I have turned to daily periods of reflection and meditation to find my spiritual path through the uncharted territory of my workday in the world of high technology. Sam Shoemaker called this path "staying in the Stream of the Spirit."
I first began to use a daily prayer asking God to keep my in the Stream of the Spirit more than twenty years ago while developing new products for a major electronics company. I had just moved to a division managed by one of the best businessmen I've ever seen. Guy built an operation that had the highest sales and greatest profit margin of any operation in the corporation. He also led a management team with a "rough and rowdy" lifestyle. We were all stunned when he developed a major heart problem before age 50. I prayed for Guy's recovery and wondered if staying in the Stream of the Spirit would allow me to be of some help.
Two other managers in Guy's division had been a part of his fast-paced office crowd, but had recently experienced spiritual awakenings. Our mutual concern for Guy led us to pray for guidance and some kind of plan. We decided to take Guy out to dinner and, if we had both the courage and opportunity, talk to him about the difference it could make in his life if he turned it over to Christ. Telling how faith works for me is always a challenge, even when I don't run the risk of being fired on the spot.
After dinner we talked honestly with Guy about the problems we faced in our lives and the difference it made to commit our lives to Christ and face these same problems with God's help. He listened politely, thanked us for our concern when we finished, but said this was not for him. Guy soon took a medical leave-of- absence and moved back to his home town, and I set off to start my own business. I planned to use some time to write a book on faith in the high tech world despite my apparent lack of success witnessing to Guy.
Over ten years after our ways parted, my phone rang one morning. Guy was calling from his "retirement home on the lake" in another state asking "Bob, where is that book you were going to write and let me read?" The book, Maximize Your Ministry, went out in that day's mail. He reported back in a few weeks, "I read most of it, understood some of it, and I'm coming to Dallas to talk to you about it."
Guy brought me up to date on an unbelievable list of crushing events in his life since taking medical leave. He had dealt with a bout with throat cancer, a flood covering his house to a depth of eleven feet and the recent tragic death of a brother. I listened and moved on to the question we both had come to discuss, "Have you considered committing your life to Christ and putting these problems in God's hands?" With his usual direct honesty Guy replied, "Bob, I have tried to give my life to Christ but it doesn't work for me." He had even attended a rural church near his home to study scripture, but still no luck.
Over lunch we talked on about our work together in the "old days" and our families. I talked to him about my son who was facing a disabling, undiagnosed illness that was forcing him to drop out of all the highschool activities he loved. I explained that my prayer each day was that Christ would heal my son physically, spiritually and emotionally and that I could accept his healing on God's terms. Guy suddenly sat up straight. "That's the reason it didn't work! I tried to give my life to Christ and tell Him what to do with it. I need to try it on His terms."
For the last five years, I have shared in Guy's surprising spiritual journey which has included more cancer, a new church and his emergence as a teacher and a Deacon in his congregation. I am learning that staying daily in the Stream of the Spirit means that the flow rate is set by God, not me. In the workplace, I sometimes feel like Philip when God sent him chasing the Ethiopian official's chariot just to see what he needed. Sometimes the chariots just don't stop on my schedule. But when one does, God can help me to say the right thing to the right person at the right time.
Last month Guy called to tell me new cancer put him on the terminal list with weeks, not months, left. That day the Spirit said "Go now!" I was able to find the two men who had ventured to witness to Guy more than fifteen years ago. A few days later, we flew to his home. Guy unfolded his own story of growing faith in God and said he was well prepared for what he now faced. As we hugged, prayed and cried together, we affirmed the fact that it looked like the end but was only the beginning. Guy was gone in a few weeks, but the Stream of the Spirit continues to guide me in how to be an effective witness in the workplace.
1. How do you stay "in the stream?"
2. Where are you learning to let God set the flow rate?