My son Sean by Jeannie Reese: April 2001. One year on ....
I was out gardening the other day and as usual I was thinking about Sean. I didn’t have a vision but, in the musings of my mind, I saw him striding in the gates of heaven an the Lord receiving him with open arms. Sean was holding a CV. On earth, Sean had the coolest CV. It was a rock climber's CV, done in earth tones, and it had every adventure and exploit that he had done and his really cool marks. But in this vision, his heavenly CV said:
MISSIONARY TO RUSSIA
MISSIONARY TO TANZANIA
MISSIONARY TO HONDURAS
YOUTH LEADER
YOUTH EVANGELIST
I thought, "He wasn’t all those things!"
But then I thought, he WAS all those things. He released his father to go to Russia so I feel in my heart, when he got to heaven he got a jewel in his crown for that. Anything Alistair accomplished in Russia, Sean had a part in because he allowed his dad to go and blessed his work. He was a shareholder. He got a missionary's crown for that, even though he never physically went to Russia, because he played a part in everything Alistair sowed there.
We had a man, Allan Stevenson, a missionary to Tanzania, come to our church when Sean was about eight. He stayed at our place and in the morning, both Sean and Naomi came out with $5 from their piggy bank and gave it to Allan. Allan told them how many Bibles he could buy with the money they had given to him. I feel Sean has a part in that work in Tanzania, a child's $5 part, and I believe God honours that little part. I believe Sean has a jewel in his crown for how he supported that work in Tanzania. He was a shareholder.
Sean also supported a child in Honduras since he was about nine. We went to a World Vision meeting and they had a table covered with details of children needing help. Sean chose a boy his own age and supported him until he was in about the third form. He used to send him little books and stickers. So Sean has a part in that boy’s life too. He played his part, right from our home. He was a missionary to the Honduras too, as a shareholder.
I feel he was a youth leader, a youth evangelist. The eulogies at his funeral revealed that Sean, in his own way, left a mark on the young people in Wanaka and in Te Puke. His discipline, dedication and his focus, his one-eyed focus, and his determination. I heard stories from many of his friends how impressed they were with the stand that Sean took in his life. I know he changed their lives in some way. So he was a youth evangelist and a youth leader. He is a shareholder.
When I saw that, it really opened my eyes. I thought, it isn’t "Oh, we’re into missions if you do this, or you’re a youth leader if you do that". I felt the Lord took blinders off my eyes and I realised our work is much broader than I realised. I found real freedom in that reality.
Then I found an article in a magazine, New Zealand Adventure Magazine, called "Six Degrees of Separation" which spoke of how we are all linked together and none of us can do anything, achieve anything in isolation. This article really confirmed what I’d been thinking. We ARE all connected. When Alistair goes to Russia and we support him, he is not there in isolation - we are connected to that work and we have a share in it. I started to apply this to myself. I sometimes feel I am a failure as I’m not too "missions-oriented", not too evangelistic. In fact, I feel like a blithering idiot at times, but when I look again, I know my CV could also read a lot of things and I am really uplifted and encouraged. I feel like I’ve grasped a truth - I AM a missionary to Russia and when I get to heaven I’ll get a jewel in my crown too.
There are all these tributaries that feed into something else and the something else cannot happen without the tributaries. You don’t get a waterfall out of nothing. You don’t just see a large waterfall in the middle of nowhere, all isolated and by itself - it has to be fed from many sources. The rivulets that feed into the waterfall are not less than the waterfall and one is not more important than the other. This shows our fallacy. The person "in ministry" up on stage, be it Billy Graham or whoever, can never be there on their own. The support systems have to be in place and I’m proud to be a tributary and that doesn't make me a second-class Christian.
So ...
I’m a missionary to Honduras. I’m a missionary to Russia. I’m a missionary to Tanzania. I’m a missionary to where I’ve supported
I’m even a missionary to Mozambique. Recently we heard a friend, Elle, share about the work she’s involved in there and I went home and sorted out a box of clothes for her. Her sharing touched my heart so I now have a share in her work and all I did was donate what she needed. I gave what I could. Now my CV reads, Missionary to Mozambique!
In the middle of my grieving, in the middle of where I’m NOT at, I can still be a shareholder in the kingdom.
Our church had one of the biggest youth outreaches we’ve ever had on May 3rd last year - it was Sean’s funeral. You can think we’re not doing much, not going anywhere, but I don’t think that’s true. If you look around and see the possibilities of supporting one another and being shareholders in each other’s lives the possibilities are endless. That outreach to the youth was awesome.
We didn’t plan it, we didn’t want it, and we didn’t like it, but hundreds of young people came both to our church and to the service in Wanaka, and they heard and they saw. Their lives will never be the same again as they were touched in some way by the Lord. All of you who loved and cared for us, for them, if you helped decorate, if you baked, if you prayed, are shareholders in that outreach.
One of the young boys in Wanaka wants Alistair to do his funeral if he dies early. That is a life touched. These kids searched their souls and asked themselves hard questions - it was an amazing outreach to youth. Des Short, principal of Faith Bible College in Tauranga, said it was the most impacting funeral he’d ever been to in his life.
We couldn’t have done that funeral on our own, without many of you. We couldn’t have done it without tributaries feeding in to that day the funeral took place. You who had a part in that have a part in any fruit that comes from Sean’s funeral and it’s yours.
That is "Body ministry".
