Missing the Connection

Sometimes as a leader it can be easy to take in the details and miss the point of what is occurring.

I had a ticking sound in my left front wheel that accelerated when I accelerated and slowed when I slowed. Three different times I took the vehicle to a mechanic near the coffeehouse. They pulled the hub cap, the wheel, checked the seals, the bearings the brake and found nothing. They put everything back together and the next day the noise was back. Again the vehicle was dropped off for service and again everything was checked. Nothing was found.

This time the noise didn't return-for a few days. Then it was back. Tick tick tick tick .

A third time in the shop. A third look at all the details. Finally the connection is made! A small piece of plastic on the hubcap was broken. As the wheel had turned it would come loose and rattle in the wind.

Observed the detail, yet failed to see the implication. No connection made.

I was reading of just such an instance in John chapter 20 this morning. Peter and the "other disciple" raced to the empty tomb to see for themselves the evidence Mary Magdalene had reported to them. Entering in they saw the linen cloth lying there. The cloth that covered Jesus face was folded and set to the side. Then it says that at least John (the other disciple) makes the connection. It says "he saw and he believed-for until then they hadn't realized that the Scriptures said he would rise from the dead." (John 20:8b,9)

Looking back in hindsight John says that that was the moment he believed. I'm sure he did believe that Jesus was not there, that he was risen, but the connection hadn't been made yet. Why do I think this? Verse 10 says, "Then they went home." They have just seen evidence of the most incredible event since creation, the God-man was risen from the dead. The Forgiver was alive. So they went home.

Amazing some connection is made, but no change takes place. They just go home.

How receptive is your heart as a leader to the little ticks, the indications of His workings in your life? Are you recognizing His hand at work? Are you making the connections to the big things that He is doing in your midst, your ministry, your work, your heart. Or do you have a tendency to see Him at work and then just go home.

Godly leaders see the hand of God continually at work and are changed by it.