my coach this week: Hudson Taylor

My curl-up-for-15-minutes-at-bedtime-book this week is Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor.  Last night I reached pg 165 out of 251 and came to this quote:

"I am no longer anxious about anything for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine.  It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient.  It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things or the most expensive articles.  In either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his purchases.  So, if God should place me in great perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength?  No fear that His resources will be unequal to the emergency!  And His resources are mine -- for His is mine, and is with me and dwells in me."

Isn't that worth a good chew?

Hebrews 11:4 tells us "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."  Hudson Taylor has joined the crowd of witnesses along with Abel and a host of others who loved Jesus, body and soul.  He (though dead) still speaks to me as I read about the unswerving commitment he had to praise and trust the Living God and to make Jesus known to as many as he could actively seek out. 

I want to run the race of faith with endurance, looking unto Jesus the whole way.  How thankful I am for the crowd of witnesses that have run before us who are kind of like coaches, instructing and cheering us on (do I have ears to hear?). 

We went as a family to a basketball game last week and the winners played amazingly well as a team.  We heard more than one person in the stands make the comment that the team was well coached.  This morning I asked my kids what they thought it meant "to be well coached" and we had a fun little discussion about that.  We concluded that it isn't enough to have a knowledgeable coach who sets out to teach his players all he knows about the sport.  A winning team is made up of players who are wise enough to know they don't know it all, who trust they have much to gain from paying close attention to good coaches, and who put into regular practice what they are taught.  A well coached team requires a good coach AND teachable players who will give it their all to taste victory by the rules. 

Of course I helped steer the discussion to how that idea applies in our home school, which it definitely does (as anyone who has children knows, you can attempt to teach until you are blue in the face, but if your children have stopped up ears, you may as well be whistling to the wind).  I used the tail end of our discussion as an opportunity to praise my kids because, by God's grace, they already know and put into practice these "winning team" principles so much of the time. I thank the Lord for this!

I was glad for my chat with my kids.  I love being one of their chief cheerleaders, and count it a privilege to "coach" them along in life.  But all day long the thought that continues to go through my head is my own need to subject myself (in a fashion that goes beyond curiosity about their lives) to the instruction of people like Hudson Taylor who, though dead, still speak.  I'm too comfortable with mental learning...I need to LIVE by faith!

"Father, make me humble and teachable, and eager to put into practice what you teach me through Your Word and the faithful examples and instruction of Your people.  Thank you for so many good "coaches" as I run the race You've set before me.  And this week, thank You in particular for Hudson Taylor who reminds me on nearly every page of the joy of looking unto Jesus with all we are and have."