My Mentors

Often when I talk to people about mentoring, Christian or non-Christian. I get the same response: “I’m ok I don’t need anyone like that in my life? I have it all together!” I don’t say this to their face but I can’t help but thinking: “Go ahead, keep on believing that lie.” I don’t mean for my thought to be malicious. I mean it to be a sign of how much I care. Fact is – we grow the most from our relationships.

I think about what my mentors have done for me. Yes, I have mentors. I have a mentor near my age, a mentor in his eighties, and mentors younger than I am. Why? Because having mentors of all ages help eradicate my preconceptions, presuppositons, prejudices and unecessary judgments.

My mentors have:

1. Assisted me with the dynamic of shaping my character.

2. Helped me see life from different perspectives.

3. Urged me to read often and seek a life of education.

4. Taught me how to survive in a combat environment.

5. Helped me stay in tune with today’s technology (Young mentors)

6. Helped me through relationship issues, and other Major life issues. The list goes on and on.

Once the timeless principle of mentorship/discipleship is accepted by an individual here is the question I get: “How do you find a mentor?” Easy, you ask someone if they would be willing to mentor you. I have never been turned down. I bet you won’t be either.

Free Will

One day, after an extremely poor choice on my part I asked God a question. I asked, God, why did you give me free will? Immediately God said, “No real conscious choice can be made without free will.” James, he said, “Like it or not, “love” is a free will choice. Take away free will and “love” becomes a mechanical notion. I don’t want my children to love me because they have to; I want them to love me because they have chosen freely to do so. It’s all in the choice.”

Upon hearing this I thought: God’s gift of free will isn’t a curse, it’s a cure. Free will is actually a blessing, it gives me the power to choose. Sure, it introduces a dilemma between spirit and flesh. It has too, without this dilemma there would be no sacrifice. God modeled free will choice when he decided to send His Son to the cross for my sake. Ok, I’ve got it – God gave humanity free will for one reason and one reason only: To Choose Him!

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

After many years of leading Marines I learned this truth: “The sun rises, the sun sets, and the Private doesn’t know Sir!” Some of you may be wondering what this means. It means, each day by God’s gracious miracle of life, and whether we see it or not the sun will rise and it will set. As for the “Private” not knowing anything, well, I must explain myself. You see, a Private is the lowest ranking person in the military. He has been stripped of any individualism, and trained in the art of war. You could say he has been militarily “born again.” When he leaves basic training he is an empty bucket waiting to be filled by the knowledge of the seasoned Non-commissioned Officer (NCO). As the NCO fills the Private with knowledge and teaches him to use the tools of his craft, the Private moves through the ranks and one day becomes the NCO.

I found this to be true in my spiritual life as well. I remember the day I walked forward and professed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I was elated, happy, scared, and free all at the same time. Instantaneously I became the “Private” stripped of all that had made me, me. I had become spiritually “born again.” However, in my salvation experience I failed to realize that I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and didn’t spiritually grow. I thought, miraculously, just as my salvation experience had come I would be endowed with knowledge and quickly grow in my spirituality. I did not. I was a bucket waiting to be filled. I went to many Churches looking for that one leader, that one NCO that would take me under his wing to teach me and mentor me in the things I did not know. Typically, I got this answer: “Just go off somewhere alone and read God’s Word that is all you need to do to know what you don’t know.” So, I read, and I read, and I read until I was blue in the face. I became tired, worn out, disgruntled, and discouraged; a Christian saved by Christ, yet I remained a Private.

Finally, in my desperate, honest, and heartfelt cries to Christ he answered my prayers. He sent some Christian leaders, Christian NCO’s, in my direction. They filled me up with knowledge by answering my questions, giving me study tips, and just hanging out with me, explaining things, until I began to know what I didn’t know. Ultimately, it was because of the selflessness of these Christian NCO’s that led me to where I am now: light years past my salvation experience.

My final comment to leaders, military and Christian alike is this: Never forget where you came from. Don’t keep knowledge to yourself – share it — not everyone knows what you know. Helping someone know what you know is the greatest gift of selflessness. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)