I am in my third month at being at a new church. I new body of believers. I new denomination. I new mission. I finally got a chance to sit down with the women of this new body and discuss what exactly I do.

            I am a disciple maker. I invest in reliable women who will invest in more reliable women. I spend a lot of time with women teaching them Jesus words. Then I show them how to walk in his ways. Then they go off and do his works. It is a beautiful cycle.

            I don’t believe that disciple making can only look one way. I know that the women who were discipled along side of me, do things different than I do things. That is fine. I know that some churches have classes on how to be a disciple. I am not saying they are wrong. I am just saying that I do things differently than some. If I see Jesus do it in the word, I do my best to emulate that. If I do not see him do it in the word, I walk with extreme caution.

            I have a prosthetic implant in my neck. When I was in Iraq in 2006, there were a series of mortars dropped on a forward operating base that I was stationed at. Long story short, a percussion from one mortar slammed me and another soldier into a truck. For a long time, this caused pain in my shoulder blade. Little did I know that I was experiencing nerve pain in my shoulder blade because the blast had caused me to break 4 vertebrae and herniate 6 disks. I didn’t know until almost 10 years later when I moved my neck one day and it just got stuck. So, I had surgery to replace 2 of my disks. The ones causing the most pain. The doctor decided that it would be best to not get a donor disk. Instead, I would be receiving a man made prosthetic. The reality is that often a donor disk is rejected by the recipient. The recipients body sees that donor disk as a infiltration that must be killed to protect the body from becoming infected. The human body is amazing like that. It always seeks self-preservation.

            I have known the Pastor at the church I am at since I was about 13. I say 13 because I don’t have a lot of memory from that time in my life due to that fact that I had a substance abuse problem. I believe that this relationship that we have has been building since that time. I have shared with him and his wife, my faults, my past, and where I am now in my walk with Christ. I have shown myself to be a humble person and ready to assist.

             I am a prosthetic. I am here to help strengthen them. I know that it is not all up to me. I know that it is also up to them and the Holy Spirit. After all the Holy Spirit is my senior advisor in all of this. I can not be a donor. I can not be something that has the potential to infect or harm their body. I know that I will not be accepted by all. I walk into this body knowing that I will not be received by all. Paul was not received by all either. Not that I am comparing myself to Paul, but rather to say, if a great man was rejected by some, why wouldn’t I be as well? What I am sure of: is that one is enough. If I can just walk with one person, it is enough. If I can encourage one person, it is enough. If I can plant one seed, it is enough.

            I am writing this to encourage those that are sitting with the Lord and have realized that there is a calling on their life to go. To Yatsa. To Poreuomai. If  Isaiah can stand up and say, “ Here I am, send me”. Can we? When the Lord calls us to leave our homes and go build the tower somewhere else, will we? If Moses can hold up his staff long enough to endure the battle, can we? And If we can’t, can we at least hold up the arms of those willing to do so? For those of you that will Go… be a prosthetic. Be helpful. Strengthen and encourage. Don’t be a donor Don’t be one that is only given away when its host no longer needed or wanted it. Do not attack. To those of you that have someone coming in: prepare your heart to receive new things. Don’t assume that it is something that is meant to hurt you or attack you. Prosthetics make partnerships.

The best way for the Prosthetic to prepare and the Recipient to receive; is in prayer.

Pray without ceasing.  -1 Thessalonians 5:17

Grace & Peace

Chorley

P.S.

Don’t forget to head over to the resources page and check out my friend Sara on the Grace Warriors podcast! It is great!