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Train Yourself to Be Godly #11: Practicing Godly Generosity

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*Training yourself to be godly will include being generous like God.

According to one online source, there are 3,871 Self-storage facilities in Canada as of November 2025. (https://www.poidata.io/report/self-storage-facility/canada/)

People store anything and everything from exercise equipment to furniture to heirlooms and extra clothes. One of the growing storage needs has been RV storage lots because people spend thousands of dollars on something they only use a couple of weeks a year. The average Canadian has way more stuff than they need.

Here’s the question we want to ask of God’s word today: How do we train ourselves to be godly in light of our stuff? How do we handle our resources righteously?

Let’s talk about how to handle our resources righteously:

1.         Practice Tithing

Deuteronomy 14:22-23 says, “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—… Doing this will teach you always to fear the LORD your God.”

Tithing was really important to God as he makes clear in Malachi 3:8-9.

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

God clearly tells the Israelites you are suffering because you are cheating me. You are not giving your tithes and offerings. God expected it. We need to consider the Discipline of Tithing.

Some suggest Jesus never told us to tithe but look at Matthew 23:23: “… you Pharisees. Hypocrites! …you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.” Tithing was such a big part of the Jewish faith that Jesus only seems to mention it in passing, but assumes that tithing will be part of their life.

2.         Do not Covet!

Commandment number ten of the Ten Commandments says this: “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17).

Tithing is about giving back to God from what God has given us. To “not covet” is to be satisfied with what God has given to us. When we covet, we are not satisfied with what we have. We think we are lacking something, missing out.

Part of the issue here is that we don’t need as much stuff as we think we do. We would do well to figure out how to practice the Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity and make do with less.

Beyond Tithing and Not Coveting, we need to consider Generosity.

3.         Practice Generosity

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Not only is God generous with physical blessings, but God is also generous in giving us salvation! “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.: (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So, as we look at training ourselves to be godly, how can we be generous like God? We could be generous:

  • With our money. “God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:7
  • By practicing hospitality. “Practice hospitality.” – Romans 12:13
  • By sharing material possessions. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” – 1 John 3:17
  • By sharing food. “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” – Proverbs 22:9

And as we are generous, look at what will happen: “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor” (Proverbs 22:9).

Be generous like our generous God by practicing some of the following disciplines:

  • Discipline of Tithing – giving at least 10%
  • Discipline of Stewardship – careful deliberate managing of the resources God has given.
  • Discipline of Simplicity – not gathering and holding on to so much stuff
  • Discipline of Generosity – reflecting God’s generosity in how we are generous to others.

What discipline will you put into your own Spiritual Life Training Plan?

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #4: The Spiritual Practice of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly will include intentional prayer.

It is easy to worry. We all face things that are out of our control, whether it’s the state of the world that we see in the news or the health conditions of loved ones. We don’t have to look far to realize that we do not control most things in life. This may cause us to worry, but scripture suggests an alternative.

Look at the words of Philippians 4:6-7,

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We are encouraged not to worry or be anxious about anything. Anything seems to, well, include everything. There is nothing worth worrying about. It won’t help us anyway, even if we do.

Instead, we are to pray and pray about everything. We should have nothing to worry about and everything to pray about. Everything. That means that everything we can think of or imagine can be prayed about. We should pray for those suffering with cancer and for persecuted Christians, and for our work situation or relationships, and even a parking spot or finding the right Birthday present for our spouse.

The verse continues, “tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

God wants us to communicate our need to him. He wants us to ask for help. And he wants us to thank him for what he has done for us. This helps explain what praying for everything means as prayer includes both asking for help and thanking God for all the help he has already given. That covers everything, doesn’t it?

The verse goes on to explain the peace we can have as we bring everything to God. His peace can become a guard for our hearts and minds so that we continue to experience his worry-free peace. This peace comes from “living in Christ Jesus.” We need to continue to remain connected to Jesus if we want to have peace.

As a child, I enjoyed flying a kite, watching it get smaller and smaller as I let out the string. One day, the string came off my spool. I no longer had control of the kite. What happens to a kite that is not anchored to the person flying it? The wind may blow it for a while, but it will eventually drop to the ground. The kite is only flying free in the wind when it is anchored to its master. We are only able to fly free in the winds of life if we remain anchored to our Master, and that anchoring, that string that ties us to him is our prayer.

