“Try not to become a person of success, rather become a person of value. A successful person takes out of life more than he puts in. A person of value will give more than he receives.“
ALBERT EINSTEIN
I have intersected with the lives of some amazing, ordinary people. They are ordinary because they are the norm, not the headliners. They are amazing because they have chosen the unusual path. You know, the one that is narrow… “…small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14)
One lost all that he had financially in 2008. He has struggled to make sense of it, but each time I meet with him he has found life and beauty, meaning and peace in reading his Bible. He is 51 years of age. He now memorizes chapters and entire books of the Bible. When I meet with him, he smiles and says, “Steve, I am so full.” Last August he decided to memorize the book of Philippians. His son said, “Dad, Christmas is in four months and there are four chapters in Philippians. Why don’t you memorize a chapter a month and for Christmas recite the book to us as our gift?” So, he did, and they loved it and he is FULL.
I met another man who is becoming a fast friend. I met him to say “Thank you” for something he did for a friend of mine. I asked him if he could tell me “His story?” He paused and then wanted to clarify that what he was about to say was not intended to be arrogant but that it would give context to “His story.” He went on to say that he was a multi, multi-millionaire. He then paused before adding that when he died, he would have $450 in his bank account. I said to him, “Now you have my attention.” He went on to speak of his deep love for Jesus and his desire to “give his resources to helping to build God’s kingdom.” He said, “Can you help me do that?” I said that I would consider it an honor, but first we needed to grow our friendship and I needed to understand his hearts desires and the things he LOVED.
While on a recent trip to the southern USA, I was asked to meet with two young friends for the purpose of meeting a young woman who had recently graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. She is 23 years young. She told me of her growing up years and the places she had lived and how her world view was formed. She is small in stature and BIG in heart. Her sophomore year in college she applied for the CIA. She met with a female agent. She walked away asking herself the question, “Would I die for my country, or would I die for Jesus?” She tore up her application and asked God where He could send her to die for Jesus? As she spoke those words, a tear trinkled down her cheek. I was smashed… She confided in me where she will go in several months. She has counted the cost… Where she will go, the stakes are high, but the treasured lives of the “others” is PRICELESS.
All these friends faced a decision that we ALL must face. Which path/gate will we enter? One faced the shame of loss, one faced the pride of gain, and another faces the loss of her life. All chose to lay those driving forces down and enter the narrow gate. They had to lay their pride and their shame and their life down because the gate is far too narrow to pass through with those items in their arms. In so doing they found life and they are FULL. They found what they LOVE. They found the treasure that is PRICELESS.
“…wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
Matthew 7:13
