Dear SCC & Friends,
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained… ~Proverbs 29:18
Update #68
A “Reading Specialist” once told me the difference between sight and vision. He said every normal eye has sight, but vision is sight with understanding. A reading disability occurs when a person can see the letters but is limited in their ability to track or understand what they’re seeing. I couldn’t help but think of Scripture… Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?… ~Mk. 8:18 A clear vision sustains and motivates in circumstances and crises that would otherwise be too difficult. Where there is no vision (revelation), the people are unrestrained.(“The people perish.”) ~Pr. 29:18
When I was 14, nearly 100 of us tried out for the freshman football team. In that era, not everyone made the team. Coaches could cut you from the team, and parents accepted the coaches’ decision. Some of you can relate to the discomfort amidst the sweat and strain of “Football Camp” in the August heat and humidity. I had had my appendix removed in July, and vividly remember the coach stepping on my stomach as I did leg lifts, yelling at us, and wanting to know if we had what it took to play for our school. What sustained me was a vision of one day earning a varsity letter, running through the goal posts with the band playing and the crowd “amped for victory.” A vision enables us to tolerate and overcome pain. Vision sustains us in trial, enabling us to reach beyond personal needs and circumstances. I made the team, but some of my friends that were good athletes quit because it was too hard, the coaches were too mean, it wasn’t worth it, etc. Their vision was different or nonexistent, and as a result they missed a great opportunity.
Vision is key to a purposeful life. Jesus modeled it by obeying in the present while focused on the future. …who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame… ~Heb. 12:2 A vision of obedience anchors our lives and shapes our behavior. Our vision is to be tethered to the Word of God as revealed through the Holy Spirit. …Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.~Hab. 2:2-3 May we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. Keep up the good work!
Blessings and love,
Kevin