We need a consistent and intentional prayer life, a plan for how we will pray, if we are to train ourselves to be godly or remain connected to the God we serve. If we want to train ourselves to become more like God, we must engage in the spiritual practice of prayer. This means that I will be intentional, not just to pray for meals or to say a prayer before I go to sleep, but to pray intentionally and about specific things and even in specific ways.

I would suggest you make a prayer plan. When will you pray? What will you pray about? And then ask God to speak as you pray.

As you regularly talk with God, he will help you become more like Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Spiritual Training Series #1: Train Yourself to be Godly

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Imagine you just received a baby picture from friends who just had a baby. What if they sent you a picture every year? What if you are like me and don’t clean your fridge very often? As you put up the picture from year five, you notice the picture from the first announcement. And then you realize there has been very little change. The baby is still hardly any bigger and doesn’t seem to have developed much. Unfortunately, there are some children who do not mature the way we expect, who never crawl or walk or communicate. This makes us sad because a baby needs to grow.

As followers of Jesus, we need to grow, too.

1 Timothy 4:7 says “train yourself to be godly”.

Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation”.

We are to become more “godly” or Christ-like. We are to continue to grow and develop spiritually to become a better expression of the image of God as we were created to be, according to Genesis 1:27.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he crated them.

Genesis 1:27

This is not just about our own hard work though. In Colossians 1:29, the Apostle Paul writes: “I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” Yes we are to train ourselves and work out our salvation and struggle. We have a part to play in our spiritual development, but this is never something we do no our own. Like Paul we can depend on “Christ’s mighty power that works within me”.

We can and should do our part. It may be that we choose to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that Christians have practiced throughout history. This includes prayer, scripture reading, fasting, sabbath, generosity, and so on. As we practice these disciplines, we make an effort to do our part as we invite the Holy Spirit to do His work in us to make us a little more like Jesus.

Whatever training we want to instill in our lives, we do need to train ourselves to become godly. For this to be a priority in our lives, we need to intentionally prepare a training schedule or plan. When will you read the Bible, and what will you read? When will you pray, and what will you include in your prayer time? When will you choose to fast, and what kind of fast? How will you practice generosity, and so on?

Think back to the time when you first became a believer in Jesus. We could say you were a baby Christian. What would that picture have looked like if your heavenly Father had taken a picture and hung it on his fridge in heaven? What would a picture he took this year look like? As I look back 51 years, to the time He could have taken my “spiritual baby” picture,  I trust that my picture – the me that God sees – would give evidence of much spiritual growth and maturity. Maybe the picture would not just include me, but other people around me who have come to know Jesus or been impacted for Jesus by me.

I pray that you are intentionally pursuing Jesus and looking for ways to grow toward every fuller spiritual maturity.

Keep on looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Remembering the Priorities of a Church Board

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For something to be a priority, it must be most important. When I see a company proudly displaying a slogan on their work trucks declaring, “Safety is our number one priority,” I know they don’t really mean it. It’s not true. If safety was their top priority, they would leave their work trucks at the shop and ask their work force not to leave the building. Their top priority is their business, but they do want to be safe in doing it.

Number one priority marked with red circle on math notebook

When I think of church boards, I wonder if we too have lost an understanding of what is truly priority? Board meetings begin with a welcome, maybe a devotional and a quick prayer, and then it’s on with the business of running a church. Much time is spent on financial discussions, reports, and budget. There is talk about the facilities and what maintenance is needed. There may be reports from different ministries highlighting their recent accomplishments. The board discusses, debates, and makes decisions. And then, after three hours of discussion, the meeting ends and everyone goes home.

The question is: did the board members focus on the priorities?

Too many church boards model themselves after a corporate board of a business. Yes, there are certain “business” aspects church boards need to handle such as managing insurance, paying bills, and ensuring the church functions in an organized way. But could it be that there are priorities that get shoved to the end of the meeting so they get less time than required?

There are a few items that I have noticed are not receiving the attention I believe should be given to them as priorities.

