Time Keeps On Slipping, Slipping…
We currently need 20 volunteers to mentor men working towards graduating from the Foundry. This is a practical, straightforward opportunity to participate in the Great Commission. This is 20 men seeking spiritual encouragement, friendship, and hope. This is 20 men that need you — almost as much as you might need them.
How much time does this require? About an hour a week for 12 weeks. You schedule the meeting on your terms and have the freedom to grab lunch, coffee, a walk, or whatever. So, how much time does it take? A few minutes to coordinate coupled with something you do as a regular part of your daily life.
How do I value time?
Can you hear The Steve Miller Band playing, “Fly Like An Eagle” as the background theme to your life? Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' Into the future…
Recently I walked down to Panera from our new office to grab a bagel and read for a minute before my next meeting. Getting a minute of peace during the day is like catching a fly with chopsticks; it’s possible but not likely. My peace ended abruptly when I heard, “Hey, John. Do you have a minute?”
Heidi and I both work full-time, we have two kids under 10, I’m working solo on a landscaping project in the backyard (picture), and we are part of the overcommitted, over-the-mountain Birmingham life.
So… we are like you… we don’t have a minute because all of our minutes are spoken for. In the microseconds after I heard the question, “Do I have a minute?” my sarcastic mind went into overdrive, but I held my tongue by God’s grace.
Then I looked up.
It was one of our Unbound Grace “Guides.” He was meeting with his “Journeyer,” saw me at Panera, and wanted to introduce us. My heart instantly melted, and my bloated self-importance was deflated. The “Guide,” a white guy in his late 60s, was grabbing coffee with his “Journeyer,” an African American in his early 40s that recently progressed from the Foundry’s residential program to the PATH, Unbound Grace’s discipleship program that focuses on recovery in the context of real-life.
The two men meet regularly at Panera to talk about recovery, life, the Bible, and whatever else is on their hearts. It’s not complicated or overly programmatic. They listen to each other, empathize with each other, and with the nudging of the “guide,” they look to Jesus as their only true and complete hope.
Brandon Lackey, the chief program officer at the Foundry, is a dear friend and the key to the partnership Unbound Grace has with the Foundry. He was leaving Niki’s West, Birmingham’s finest restaurant since 1957, yesterday after a vegan-friendly meal (sarcasm) and heard his name through the buzz of the crowd at the checkout line. “Hey, Brandon. Do you have a minute?”
If you have ever ordered or checked out at Niki’s, you know you don’t have a second… if you stutter or miss a beat, it’s bad news for you. Brandon deftly navigated the scorn of the checkout lady and made his way over to the voice calling him. It was one of the men that recently progressed from the residential program into Unbound Grace’s PATH. This “Journeyer” wanted Brandon to meet his “Guide.”
How beautiful are these pictures of discipleship!?
This is not rocket science or advanced psychiatry – it’s life-on-life discipleship. It’s two flawed people living in a fallen world, encouraging each other to follow Christ – not out of their self-righteousness but out of their weakness. You don’t have to be “in recovery” to be a Guide; the only requirements are to follow Christ and “have a minute.”
“DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE?”
We currently NEED 20 GUIDES. Unbound Grace and the Foundry rely on the church to fill this disciple-making need. If you are not participating in a disciple-making effort, will you join Unbound Grace?
To learn more about becoming a “guide,” please visit our website and reach out to me (John@unboundgrace.life).
