Patrick O'Connell

Passing It Along

    What did I learn yesterday that might help someone today? This is what God has been challenging me to do every morning. What is that one lesson, insight, or "a-ha" that I had the day before which I can in turn pass along to someone else today?  I am not talking about facts or gossip. Rather, I hope it's insight. It's telling you what I am learning during my journey that might help you on yours.

    Some of these "a-ha" insights I write in my journal and pass along privately. Others I am recording here.

    I think it's one way Jesus wants us to help each other.

    What about you? What did you learn yesterday that you can pass along to us today?

New friends

I have 17 new friends.

You see, one of the best parts of my trip to Haiti were the people I traveled with. Most of us had never met. We came from all over the KC metro region but quickly formed a bond. Haiti will do that to you. I learned something from each of them and am grateful to have had the experience with them.

Funny, but it seems so obvious that God brought all of us together to do this thing.

We are getting together next month and I can't wait.

Haiti--and words don't cut it

I returned from Haiti late Monday evening. People are asking me how my trip was? I don't know what to tell them. Words won't do the experience justice.

I am still processing through all of the details of my journey. I am struggling to make sense of what I experienced.

Haiti is a place of great contrast: at once beautiful and ugly. That's the first take-away.

What I have experienced has changed me. No doubt about it.

Just returned from Haiti

I returned from Haiti last night and will soon start blogging about it. I am thankful for this trip: it has truly been life-changing.

Blessings.

Obedience is my story and I am sticking to it

One year ago today I was in Kansas City attending the North American Christian Convention. I flew home to Chicago in the evening with plenty of time to catch the tail-end of a 4th of July party my neighbors were throwing. I didn't tell anyone that night but it was now clear to me that God wanted me and my family to move to KC to help start a church.

I had traveled to Kansas City to attend the NACC Convention. Our church planting team (then called Reachout KC) was just beginning to make the transition to KC. Troy and Janet were moved to KC later that month. Josh and Matt moved in August; Tommy and Jessica in September. I felt that I needed to make a decision about the direction of my journey.

Before the convention, I was still wrestling with what road to take. Two very distinct paths lay before me: A) Leave the corporate world, raise support for my salary, move my family, take a HUGE leap of faith and help start a church or B) Remain in Chicago safely employed, take the next promotion, continue to make a decent living, and do something for God 'later.'

But God whispered into my heart that weekend. Hanging out with the team, seeing the city, hearing about all of the support our project was receiving, and praying, well, I just knew that to say no to KC would be a mistake. Moreover, I would be disobedient to God. Since being transformed by God, I had learned that obedience was the key to spiritual growth. The road I should take became clear.

You see, the convention was the beginning the of the end for me. That evening on the flight home I recall a prompting in my spirit: "you had better start getting ready to live in KC."

Several of the most difficult months of my life lay ahead. The transition was hard on me and my family. We had to say good-bye to friends and family. The sale on our house fell through and we wouldn't sell it until the Fall. I was very concerned about finishing well at my job. I had no idea where my support was going to come from. I recall praying ALL of the time and burying myself in scripture. I clinged to God in those weeks after the convention.

Everything turned out fine of course. And now, as Troy told me, I have a front-row seat to watching all that God does at Restore.

Funny how different things can be in a year.

Obedience to God is my story and I am sticking to it.

July television fast

Television has never interested me much.

I watch the news and an occasional documentary. I will watch a soccer game or some ultimate fighting if I can catch it. None of my television watching is ever planned.

That's why I was dismayed when I found myself spending more time watching TV. Worse, I was channel surfing: the ultimate time-waster.

I'd much rather read. But suddenly I became interested in what Oprah was talking about. Not sure why?

So during the month of July I am 'fasting' from television. Rather than waste time channel surfing, I have ten books I am going to read. Oh yeah, I think I'll spend more time reading my Bible as well.

The challenges of transition

I left the business/corporate world to be a part of the Restore team. This transition has been challenging and so I thought I'd share some of the things that I've been learning:

• My sense of value is no longer driven by monetary gain nor promotion. I've had to trade my scorecard in for another.
• I've needed to measure my daily productivity differently. No longer can I sit back at the end of the day and tally my work. Results in ministry tend to take longer to appear.
• I've needed to exercise some discipline in setting some office hours. I office from home. At the beginning of this project I was having difficulty knowing when to quit for the day. (I a m better now.)
• Instead of "producing", I am now planting and growing relationships.
• I no longer have the mission field of work and so I need to be intentional about finding people to meet.
• I can't do everything myself and therefore have learned to trust people to do their part.
• Reproducing myself, my ministries, etc.In the corporate world we simply hired more people.

Despite these challenges, the journey has been wonderful. Restore is doing well and I am feeling more and comfortable everyday in my new life.

I suppose what I am saying is that I've come to TRUST GOD and he's not failed me.

Close encounters with God

I've had many close-encounters with God in my life but none of these led to the radical change that happened only four  years ago when I became a Christ-follower.

For example:

1. When I was in sixth grade I attended an Awana club for awhile. I HATED Awana but went because I had several friends who attended with me.
2. During my junior year of high school I attended services at the local Catholic church with a friend of mine. We went for several months and then I just stopped. We were on a roll and then it just stopped.
3. Later on that junior year, I was invited to a youth group meeting by a friend of mine. I went but left as soon as they started going around the room and asking new-comers to introduce themselves.
4. I read the Bible my senior year of high school but nothing happend.
5. In college I had regular, ongoing conversations with some of the members of the Campus Crusade for Christ, but never took them up on their offer to learn more about Jesus.
6. In Army basic training I went to church EVERY week for 16 weeks because it was the only time we were allocated away from training. I would have smashed big rocks into little rocks to get away from my drill sergeants for an hour.
7. I read the Bible soon after graduating from basic training. But nothing happened.
8. While serving in Army my wife and I attended Mass for several weeks at a Catholic church. But we never connected with anyone and soon stopped going.
9. When I started working in the corporate world I met Tim. He invited me to lunch all of the time and we talked about Jesus. Once he even invited me to his house for dinner. We went but became really unnerved when he took out his Bible and started praying.
10. In my early 30s I read the Bible--again. But nothing happened. This time I became convinced that it's claims SIMPLY WERE NOT TRUE.
11. For YEARS my brother Mike invited me to church and I NEVER went.

Then a few years ago, a radical transformation. I went all in for Jesus and I haven't looked but since.

Now that I am a Christ-follower, a church-planter; a guy who has decided to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus, I can't help but wonder why God didn't save me at one of these points. I mean many times I was so close?

I do trust that God has the answer and that I will know it when he wants to reveal it to me.

But still. It makes me wonder...

Stumbling while looking up

Jesus called me away from my former life and asked me to journey with him for eternity.

My tendency is to look down the road. This causes me to stumble.

God has been prompting me to trust him in the present so as to keep my footing.

I'll trust God. It hasn't failed me yet.

Educated beyond our obedience

Many of us following Jesus are educated beyond our obedience. We know much but act infrequently--or not at all. This is tragic.

God calls us to be obedient to Him.

Obedience, at its core, is a state of action.

Knowledge, although necessary, won't move the mission forward.

Action will.