  1. Connect with God

Central to engaging with God is time spent in prayer. A church board is not first responsible to it’s “shareholders” (congregation) but is first responsible to God. It is God’s church, so the board needs to check in with Him to ensure that they are hearing His voice and being led by Him. Board decisions cannot be dependent on consensus alone but need to be guided by God. Along with asking God for direction, the board should talk to God about the people they are called to shepherd. A church board needs to pray for people’s health and life situations, but more importantly, pray for them to grow spiritually. A board has the privilege of interceding for their congregation.

2. Emphasize Discipleship

A church board is called, with the pastor, to lead a church in “making disciples.” (Matthew 28:20) This requires church leadership to regularly review their discipleship process to ensure people are coming to know Jesus and growing in their relationship with Him. Discipleship is about ensuring appropriate ministries are available to those who want to grow in their faith. When discipleship is a priority, it will influence other discussions during the board meeting. For example, if a board recognizes that their budget is falling short, they may want to encourage the pastor to preach about how God wants us to handle finances. The Board may want to plan a study on financial stewardship, not just to meet the budget, but to help their members to honour Jesus in their finances. Boards are easily caught up in many other decisions that it is easy to forget their role in making sure people are growing in their relationship with Jesus.

3. Pursue their God-given Vision

God has called every church to a unique role in the setting they find themselves in. Their vision needs to come from time with God. This may seem like a daunting task, but once the vision is clarified they can move ahead with purpose and clarity. Once they have determined their vision, church boards need to do everything they can to align all aspects of their church services and ministries to the vision God has called them to. This is about being responsible to what God has called them to

While there may be other priorities, these are three that every board needs to remember. A board that remembers these will do well.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Turning Vision Into Reality

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My wife and I enjoy spending time in our backyard. Two summers ago, I extended our deck. I had built a small deck, but it just couldn’t accommodate enough people. We began to dream about how we could extend it. My wife asked for a bench swing to be incorporated in it. A vision began to take shape in our minds of what could be, but vision alone accomplishes nothing. I had to develop a strategy that included practical steps, in the right order, to make the vision a reality. I had to determine how much lumber I needed, and how many of the different lengths and sizes. I had to figure out how many screws I needed. I would need chain to hang the swing. Once I had the materials delivered, I needed to work the steps, one at a time. Not being an experienced carpenter, there were a few times I had to sit and think, to evaluate if I was doing things in the right order. I didn’t want to put the decking on only to realize I had missed something underneath. There were also things I hadn’t planned for and learned along the way. I had to put in extra bracing in the frame to ensure the swing would not pull the deck apart when someone was swinging on it.

The end result is an enlarged deck with a bench swing – that actually works!

Many churches have realized the value of a vision. They work hard to develop a dream for their future. They pray, and they discuss, and create a vision of a future they can picture. But now what? While defining a vision can be difficult, it gets even harder as you move to developing a strategy to work towards that vision. This is where churches often fall short. They have a vision but don’t know how to actually achievve it. They lack a strategic plan.

When I work with a church to support their development of a strategic plan, I suggest the following steps and ask these questions along the way:

One: Pray

Pray first, pray during the planning, and pray as you move toward your goals. The church belongs to God so listen to him as you create and implement your strategy. Invite him to do his work in and through your efforts.

Two: Set clear Goals.

What goals can you work towards that will help you accomplish your vision? These goals act as checkpoints on the way to fully reaching your vision, to help make it less overwhelming.

Three: Create Action Steps

For each goal, determine the steps needed to accomplish that goal.

What smaller steps can be taken to move toward that goal? Can that larger goal be broken down into smaller manageable steps?

Are there certain steps that need to be accomplished before others?

Four: Assign Resources

This is primarily about people and finances.

Who needs to be assigned to this goal, or specific steps along the way?

Who needs to be in on decisions affecting these steps?

How much money is required for each step?

Will this be funded from a fund already in place or will fundraising be required?

Five: Establish a Timeline

What order do these steps need to be in? Determine a timeline, along with completion dates.

When will you start each step? When will you finish each step?

Six: Evaluate, Adjust, and Keep Going.

When it seems you are nearing the achievement of your goals, take time to evaluate to ensure you accomplished what you needed or if any readjustment or reworking of the strategy is needed.

If you want to see your vision becoming a reality, it is important to do the difficult work of creating a strategic plan and sticking to it. So, church leaders, I hope you have a vision for your church. Take the time to develop a strategy to help you move forward to achieving it.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Good Systems Enable Good Work

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We can create systems that allow our work to be done easier and better.

