I love how God uses stories from my crazy past to teach me about life. He is the greatest storyteller; that’s part of His overall character. This one in the last two years He has really etched into my brain. It rolls around almost daily. I’m thinking about it and chewing on it like I’m a cow with seven stomachs (yes I know a normal cow does not have seven).  For days and nights now I have had images of one thing going through my mind: A pink and Purple bicycle.

As a kid I wanted to be a super hero, not necessarily the masked hero with super powers, but a hero with a super job. I thought my goal and my mission in life was to change the lives of others. I watched a lot of  certain tv shows about angels, pioneer doctors, and an archeologist. I decided that I was here to swoop in and do something huge to change lives. My summers were spent taking medicine to tribal children, finding and returning priceless artifacts, and coming up with 30 minute solutions that would change everything for someone. Most of that just remained in my head until one day my parents bought me a bike.

The bicycle was pink and purple, two colors I abhorred until in my thirties. Despite its disgustingly shocking girlie look this bicycle gave me freedom. I was suddenly out on an adventure and not just in my yard. I was on trails, in creeks, finding new places, and enjoying the fresh air through my hair. I rode everywhere I was allowed to go. Every evening as I knew the sun would be going down enough for the street lights to pop on I started just riding my block. Up and down, up and down. One day everything changed. There was a girl. A girl in the yellow house down the street. This girl was always outside. She was reading a book, rollerblading, singing spice girls to the top of her lungs. And my mission suddenly took shape. I wanted to change her life. I was going to be her hero. But that was only in my mind because I just kept riding by.

Jesus in His last days on earth gave His disciples a divine mission with a clear vision. In His years with the disciples He had painted that vision well. The disciples were pretty well saturated in it daily. That’s what disciples did; they lived, breathed, experienced, smelled, cried, felt the vision right in front of them. He had already died and done the amazing, the God-Awesome, and returned to life. His time with them was over but His biggest prayer remained: the divine mission. He told them “go and make disciples”, go help other people experience this life. Out of everything He wanted for His dearest friends, He wanted them to make more reflections of Him. This was their divine mission, it is also ours. The disciples didn’t question them methods, they knew. They lived in it.

We were left here on purpose; we were called to something: a divine level mission… Not to save people, we can’t do that, that’s Jesus’s work. But instead to be a vessel He uses to breathe His presence and bring life in the hearts of men… To make disciples.

I’ve known about that divine mission since the days of the pink and purple bicycle.  But all along I wondered what that was really supposed to look like, I needed clear vision. So I researched, I read, I spent years and countless dollars all to be taught how. How do I disciple? How do I change someone’s life really? I took every class I read every book, I tried method after method. I learned what to say, how to defend my faith, and how to paint a certain picture.  I learned to write curriculum and sermons. I joined the drama teams and went on missions trips. But in the end I didn’t feel adequate. I didn’t think I perfected anything and therefore I was getting nowhere with the efforts. I wasn’t sure anymore that any of it was “working”. So I started tearing everything apart: threw out the methods, yelled at traditional thinking for a while, went rogue perhaps. Nothing would clear my vision on this. I hadn’t given up I was just desperate for a new vision.

This is where my bicycle took flight. What was it about the Bicycle that helped me clear my foggy vision? Nothing. Until I dropped the piece of pink and purple engineering in a drive way. I had to put the bike down.

For weeks I continued to ride by and obsess. To think to myself I am going to change this girls life. After a month of wheeled stalking we learned each others names but we never talked for more than a couple of minutes. Angels in disguise can’t stay too long. Then one day everything changed. I stopped and she asked if I wanted to play. I had to get off the bicycle, put it down and walk with her. This is when life began to flourish. Days, weeks, months, years of afternoons were spent with my new-found friend. I had found a beautiful person and she impacted me too. We impacted each other. The love for tents, a good book, an exciting board game all came from those days. The thrill of sledding, the imaginations of children going and going.  We lived life together. We did our homework together, we read books together. We celebrated the happy things. We lease trained a puppy together. We cried together when she got very sick. We talked about everything. We did life together well… I didn’t need to be the angel to wish in. I needed to be me, be me with her. Living our lives side by side.

Jesus lived life with His disciples, side by side. They saw everything: they saw who He was and how He was with people. When He told them go and make disciples the already had the vision. The methods weren’t always the same, but they knew what changed people. The last meal He had with His friends was quite significant. Something is lost if you don’t understand Jewish traditions, but what everything He was going through was epic. He was the fulfillment of everything their people had waited for, the world had groaned for thousands of years for. And here He was in this epic time, washing His disciples feet. His words would not be forgotten. “If I washed your feet you also ought to wash each others. Love one another, just as I have loved you; by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”  Jesus loved them well. This was not a mystery, they experienced it first hand. We were given a divine mission in life. We were left here with a huge purpose. To be the very vessel He uses to poor life out to others, to breathe His very love and presence to people. To live like Jesus right along side them… For them to see who He is and become His disciples. To reflect Him well.

The methods were not bad training, I learned a lot. But the picture Jesus painted was not for us to swoop in and in 30 minutes change someone’s life. Sometimes God uses us for a small piece and it happens in front of us, but usually that comes after some hard heart work. We want to be the hero of the story but that’s not our role. Our role is to pull up right next to them and live life… live the life that is forever marked by Christ’s love. Whether that is a short time or a long time people are not our projects but they instead become our friends. It’s time to put down the bicycle in the driveway and live love with them.

We were given a divine mission in life… living differently means we drop our image, our methods, our vision, our excuses and hold ups to bring His breath and life into the world… to love well.

What’s keeping you from making disciples really?  Fear? Inadequacy? Are you too tied to a method that doesn’t seem to “work”? Does your need to prove you are right trump the level of love you show? Do you feel loveless? Are you connected truly to the very one whose life should just be coming out of you?

The mission is to go and make disciples. The visions for the vision is to live a life marked by His love.  What does this mean?

For you it might mean you are His vessel on the sports field or in the PTA. Maybe you are His vessel to bring life to your community by joining community groups or serving in some way that helps the community. Maybe you just need to make friends with your neighbors. Invite someone to your house. Have someone over for dinner. Show people who are younger what life marked by Christ looks like. Go wherever God calls you, each of us is different. Not everyone is asked to hang out with hippy moms or spend all your time with younger generations. Our people are not the same but the call is… Make Disciples… Love Well…. Be the very thing God uses to breathe His presence, to grow life in others. Embrace this role whole heartedly. God is the best author of incredible stories and we are significant supporting characters.