The Writing on the Wall

Points of Strategic Impact

A great many of my writings are based off of concepts that are burried deep within me. Occasionally life affords me the opportunity to experience an event that draws those concepts to the surface where they can be expressed. Examples of these events may be anything from some dramatic episode or tragic happening to a simple conversation with a friend or stranger concerning a topic I have never discussed before. This writing is an example of such an event, actually it was a series of events.

As you read this you may be wondering what I mean when I say "Points of Strategic Impact." It sounds like a business term or maybe even a military term, but really it is not -- I made it up based on a statement made by one of my business teachers in a management class I took last semester. She talked about "moments of truth" that make or break a customers perception of a company. How that perception all rests upon a single moment in time. This applies to people in many other areas of life, not just business. And so I define for you a Point of Strategic Impact (POSI) as a point or event in your life that has particular significance in determining and sculpting who you become in the future. Some of them are rather simplistic and others are of the overnight life-changing variety, but all have an impact on you and become a point of referance for determining who you are. Often I have pondered the question, "How does God lead us and shape us into His planned path and person?" During the course of my life (short as it has been) I have begun to believe that God uses POSI quite regularly to help point us on the path He wants us to go and chisel away the pieces of stone that are hiding the person He desires us to become. God has called us from among the nations to be "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light"~ 1Peter 2:9

When I use the word strategic, I use it intentionally. For to be strategic, it must be planned. These moments are not the result of mere chance, but are all part of the plan that God has established before the beginning of the phenomenon we commonly refer to as Time. "Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?"~ Eccl. 7:13 "Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it."~ Eccl. 8:17 "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?"~ John 6:28 "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."~ Deut. 32:4 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."~ Jer. 29:11 "8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."~ Isa. 55:8,9.

It is not often that we recognize these POSI in our lives, but they are still there. I think back to my life and I see things that my parents said to me when I was a child that I remember to this day that have helped direct my life and sculpt me into the person that I am today. When I was just a small child my father's mother once told me that I had the silver tongue of the Irish, and I thought that was a good thing at the time. As I look back upon that event, I recognise now that that was the beginning of my desire to become an eloquent communicator. Then an idle statement, now a landmark in my life. Later on in my life my mother encouraged that in a different direction my commenting that I had a special gift for making people feel special. By saying so to me, it created in me an intense desire to develope that gift in a Godly way. Another example is when I was told when I was a young child, that I was particularly sensitive to spiritual things. When I was told this, I made it a goal to continue to be so, and to grow what then was only a seed. Most recently, I was told that my presence ignited spiritual conversation. Things like these, said as a simple statement can have a profound impact on how people develop into who they will eventually become. I do not share these things to set myself up, but to simply show examples of what I mean.

While in my life, these are all simple almost unnoticed events, in other cases they can become almost life-changing from the beginning. Several years ago two friends of mine, Holly and Danny began taking Kung Fu classes from the University for their PE class. Danny did not need it, want it, or even care about it, but because Holly needed a PE class and thought KF looked interesting she signed up for it. She did not want to do it alone, so she roped Danny into it as well. Now, Danny is a black sash and teaching in his church. Kung Fu has changed his entire life. Holly is a green sash, married to a black sash and it has totally changed her life as well. All because SHE needed a single little PE credit to graduate.

I believe that recognising the significance of these little things and the life-long impact that they can make is very important in Christian ministry. I believe that in my efforts to fulfill my mission in life "to make a positive impact everywhere I go, and on everyone I meet for Christ and His kingdom" I can rest assured that if I stay in God's will and live in His power, then my life in even the smallest ways can have a life-changing impact everywhere I go and on everyone I meet.

I hope this little bit of babbling has been beneficial to someone out there.

tayl

Posted by GodzScout at January 14, 2004 01:47 PM