Systems are the procedures and practices – even rituals – that we put in place in order to do a job. Some of these emerge naturally as we repeat certain tasks, but often we need to carefully think about crafting a system that will enable us to do our best efficiently.

A system includes all the little things we do in order to accomplish a task. Adhering to well-known systems helps people understand new settings or tasks with little training. People generally know where to park when they go to the local mall. There are curbs and signs and pained lines that everyone understands and can follow easily. We don’t need a training session every time we go to a new parking lot because the system is usually pretty clear.

The ushers at my church have a system that allows each usher to know when it is their turn to serve. They know they are to wear an “usher” tag and know where to find it. They know where to stand to greet people and ensure they find a seat.

They know when they will be called on to collect the offering and where to get the offering bags. They know where to take the bags when the offering has been collected. They all do it the same way every Sunday, no matter who is on, because they follow a clear system.

When I write a sermon, I have a system I have developed over the years. I don’t have to learn how to write a sermon every week because I have a system of how I choose a scripture text and create a sermon. I know how I will do my research. I have a list of questions to ask myself to guide the interpretation and research part of the process. I know how to write an outline. I know what questions to ask to make sure I have an appropriate application. I have a list of questions that guide me to bring creativity into the presentation.

A system helps me complete the work efficiently and accurately. Sometimes, when things are not going well in a church or organization it may simply be that we do not have a clearly defined system that everyone follows. This can cause conflict when individuals try to work according to different systems.

If something falls through the cracks, it may be that we have a faulty system. For example, if important announcements are consistently absent from the weekly bulletin, it may simply be that the person responsible for the announcements did not know how to communicate those to the person creating the bulletin.

As we develop new programs or change existing ones, we need to think of what systems to establish to set up the new program for success. Systems give clear directions for what to expect, when, and in what order and help us remember to do things that we might otherwise forget.

In developing systems be clear about the expected outcome. Identify the steps required to achieve the outcome and make it as simple as possible so that new people taking on the responsibility for that area can easily and quickly know what is expected, and then do it efficiently and accurately.

Here are some simple steps to develop a system.

  1. Think through the whole process and what steps would help you get a consistent result.
  2. Determine which person in which role is responsible for each step along the way.
  3. Lay out the best order for the tasks to be completed.
  4. Print out or post the complete system step by step indicating who does what in the process.
  5. Train people to know how to do each step and give them authority to do those steps.

Systems enable good work. Take the necessary time to develop them clearly and make them available to the right people.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Relax and Rest!

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Rest doesn’t always come easily for driven people. Many pastors and church leaders are passionate about what they do. They are busy, sometimes with expectations put on them, but often because they see another thing that could be done to help move things forward. There is another person to visit, another meeting to prepare, or a new program to plan for. And Sunday is always coming. Every weekend needs another sermon, and service, and lesson prepared. Rest doesn’t always make it onto the “to do” list.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Genesis 2: 2-3 (NIV)

We see four things God did as He concluded his creation. He finished, rested, blessed, and made holy the seventh day. God quit working. There was a certain point where God said, “That’s enough,” and he stopped working. Not only did he stop working, but he also rested. He took a break. He paused from the work and enjoyed a rest. And then he made the seventh day special by blessing it, and he “made it holy.” He set aside from all other days as a special day.

The people of Israel were told to celebrate the Sabbath every week. There were strict warnings from God to the Jewish people to keep this day as a day to stop working and rest and delight in Him and His creation.

Most Christians do not keep the Sabbath in the way that the Old Testament taught, and I don’t believe we need to; yet finding time to stop working and to rest and delight in God is still honoring to God and a huge benefit to all believers. For many, especially pastors, Sunday is not a Sabbath rest. This past Sunday was a good example. My wife and I left home in the morning at 8:30 am and did not return until 9:30 pm. We had a full Sunday. I had to set up and teach Sunday School. I then led a special Prayer Service. This was followed by visits to three different homes: lunch with one family, tea with another, and supper with a third. In that time, we debriefed the morning with an elder, anointed and prayed for a sick church member, and enjoyed playing games with some other friends. While not a Sabbath rest, as such, this was a great way to spend a Sunday, enjoying God and people.

