Back in 2009 I was able to travel to East Africa. I joined up with a group of Americans in Nairobi, Kenya and spent four days climbing Mt. Kenya, the second tallest peak in Africa. They all went back to the US and I traveled with a missionary to his home base in Tanzania. After several days I flew across Lake Victoria to Uganda, the pearl of Africa. I was met by a driver who took me several hours to a town called Tororo. Long story short, I ended up visiting a high school in the middle of nowhere, was a guest teacher, and ended up meeting a young man named Oscar who was wearing a Philadelphia 76ers t-shirt under his white, button-up school uniform. Of course back in 2009, Oscar might’ve been the only Sixers fan left on the planet. But through that interaction and some dialogue over the coming year, I organized a team from my church in Philly to travel back to that area in the summer of 2010. Oscar and friends actually met us at the local hotel where we were staying.
Through that time my relationship with Oscar began to grow and I learned more about his background. His father had been killed by a regional warlord when Oscar was young, leaving his family destitute. But Oscar developed an entrepreneurial spirit and desired to open his own business as well as continue on with his education after high school. He asked if I would be willing to help him narrow down his ideas, choose a business, and then work through the planning and launch, etc. Part of our due diligence was to actually research what other organizations were in his area that might be able to help such as Opportunity International and World Vision. After interacting with them we realized that he wouldn’t qualify for their programming. So, I decided to lean further into this situation and conducted more research. I began to think further about what was possible and what could be in terms of this new partnership.
In the end, we started a poultry farm together called God Cares Farm. I could go into much more detail of what has transpired since 2010. What I did do as a result was to begin cultivating vision around this opportunity and partnership. I decided to start a nonprofit ministry organization called Grace Seed to partner with entrepreneurs like Oscar (as well as schools) and have since worked with many there in Uganda as well as in the Dominican Republic. My point in sharing this is that you don’t have to be an expert. You don’t have to have prior experience in what God is leading you to be involved with. You don’t have to have it all figured out at the beginning. You don’t have to start a full blown nonprofit organization.
But you should take steps to fan the flame that God has put in your heart and mind.
That flame is what can be categorized as vision. Leadership author and pastor Andy Stanley defines vision as, “A clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be” (Visioneering, 1999). What does it mean to believe God? What does that look like in our everyday lives? What is vision and how do we cultivate vision? We are going to be taking a deeper look at these questions as we consider God’s call and vision for Abraham in Genesis 12. In this passage, the LORD gives Abram a clear mental picture of what was possible in and through his life and in turn Abram responded in faith with conviction and courage. What could be was matched with what should be.
In Genesis 12, the historical narrative shifts from a general survey of history to the specific family of Shem, a family that the chosen people of God, Israel, would come from. There were 10 generations from Adam to Noah and now 10 more from Noah to Abram. The text states that Abram’s father took him and his family from Ur of the Chaldeans (modern day Iraq), which at the time was a highly cultured urban context, located in Babylonia, the region Nimrod initially developed (I discuss this in more detail in Volume 1/Devotional 8: Babel, Inc.).
From Ur, Terah led his family to settle in Haran (modern day Turkey). It was from there that Terah would die, leaving Abram the full responsibility for his family and all of their possessions. It was also from Haran that the LORD (Yahweh) singled Abram out to start another journey. It would be a journey south to the land of Canaan but it was also a broader mission to establish a new people group/nation. Abram was 75 years old at the time.
Here was the mission:
“Now Yahweh said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3)
Yahweh called Abram to believe in Him and His promise, to be willing to give up his personal identity and security in order to be a conduit of blessing to a new people and the international community that they would interact with. With all human support largely removed, Abram had to forsake all and follow, exchanging the known for the unknown. He was to simply go, even though he didn’t specifically know where he was going. Going without knowing.
In the passage we see Abram catch the vision that the LORD had given him and respond in faith to His promises by obeying Him. Heard. Saw. Believed. Obeyed. Abram led his family to the land of Canaan. After some time that region was devastated by severe famine, so much so that Abram decided to lead his family down to Egypt where there was water and fertile ground (Gen. 12:10-20). The vision of blessing was still in place but would soon be put to a significant test. When calculating the potential threat involving his wife and the Pharaoh, Abram trusted in his own intuition, compromised his moral integrity with deception, and allowed fear to take control–all apart from the LORD.
In the end, it took a series of God-ordained plagues to remedy the situation and to get them safely out of Egypt and back to the land the LORD had promised. God intervened once again and demonstrated His faithfulness, even against the backdrop of Abram’s compromise.
So I want to talk about vision for a moment and some steps you can take to cultivate vision in your own life. You are certainly not called to become the father of many nations, but you are called to become something. What is that for you? Have you heard, seen, believed, and obeyed God? What is it that He has placed deep within you that He wants to come to fruition and cultivate and use to be a blessing to others? Maybe you had a vision for your life in the past and you never acted upon it. Maybe you experienced self-doubt or imposter syndrome or fear. Maybe you started sharing your vision and no one got excited or believed in you. Maybe there’s something there and you just don’t know where to start, how to begin identifying it and drawing it out.
This is probably one of the biggest impediments to you and I living fully in line with what God has called us to do. We simply don’t know how to get started.
I encourage you to allow God even this week to provide you with a clear mental picture of what could be for you and then provide the fueled conviction that it should be so you can begin acting upon it. Acting upon it and cultivating vision might simply be sharing it with a handful of trusted advisors. Start researching others who might be doing something similar. It might be a new business. It might be a new ministry initiative through your church. It might be simply stepping out of your comfort zone to be more involved in serving the homeless in your community or a crisis pregnancy center, etc. I would be thrilled to be considered a resource along the way. Please reach out to me so that we can discuss what that is for you. Yes you don’t know what it all means or where it will lead. That’s the point. Going without knowing.
[This post is an adaptation from Volume 1/Devotional 9: Going Without Knowing in the Wisdom Calling devotional series. You can order a copy at www.wisdomcalling.org. And if you would like to take Bobo up on his offer to discuss what God’s vision for your life might be, simply email him at bobo@wisdomcalling.org.]