April 14, 2010

The Single Biggest Mistake In My Life
Written by Joe Gibbs on Monday, 12 April 2010.

We recently spoke in Raleigh, NC and I have to say that I couldn't be more thrilled with what we're doing with my speaking. The goal is to do one speaking engagement per month (particularly in the southeast). So far, I've spoken in Dallas, Orlando, Charlotte, and now Raleigh and we hope that we can do another one again in Charlotte. Just a quick update about Raleigh, we had a packed-house in the morning. Everything went great with that event. And in the mid-morning, we went to a prison. As I've said before, speaking in the prisons has really touched me. The last two times I've spoken in a prison, the guys have been completely engaged. I believe many of these prisoners realize the mistakes they've made and the message I share with them is one of a God who is of second chances. We are all going to make mistakes but it doesn't matter what we've done. His grace is a gift.

I want to share a message with you that continually challenges me at age 69. I've said this before but at this stage in life, I feel like I'm in the fourth quarter. So the question I ask myself is: where am I spending my time? Where am I storing up my treasures? We know in Matthew 6:19-20, God talks about storing up your treasures in heaven. So, what am I doing now that is going to have eternal value? This has been one of my struggles in life. I've struggled with pride all my life with trying to win games in football and racing and trying to prove something with my achievement. I've told this story before, but I took my two sons out a few years ago and apologized to them for the time I was gone. Obviously, we all have to work and I had a job to do but what did I do with the free time I had? There was a period in my life when I was infatuated with racquetball. I loved to compete and play in tournaments. The next thing I knew, I was playing in racquetball tournaments all around the country. Maybe for you, it's your work or it's a sport. It can be anything. I told my boys that this was the single, biggest mistake in my life--the time I could of spent with them but I didn't. Now, I'm a grandparent it's the same question. Am I going to play golf this afternoon or spend time with my grandkids?

There is a second question in all of this and it's found in Haggai. Haggai answers the question of: who is doing the great work? For some of us, we say, "I just teach a Sunday school class," or "I just witness to my friends at work." I think back to a J. Vernon McGee study and he told the story of a preacher in Scotland. The preacher came to the church one day and said I'm resigning from the ministry. The congregation asked why and he explained that in the year he had been at the church, only one person had come to Christ and it was the wee Bobby Moffat (which meant he was a little guy). Little did this preacher know that Bobby Moffat would later become the evangelist Robert Moffat who went to Africa and opened up a whole continent to Christianity. Here is someone who impacted tens of thousands of people. So, for you and I, we need to be faithful to the Lord whatever our ministry is and however "small" it seems.

So, the message I leave with you is to store up treasures in heaven. Focus your time on people and being faithful to the Lord. These are the things that will last for eternity.

http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bmoffat.html