We came together as a regional staff team today for a day long visioning time. We studied Scripture, of course, which shaped the way we will do ministry this year.
And what a passage we studied. It was no easy book. We looked at Revelation 7. It hurt my head trying to interpret the text, but we did come up with something pretty concrete and tangible that shaped the rest of our meeting and probably, the rest of the year.
The phrase that stuck to us throughout the day was the great ordeal. One of the elders ask John who the servants are and what they have done. John turns it around and tells the elder that he knows, which he does. The elder explains that the servants are people who have gone through the great ordeal and have had their white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The great ordeal. It invokes images of a long process of going through brokenness. It makes me think that something happens that is difficult and hard, but that the servants go through it with others around them.
And in the end, these servants survive the great ordeal and have white robes. It can teach us a lot. It is a long process and journey for God to shape us and mold us into the people He intended us to be. It take a lot of effort and it is difficult, but it is so worth it.
The passage resonated with me because I know that I have suffered a lot in becoming a staff worker, but that I have also been blessed with a lot. So I will go through the great ordeal and call students into it because I know that it is life giving and that it is good.
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