Come along
The summer after I finished High School, I worked for a structure-moving company in Chaparral, New Mexico. We moved everything from portable classrooms to fifty-year-old second-story military barracks, and other building types in between. It was hard, and dangerous work.
Sometimes preparing a building for transport required days of demolition and strategic block stacking. Other times, we’d back up to a portable and were on the road in 45 minutes! I remember lots of smashed fingers, belly-crawling under homes, disconnecting old septic lines, and strategically placing blocks and jacks. That summer I was swinging sledgehammers, carrying and throwing cut sections of railroad ties and heavy chains for 12-hour days!
Once the buildings were prepped, we’d slide massive steel skids into place underneath them, and slowly raise the structure with blocks so we could roll heavy dollies underneath. Once everything was chained and secured, we’d hook it to our beast Kenworth rigs and drive it down the road.
The tool that came to mind from this season was a come along. A come along is a ratcheting tool used to pull two heavy things closer together and hold them under tension. Some people call it a hand winch. Its job was to keep everything tight and secure, so nothing shifted dangerously during the move. But mostly what came to mind was the name. Much of my ministry life has been about mentoring young people, and mentoring is simply a constant invitation to come along.
Come and see how good God is.
Come and see what He can do with your life.
Come and see possibilities that are bigger than your past.
Come and see how He’s healed and helped me, and how that same healing.
and help are available to you!
Come along towards a joy-filled, adventurous life!
I’m deeply grateful for the calling God has placed on my life to invite my sons and countless other young people into that kind of journey. Looking back at important junctures of my own life, someone invited me to come along with them. Each time, I was equipped with knowledge and experience that would serve me in my next season!
Hebrews 10:22-25 says, Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. (The Message)
Spur someone forward this week. Encourage, and connect with others. And invite someone to come alongside as you learn and grow and become the lions you were meant to be…together!