Wise Guys

I spent most of the day Friday and Saturday with a bunch of wise guys. There names are: Mike, Brian, Jeff, Dirk, John, Dan, Eddie, and Mark (Earl was missing, on assignment elsewhere in the country sharing his elder wisdom with another church).

These wise guys are my fellow elders at Chase Oaks Church.

What an impressive group of godly men! It was such a privilege to spend time with all of them on a "retreat" from our normal daily activities. They definitely provided a lot encouragement for me and definitely refilled my tank for leadership of our church!

However, one of these wise guys in particular will be the primary subject of this post. His name is Mike.

I've known and admired Mike for about 19 or 20 years. All of that time he and his sweet wife Sharon have faithfully served our church as an elder couple. They have been extremely dedicated servant leaders. They have been (and still are) an inspiration to me and so many others. They continually show me and so many others what servant leadership looks like. The wisdom that spills out of their mouths, and the clarity of their thoughts in the things that they do, is truly a wonderful blessing in my life (and in the lives of so many others). I'm going to share a little secret with all of you reading this. When I grow up, I want to be just like Mike.

I want to be as faithful and loving as he has been to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to be as honest and courageous as he has been in all of his business dealings throughout the years.

I want to be as selfless and giving as he has been to his wife and children/grandchildren from the day they were married/born.

I want to be the student of Scripture that he has been so that any wisdom that spills out of my mouth is unquestionably from the Lord, not just from me.

I want to be as humble as he is in spite of all the accomplishments he has been a part of here on earth.

I want to have as much integrity/energy/flexibility that he has when I am his age and in his stage of life.

I want to show Christ to others by the way I live, just as Mike has for so many years.

I am mindful of the fact that if he were to read this, Mike would be somewhat embarrassed and would not like the attention these words bring to him. That's just the way he is. But, sometimes you need to call out certain wise guys and tell them how much they mean to you and how much you admire them anyway.

I could write similar things about the other wise guys I spent the weekend with, but Mike, this one's for you! Thanks for being one of the wise guys I really love to be around.