The challenge of control!

I cannot emphasise enough the positive power of sharing our small, life stories with each other. Those stories, both good and difficult, where we find our experiences leading to us wrestling with God. These are the places of discipleship and breakthrough -  where we get changed, if we allow it.Right now I'm sitting in Australia's first Child Advocacy Centre. It's where abused kids get real help for as long as it's needed and it's in Armadale. The centre director has told the story of developing this place with immense passion despite deep resistance. He says that while new ventures need money, what is really needed is people who listen and engage the adventure with passion. That is what inspires him.Basil, the director, said the biggest challenge of all is that people in power - police, lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, doctors and many others - are afraid to share power. He says power is about control. He says building a world's best practice centre to see children healed needs people to relinquish their agendas and control. It needs an openness of heart, trust in good motives so that coming together to share everything for the kids’ welfare matters more.As I think about Basil's challenge, it dawns on me that it's a challenge for us all. Control! Why don't I think about others, share my life with them, testify to God's work in my life? I have to relinquish something of myself to others or a process. I want to be in control. And often I am afraid.As we discuss the idea (because that's all it is) of a Futures Fund today, it's important to come prayerfully, eyes and ears open to what God might be saying to us. This can only happen with an openness of heart to the vision and trust that this dream is for 'what we cannot yet see'. I will explain the vision very simply; others will have the details of how it 'might' work. You may be the voice of God speaking to us. It all depends on how we come.In the AdventureMalcolm