Spending time with our church family, learning and worshipping together is part of Sabbath. Praying for people and anointing them with oil can be part of Sabbath. What many church leaders and pastors miss out on is the Sabbath rest aspect. For some, this works on a Sunday. For others, we need to set time aside at another time. My wife already asked me which day I was going to take off this week, but a Sabbath is more than just a day off. A meaningful Sabbath is a time to follow the example of God: to stop working, to rest, to delight in the day and in His Creation, and to contemplate the holiness of God. It may include feasting and church and family and friends.  It may include prayer and scripture reading. If you finish the day rested, with your joy refreshed, and feeling God’s pleasure, then you have “sabbathed” well.

I would encourage you to take time in your week to, not just take a day off, but to enjoy God and his creation and rest your body, mind, and soul.

Take time to relax and rest in the presence of God.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Getting it All Done!

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Life and ministry can be busy times. Maybe you have taken on too many commitments. Maybe someone else piled responsibilities on you that you can’t ignore. Maybe you thought you had time for everything until an unexpected demand popped up. This happened to me recently. I had accepted a number of responsibilities and thought I could manage them until I found a leak in my shower. Now I had the added work of dealing with house repairs that I am not skilled at and do not love doing. I was beginning to feel quite overwhelmed and wondered how I would get everything done.

As my anxiety started to rise, I paused my day to spend some time with God. As I was praying, I began to get some clarity and peace, trusting God to help me get done what had to be done by the appropriate deadlines while also dealing with my house. Here are some of the steps I took to focus on one thing at a time:

Pause the “doing” to be with God

    I took on the various responsibilities because I believed God was guiding me in accepting them. With that in mind, I handed it all over to Him and asked him to give me the time necessary to get it all done on time. I was reminded too, that God was not surprised by my house issues. So if God put these responsibilities in my lap, then he will give me the capacity to get them done.

    Remove anything from your to do list that is not important for now

    Sometimes we feel a duty to do something that we don’t really need to do. I had to reevaluate some of my goals and responsibilities and either eliminate some, or push them to next week.

    Plan my day and week.

    With God’s help, I began plotting all my responsibilities, along with their deadlines, onto my calendar. I tried to spread out the different requirements across the whole week. Then I considered all that I felt I had to accomplish for today. As I looked at the list, I started listing them in order of priority. If I could not complete all the tasks, at least the ones that had to get done today would get done.

    Focus on one thing at a time.

    When we get loaded down with responsibilities, we can get overwhelmed because we see it all in front of us. If we can break it down to what must be done this week, and this day, and this morning, we begin to narrow our focus. And if we tackle one thing at a time, giving it our full attention, we can begin to whittle away at the pile.

    It doesn’t matter how big the pile is, you can only deal with one thing at a time, so choose one thing and give it your best. You could even tell yourself you are focusing on this for a certain amount of time, and when that time is up, you will tackle something else before coming back to the first task.

    Celebrate your accomplishments

    I find it quite exhilarating to be able to check off the items on my calendar as I complete them. It feels good to see the momentum beginning to build toward completion of all the different tasks.

    Yes, life can be very busy at times, busier than we had planned, but God can help us grow in capacity so that we can get things done faster than we thought and can complete our list one task at a time. If God wants us to do it, he will help us to get it done.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    The Benefits of Rituals

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    It’s fall, and children are heading back to school. Though we have no school age children in our house anymore, I’m reminded of those hectic school mornings. Often it is a race against time to get the children dressed, fed, and backpack loaded to get them out off to school on time. This is an example where rituals could be of great benefit.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    ritual /rĭch′oo͞-əl/

    noun

    1. A ceremony in which the actions and wording follow a prescribed form and order.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    Rituals are helpful patterns for life. These are steps we go through on a regular basis that ensure we don’t forget something and get it done on time. Rituals could help children be less rushed in the morning before they head off to school. Check out the examples below.

    Before going to bed the night before:

    • Lay out the next day’s clothes.
    • Pack the backpack with everything except the lunch.
    • Pack the lunch and place in the fridge.

    Morning rituals:

    • Pack lunch in backpack before breakfast.
    • Place backpack beside your shoes at the door.
    • Breakfast at the same time every morning.

