tying shoes

I have been tying my own shoelaces for two decades. I can remember learning how as a kindergartener; it was quite the rite of passage. I was no longer dependent on my mother or a merciful passerby to have ready feet for the day. Working at a school this year, I have come across too many young ones who are dependent upon Velcro shoes. Kids seriously don’t know how to tie their own shoes! Perhaps that is why earlier in the week I prayed, “Lord, thank You that I know how to tie shoes.”  

For the believer, disciple making is like tying shoes. It is something that each believer is called to do; it is an elementary and necessary rite of passage.

Matthew 28:18-20:

Then Jesus said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This week a discipleship group is starting up in my missional community and I am pretty excited that I get to help lead it. This year I am busy. This is not new for me, but it is a different kind of busy than the last six years of life. In the midst of this busyness, working full-time and spending time with family and friends, I am so thankful that I am not trying to figure out what it means to make disciples, or how to disciple a person.

Now, I would say that I knew what it meant to make disciples before I went to college, but my time with the Navigators really helped me to hone in on some of the key foundations of discipleship and fine tune my understanding of God’s kingdom vision. My years on EDGE Corps, blessed me even more in my understanding of this. In those two years I found such life-giving joy in disciple making, not only a joy, but also a confidence in making disciples in the Spirit’s power and grace. I learned how to disciple skillfully. Thinking about this makes my heart so thankful, and so excited for the spiritual generations to come! 

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness to me, for growing my heart for others and teaching me how to make disciples. Thank You for so many godly influences and disciplers in my life, for these saints who have loved and served You so faithfully, ones who have made the most of every opportunity.

LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. Lord, how glorious You are. How worthy You are of my life's worship! Lord, that You call us to You and bestow glory and honor upon us, that in Christ we are redeemed is wonderful to me. We are created anew and given the ministry of reconciliation. Lord, how beautiful Your ways are! Lord, I pray for laborers, for the harvest is plentiful. All about me I see those who are harassed and helpless, sheep without a shepherd. Lord, would You raise up skillful laborers for and from the nations? That many would come to know You. How my heart eagerly anticipates worshiping You with every tribe, nation and tongue! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come! Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, for with Your blood You purchased men for God!