“If you wait for the right cloud formation or until planting conditions are perfect, you will never do anything. All you need is a green light from God. Throw caution to the wind and go for it.”- Mark Batterson
“Sow your seed in the morning and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”- Ecclesiastes 11:6 (NIV)
“Live as if you’ll die tomorrow. Learn as if you will live forever.”- Mahatma Gandhi
Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 15 of A Trip around the Sun with a story about Abdul Kassem Ismael, the Grand Vizier of Persia. This tenth-century scholar traveled far and wide to curate his mobile library of 117,000 volumes. Most significantly, he strapped his library to the backs of four hundred camels. In addition, he trained them to walk in alphabetical order. That turned each driver into a well-trained librarian. One able to find the book the Grand Vizier required on a moment’s notice.
Certainly, Mark observes, Abdul took cultivating his mind seriously. Hence, that explains why Mark always writes in his journal. Because writing enables him to take his thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). And, Mark underscores, in the Greek the word disciple literally means learner. Thus, by definition, a disciple never stops learning. As Albert Einstein once urged, “Never lose a holy curiosity.”
In conclusion, Mark counsels, if you wait until you feel ready, you wind up finding yourself waiting for the rest of your life. As a result, Mark lives by this sequence: Go. Set. Ready. With proper preparation, of course.
Therefore, Mark encourages:
“More knowledge equals more potential for worship. . . . I believe the more we learn, the more we honor Him. . . . The word disciple literally means learner. So one way or the other, there is no escaping it. Learning is the heart of discipleship. You can’t just take up your cross daily. You need to take up your Bible every day.”
Today’s question: How often do you find yourself waiting for the right cloud formation? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The distillation of experience”