    It may be helpful to have a ritual for the start of your workday as a pastor or church leader. Instead of showing up in your office with no idea what the day will look like, you can have a plan to start the day right. A ritual can help you make the most the first part of your day.

    To set up helpful rituals you need to think through what you already do, deciding which things happen every day and could help you start the day right. A morning ritual may look like this:

    • Begin with prayer, asking God to guide your day.
    • Check emails and quickly decide which to respond to or which to put on your to-do list to deal with later.
    • Plan your day, and note appointments already schedule or deadlines that need to be met.

    You may find it helpful to have some “end of day” rituals which prepare you for a good start the next day:

    • List anything that needs to be followed up from the day.
    • Make your to-do list for the next day.
    • Note appointments that have already been made.

    For rituals to be helpful, they need to be personal to you. They need to be steps you will take.

    Rituals can help in many areas of our work life. I have rituals for how I go about preparing my weekly sermons. I have rituals I follow in preparing to teach a class. I have rituals in how I ensure I am ready for Sunday morning. These rituals help me to make sure I don’t forget something and save time because I don’t have to think up new patterns every time.

    A few benefits of rituals are that you are less likely to forget important steps, you will be more organized, and life will be just a little less hectic. Enjoy establishing meaningful rituals.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    Summer Road Signs Series: #1 Speed Signs

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    Many of us will be taking road trips over the summer. Maybe you already have. There are many signs along the road that guide our driving, so over the next two months, I will use these familiar signs as reminders of how we can live our lives and honour Jesus along the way.

    I want to start with the sign that I think I like the most: speed signs. In Canada, these signs often show a maximum speed of 100km/h on the highway. I recently enjoyed a drive up to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. While I enjoyed the trip, I did not enjoy one large section of highway that was limited to 90 Km/h. When we are fortunate to travel on divided highways, we are allowed to drive 110 km/h. I like travelling in the U.S. because often the speed limit is even higher.

    I like this sign because it is all about getting to where you want to go as fast as you can. This is not about taking a leisurely drive for no reason. The focus is on what is ahead. You don’t need your rearview mirror for this sign!

    One of the joys of my job is to help churches look ahead with clarity and purpose. Yes, we do take time to look at the past and understand the present, but we do this to clarify vision, and ultimately look at where we are headed and how best to get there. It is forward thinking and forward planning. We have a destination in mind and develop a map to get us there in the best way possible. No matter what speed you are travelling at, it is all about moving ahead.

    While we recognize the importance of brakes, we love using the gas pedal more. The goal is to keep moving forward as quickly as possible in order to get to the preferred future we have in mind.

    We set the destination. We map out the route. Maybe, if it is a longer trip, we even plan where we will stop for meals or gas, or even an overnight stay in a hotel or with friends. With a church, this means setting some short-term goals that will help us move along to the final destination, while giving us a way to measure progress along the way. If we trust God for 10 new believers this year, it is helpful to set some goals as to how we will help friends and family become new believers in Jesus first. We need to set some more immediate goals that will help us share Jesus with people regularly, praying along the way that some of those we share with will come to know Jesus.

    In our personal lives, these same reminders from speed signs might direct our thoughts to pursuing personal growth. Keep moving ahead looking for new experiences and new encounters with learning opportunities. Set personal goals that will move you in the right direction.

    In my own life, this forward momentum is evident in my love for learning. When I finished high school, I attended a Bible College. I wanted to learn what I could to become equipped for Christian ministry. I thought I would be involved in fulltime camp work or some kind of Christian education. Halfway through my Christian Education degree, God spoke through a few people and adjusted my destination to be pastoral ministry specifically. I added an extra year of education so I could get my Pastoral Degree as well. As I began ministry, I wanted to keep learning. I began taking courses at a seminary level. I was in no rush to complete the degree, wanting only to keep learning, so it took me over 20 years to get my Masters of Arts in Leadership and Ministry. Presently I am applying for the opportunity to pursue a Doctorate of Ministry.  I desire to keep moving forward, to keep growing as a person and as a pastor.

    Speed signs are about moving ahead at the highest speed allowed. I encourage you to consider where you have been going slower than you should. Maybe God is asking you to pick up the pace and keep moving forward to what is next. Trust God to guide you as you look to him for the right destination to pursue.

    And enjoy the journey!

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    P.S. Watch for next week’s Road Sign: Stop Sign