Great Quote

I don’t pretend to understand the universe – it’s much bigger than I am. –Albert Einstein

I think that is the way it is for me. The longer I am on this planet, the less I really know anything. I remember a little refrigerator magnet on mom and dad’s fridge growing up that said, “Hire a teenager while they still know everything.” I am finding that is so true. I don’t know near as much as I thought I knew even a few short years ago.

We are coming up on 5 years as a church in January. As I think back over that time, I think there was a large sense of foolishness to even endeavor to do something like this. The faith that we have in God is so strong that we want to proverbially want to “attack hell with a water pistol.” I probably wore out all of the mentor types in my life because of my zeal and frustration because of their seemingly lack of zeal. I do thank them for giving me the grace to learn that I didn’t really have it all together and allowed me to fail forward. They understood this quote that God is a whole lot bigger than I could imagine and there was a whole lot more out there for me to experience than my tiny view of the world and ministry. Those men are a whole lot “smarter” than I remember just a few years ago! It’s not that they have taken a pill or something to jump up their IQ, but “I” am learning this quote that the more I know, the less I really know. I thank God daily for those who have shown me that way to go. They really did lead me to trust God with everything and don’t assume you have gotten everything figured out.

If you really think about it, a whole lot of things can and will go wrong in planting a church. There are so many people and personalities involved. We are an anomaly in the fact that we are still plugging along here after 4 1/2 years. The average church plant doesn’t get above 50-75 people and closes its doors after about 18 months. I have had a couple of planter friends recently that are casualties of these statistics. It is so hard to think that you might be a failure, that you let the Lord down. But, how wrong that thinking is! Think of all the people who have found Christ through that body! Think of the people who have the experience of planting a church–and it gets in your blood! Think of the possibilities of future endeavors when you “still know everything” after you have gained a lot of insight in planting! When I think of my friends, I celebrate that they were faithful to the Lord and will be rewarded in heaven for their efforts.

I was talking to another planter a while back and he said “if I ever do this again . . . I would do several things differently.” Interesting that he didn’t say “everything differently.” God had obviously allowed him the wisdom and courage to do a lot of things “right” and trust God to plant that church. But it is the idea of that quote, that at the end of the day, God is bigger than all of our plans and schemes. And we really do begin to humble with time (I hope) and realize that the more we do know, the less we really know.