How many new parents?

This week has been amazing.  Maybe the better word is monumental.  In any case, it is a milestone.  Stephania, Timo and I are officially in St. Petersburg, FL.  We are three disciples who just want to dance in step with the music of Jesus and so we have to go where we hear it the loudest and it seems that He has led us to St. Pete.  There have been a lot of emotions, physical exhaustion, prayers, asks, and faith that has gone into this move and oddly enough there has been more joy than anything.  We look forward to pouring out our lives here.


There is one question that has been repeating in my mind this week and it’s this:  How many new parents?  I understand that I am a novice in moving in response to God’s calling(as far as new cities, states and so on is concerned) and so this may be a simple question for the seasoned church planter or missionary but for me the question has never been more real.  How many more parents?  It arises from the reality of our move and Matthew’s account of the wealthy man that approached Jesus, called Jesus “good” and then asked Jesus “what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”  After some dialogue Jesus tells him that he must sell everything he owns.  This was hard for the man to deal with because he was very wealthy and he “went away sad”. But there seems to be comfort towards the end of Matthew’s narrative.  The man has left sad and the disciples begin asking questions about who could be saved and Jesus answers them wisely by letting them know that, with God, anything is possible and also with this: 


…at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.


After reading this story, my first reaction was to poke fun at the wealthy man because he was so attached to his material possessions that they seemed to be worth more than eternal life.  That was until now.  I imagine the wealthy man’s possessions to be a comfort and a sign of his accomplishments.  Those types of things are hard to let go.  And from his character described in this passage he probably came about his wealth in a fair manner.  This makes it even harder to let go.  The struggle this man has dealt with has been so real this week.  We don’t really have tremendous wealth but we are three little disciples of Jesus who had spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters.  We also had small but successful and growing ministries and we led those under our leadership with love and deep affection.  Without a doubt, it is the lives that we connected with in Tampa that we miss so dearly.


This scripture is encouraging, though, especially since I believe that the kingdom of God is present, near and coming.  The promise of Jesus to gain 100 times what I left seems to be an easy trade.  To have the lives that I was connected to so dearly given back 100 times over sounds extremely exciting.  It is also troubling because that means if I leave my mother for the sake of Jesus then I will receive many more mothers but the call to leave mothers is still out there and that call would mean leaving 100 times more mothers.  My question is how many new parents?  It is a scary thing to think that God would rip me away from those I love and even scarier to think that this should be the pattern of my discipleship.  So how many new parents becomes a very important question with lifelong implications.  Is this the way of the kingdom?


But…how do you show that you have not used the people you lead as a sign of your personal accomplishment and how do you show that your comfort lies not in overt success but in your connection to the heart of God?  What is a major way to prove that you value the call of Jesus more than your wealth (in whatever form it is)?  How can you live in a way that offers everything you have to God, including your friends and family.  You give it all up.  You surrender it to Jesus.  You even give up your own life.  In doing this, you know what I have found?  You never really lose them!  You only gain more and those you leave are eternally connected, this is how the kingdom of God works!  If you are willing to move with the voice of Jesus you will find that there is an abundance of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers given to you as a gift.  I imagine that this is what the disciples experienced when Jesus sent them out from village to village and asked them to stay with someone who would except them there.  I imagine that they did not mourn the complete loss of a relationship when they left the city but they celebrated the gain of a relationship that would more than likely last a life time.


How many new parents?  As many as God would bless us with.  God’s call for us to be in St. Petersburg has already proven to be filled with tears and joy.  We look forward to growing in love with our laboring brothers and sisters and we will always be connected to our family in Tampa.  This is the kingdom that has come.