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet; shall receive a prophets reward; And he who receives a righteous man; In the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward; And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward". Matthew 10:40-41
I was out gardening the other day and as usual I was thinking about Sean. I didn’t have a vision but, in the musings of my mind, I saw him striding in the gates of heaven an the Lord receiving him with open arms. Sean was holding a CV. On earth, Sean had the coolest CV. It was a rock climber's CV, done in earth tones, and it had every adventure and exploit that he had done and his really cool marks. But in this vision, his heavenly CV said:
MISSIONARY TO RUSSIA
MISSIONARY TO TANZANIA
MISSIONARY TO HONDURAS
YOUTH LEADER
YOUTH EVANGELIST
I thought, "He wasn’t all those things!"
But then I thought, he WAS all those things. He released his father to go to Russia so I feel in my heart, when he got to heaven he got a jewel in his crown for that. Anything Alistair accomplished in Russia, Sean had a part in because he allowed his dad to go and blessed his work. He was a shareholder. He got a missionary's crown for that, even though he never physically went to Russia, because he played a part in everything Alistair sowed there.
We had a man, Allan Stevenson, a missionary to Tanzania, come to our church when Sean was about eight. He stayed at our place and in the morning, both Sean and Naomi came out with $5 from their piggy bank and gave it to Allan. Allan told them how many Bibles he could buy with the money they had given to him. I feel Sean has a part in that work in Tanzania, a child's $5 part, and I believe God honours that little part. I believe Sean has a jewel in his crown for how he supported that work in Tanzania. He was a shareholder.
Sean also supported a child in Honduras since he was about nine. We went to a World Vision meeting and they had a table covered with details of children needing help. Sean chose a boy his own age and supported him until he was in about the third form. He used to send him little books and stickers. So Sean has a part in that boy’s life too. He played his part, right from our home. He was a missionary to the Honduras too, as a shareholder.
I feel he was a youth leader, a youth evangelist. The eulogies at his funeral revealed that Sean, in his own way, left a mark on the young people in Wanaka and in Te Puke. His discipline, dedication and his focus, his one-eyed focus, and his determination. I heard stories from many of his friends how impressed they were with the stand that Sean took in his life. I know he changed their lives in some way. So he was a youth evangelist and a youth leader. He is a shareholder.
When I saw that, it really opened my eyes. I thought, it isn’t "Oh, we’re into missions if you do this, or you’re a youth leader if you do that". I felt the Lord took blinders off my eyes and I realised our work is much broader than I realised. I found real freedom in that reality.
Then I found an article in a magazine, New Zealand Adventure Magazine, called "Six Degrees of Separation" which spoke of how we are all linked together and none of us can do anything, achieve anything in isolation. This article really confirmed what I’d been thinking. We ARE all connected. When Alistair goes to Russia and we support him, he is not there in isolation - we are connected to that work and we have a share in it. I started to apply this to myself. I sometimes feel I am a failure as I’m not too "missions-oriented", not too evangelistic. In fact, I feel like a blithering idiot at times, but when I look again, I know my CV could also read a lot of things and I am really uplifted and encouraged. I feel like I’ve grasped a truth - I AM a missionary to Russia and when I get to heaven I’ll get a jewel in my crown too.
There are all these tributaries that feed into something else and the something else cannot happen without the tributaries. You don’t get a waterfall out of nothing. You don’t just see a large waterfall in the middle of nowhere, all isolated and by itself - it has to be fed from many sources. The rivulets that feed into the waterfall are not less than the waterfall and one is not more important than the other. This shows our fallacy. The person "in ministry" up on stage, be it Billy Graham or whoever, can never be there on their own. The support systems have to be in place and I’m proud to be a tributary and that doesn't make me a second-class Christian.
So ...
I’m a missionary to Honduras. I’m a missionary to Russia. I’m a missionary to Tanzania. I’m a missionary to where I’ve supported
I’m even a missionary to Mozambique. Recently we heard a friend, Elle, share about the work she’s involved in there and I went home and sorted out a box of clothes for her. Her sharing touched my heart so I now have a share in her work and all I did was donate what she needed. I gave what I could. Now my CV reads, Missionary to Mozambique!
In the middle of my grieving, in the middle of where I’m NOT at, I can still be a shareholder in the kingdom.
Our church had one of the biggest youth outreaches we’ve ever had on May 3rd last year - it was Sean’s funeral. You can think we’re not doing much, not going anywhere, but I don’t think that’s true. If you look around and see the possibilities of supporting one another and being shareholders in each other’s lives the possibilities are endless. That outreach to the youth was awesome.
We didn’t plan it, we didn’t want it, and we didn’t like it, but hundreds of young people came both to our church and to the service in Wanaka, and they heard and they saw. Their lives will never be the same again as they were touched in some way by the Lord. All of you who loved and cared for us, for them, if you helped decorate, if you baked, if you prayed, are shareholders in that outreach.
One of the young boys in Wanaka wants Alistair to do his funeral if he dies early. That is a life touched. These kids searched their souls and asked themselves hard questions - it was an amazing outreach to youth. Des Short, principal of Faith Bible College in Tauranga, said it was the most impacting funeral he’d ever been to in his life.
We couldn’t have done that funeral on our own, without many of you. We couldn’t have done it without tributaries feeding in to that day the funeral took place. You who had a part in that have a part in any fruit that comes from Sean’s funeral and it’s yours.
That is "Body ministry".
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet; shall receive a prophets reward; And he who receives a righteous man; In the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward; And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward". Matthew 10:40-41