I have been noticing something strange. One of the joys of growing older is that you get to meet up with people whom you ministered to years ago; some, 20 or 30 years ago. In recent times I have met a few that I first tried to help a long time ago. They are folks I have not met in a long time. They thanked me for my involvement in their lives and recounted in detail how something I did significantly impacted them. Trouble is I can’t remember a lot of what they remember. No false humility here. Pride remains my no. 1 spiritual enemy. Is my memory failing as I age? Is it because I have walked with many and I can’t recall the details?
I am embarrassed as I look back at my early attempts at mentoring. I teach a lot on mentoring these days and I think I didn’t follow many of the mentoring practices that I teach today. If indeed I did all those good things that my younger friends say I did, perhaps it is the “five loaves, two fish” effect (John 6:8–15). I gave what little I could and it was the Lord who transformed those feeble attempts into something that nurtured my friends. All glory to the Lord.
This should encourage all of us to give what we can. Often, we feel a deep sense of inadequacy to do the things that we believe the Lord is calling us to do. But as Paul reminded us, our adequacy is of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:5). The Lord knows what we have and what we can give, and He holds us responsible for that. We give that first to the Lord and He will do the necessary to transform our meagre offerings to what is needed.
These few days I am speaking at a NexGen camp. The campers range in age from 12 to 31. I am stressed. I am most comfortable ministering to those aged A-levels and older. I feel inadequate ministering to youth. It is even more challenging that the group I am speaking to has such a wide age range. The organisers planned for this age range because they wanted the youth and the young adults in the church to get to know each other better. I think this is great! But I am stressed.
So I pray and I do what I can.
