As my children grew up, I was always blessed by their desire to be right in the middle of whatever I was doing. Whether I was reading, caught up in a hobby or in the kitchen pestering my wife, my kids were in the middle of whatever was going on.
They weren’t satisfied just being in the same room with me—they wanted to connect.
“Look, Dad.” “Did you hear that?” “Help me do it.” If I remember correctly, the words rattled around the house somewhat annoyingly, but I had a sense that I’d miss those words one day. Of course, I’ve missed them for many years now.
I was reminded of my kids yesterday during an interview with Randall Martinez on the Greenelines podcast. We discussed his ministry in Richmond, Virginia, with a plant of the International House of Prayer and MAPS Global.
Randall shared a special request he has prayed for years: “Whatever I’m going to do with my life, Lord. I want to live in Your presence and see Your power.”
He said, “I’ve prayed that prayer for the last 15 years. I want to be right in the middle of whatever He’s doing now.”
That prayer has sent Randall and his family to the Middle East to establish additional Houses of Prayer. “It wasn’t just the gospel or the poverty,” he said. “It was the fact that we saw God moving in incredible ways, and we wanted to be a part of it. There’s a whole different reality to the habitation of God moving and then hosting God’s presence day in and day out as a rhythm of life. He’s at the center of how we do life together.”
Then, Randall almost shouted through the microphone, “I’m ruined!”
He said, “It’s the dynamic of living where God’s presence is at the center of all you do. I can’t imagine life or any form of ministry without it. That’s what ruined us for the House of Prayer and the way we want to live our life.”
I asked him about his family. “Well, they are growing up with a Christianity that’s not just about Sunday. They see it every day of the week. It’s awareness of God’s presence from that place. We do mission in our neighborhood, and we do mission in the nations. It’s the overflow of living out God’s presence.
“My oldest son is 10 years old. And I’m hearing him say, in own his own words, what he’s encountering in Jesus and how he views his walk.”
“Christianity is not just something he’s added to his life,” Randall added. “It’s his whole life. His whole environment is living in the presence of God. All of my kids have been with me several times in our work in the Middle East. They absolutely love it.”
I could have been a much better model for my children. Do you need to be ruined too?
For more about MAPS Global, tune in to the MAPS Global Podcast and listen to this entire Greeenelines podcast. {eoa}
Dr. Steve Greene is the publisher and executive vice president of the multimedia group at Charisma Media and executive producer of the Charisma Podcast Network.
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