on our relationship.

Galatians 6:9

Anonymous said...

Hello Jamie,
This is great stuff. In my work with Bible League I am reminded daily that God calls us to a life of faithfulness and obedience and we will never not ever, be accountable for results. Steve Chittenden