The Mantle. Pt. 1

I often share a personal reflection with my understudies.

“I have counseled thousands, taught hundreds and mentored dozens.”

And I can tell you the gift keeps on giving. For it is impossible to give without getting something in return. 

I think of a young lady whom I once counseled and who went on to become my co-counselor, and who has subsequently counseled many, and is currently serving as an associate pastor.

Then there was the father, mother and daughter who I took ‘under my wing’ as counseling interns, and who ultimately served as missionaries to Indonesia.

And more recently I mentored a promising young lady in my church, who during the course of time completed her bachelors and graduate degrees, and is now serving as a website coordinator for an international ministry; which continues to impact millions of unreached and unsaved men and women, boys and girls throughout the world.

There are a couple of adages which I memorized and which serve as my own personal mission statements.

“My students are living messages to a time that I will never see.”

(and)

“I am planting seedlings under whose shade I may never have the opportunity to rest.”

Speaking of my intern program, I provide my new interns an orientation in which I allude to the unbroken chain, stretching back two millennia, of people impacting people with the message of the Savior, and how that if one of these faithful human beings had failed to be quite as faithful, you or I might not have been provided the opportunity to know and serve Him. 

And then there is the crucible of discipleship and its implication of discipline. 

Elijah mentored a ‘young whippersnapper’ named Elisha in whom he found something worthy of his time and efforts. Ultimately, the time drew near for his translation into heaven, for that is the manner in which God chose to take him; (one of only two men who never tasted death). Prior to his having been caught up into heaven, Elisha asked Elijah to give him a double portion of his spirit. And true to his expectations, as Elijah was taken up, his mantle fell from his shoulders, and Elisha stepped forward to pick it up.

What, after all, is the implication of passing one’s figurative mantle to ‘the someones’ whom God sets in our pathway? I think the following three words characterize it well, and hardly need elaboration. 

Authority

Responsibility

Mission

While I was never formally mentored, (which may account for my having assumed my counseling and intern ministries) there were any number of people who impacted my life, and two in particular who are directly responsible for having stood in the spiritual gap for me, and of whom I have previously alluded.

To be succinct, William preached and Jerry prayed. Rev. Kirschke preached the sermon that evening, and Rev. Triemstra kneeled alongside me, and taught me the ‘sinner’s prayer.’ And without them, my life would never have followed the course which it has, nor would I have been given the spiritual privileges and the impact which I have been afforded.

We stand on the shoulders of giants and I owe them.

One of my former interns once shared the most glorious and unforgettable words with me.

“Dr. Bill, I don’t want to disappoint you. I’ll go for you when you can no longer go. I’ll speak for you when you can no longer speak. I’ll impact lives on your behalf long after you have gone on to your reward.”

During the course of my 2/3 of a century on earth, no one ever shared anything more poignant or more memorable with me.

(To be continued)


By William McDonald, PhD. From (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol.40. Copyright pending

If you wish to copy, share or save this blog, please include the credit line, above
**************
 If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the index