Giants

I think every once in a while, God raises up giants. If you read one of my favorite books, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, you will read about 2,000 years of these heros in missions. Today, I think I saw another one. There is this guy named Mark. He likes to share that he comes "from a long line of alcoholics and wife beaters." He likes to drink beer and curse, or as my Midwestern friends would say, "cuss", although I think he has really toned that down lately. I heard him speak in January of 2005, and I had a hard time with him. The guy is just brash and outspoken, and I used to think he was also arrogant and rude, which he would probably say are true. In the past couple of months I have had some discussions about him and read one of his books, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. and I started to get some more respect for him. Lately I have been wondering if he is arrogant and rude, or just bold and correct.
This week I heard Mark speak a few times. He seems whimsical, wise, and humble. He formed an organization called the Acts 29 Network, which empowers church planting churches and plants new churches. I think that Mark has a strength of being a straight shooter and addressing issues in a way that they probably need to be addressed. In all honesty, I have to admit that I have a hard time taking a super hard stance on anything, and when someone else does, it rubs me the wrong way, so I am glad Mark Driscoll can do that.
Today Driscoll spoke about what he sees as some trends and some dangers among evangelicals. It scared me. I believe very strongly that God created the world, since then it has become messed up by sin, or our failure to live up to God's standards. I believe that God has a plan to restore His creation to what He created it to be like, and central to that is Jesus. Now, I think that the people who follow Christ are the best shot this world has of restoration. We need people like Mark Driscoll to lead us and make sure that we stay the coarse of God's work.
I don't think that I am one of these giants, and honestly, there is nothing too special about me, I am a pretty mediocre person. A weak person. But one of the reoccurring themes of the Bible is that God, who is infinitely strong and wise and good, uses people who are mediocre and weak to do His work. For reference on this, read the story of Gideon, (one of my favorites, found in Judges 7) or 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, or 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. This is one of my favorite themes in scripture and it encourages me every time I see it and I thank God for including me and Amy in His plan.
And thank you. Thank you for encouraging us, believing in us, and praying for us in spite of our weaknesses. Keep it FlammerTime.