It’s a line from the movie, ‘The Castle’, which I confess we still enjoy as a family. In the movie the son comes in for dinner and his Dad is asking the family what they have done today, the son replies excitedly, “Dad I dug a hole”. The father is very pleased and commends him. I must admit I have dug the odd hole and taken a picture of it and sent it to my sons! Yes, they got the joke!! But every hole I have ever dug was for a reason. There was a purpose in digging the hole.

 I know there is so much busy work involved in leading churches and in life in general. It’s huge and at times overwhelming. Emails to respond to, (even keeping up with email / text messages and other forms of communication on social media can be overwhelming). There are volunteers to manage, meetings, pastoral needs, problems to address, texts to answer, phone calls to make, people to catch up with, events, budgets, health and safety issues, building maintenance to oversee, planning for services, structure to address, plus of course your own family matters and the list goes on. It’s so easy to end up soooo busy, doing the urgent but not always the important. We end up digging holes and sometimes so deep that we feel it could cave in at any moment. You’re not called to do everything that comes across your path. The huge question is, what has God called you to do? It’s not that complicated. I’m staggered by how many people are soooo busy… soooo busy doing all sorts of wonderful and marvelous things, but are they simply… digging holes? Haddon Robinson, speaking to 500 graduates in a seminary in the USA says, “In this life I believe we can be successful in many things – my concern for this generation is that they end up being successful in the wrong things”.  Could it be, that we end up being successful in the wrong things? Hear what Wesley and Bonnke have to say, “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most. It is not your business to preach so many times, and take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance”. John Wesley. “Our mandate is to plunder hell and populate heaven.”  Reinhardt Bonnke. Now Paul, “I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike – the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus Christ”. Acts 20:21. NLT.“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for the finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God”. Acts 20:24. NLT. What is most important in your life?  Jesus. knew clearly what His mandate was, He declared it in the synagogue“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,That the blind will see,and the oppressed will be set free,and that the time of the Lords favour has come”. Luke 4:18-19. And if that isn’t clear enough, In Luke 19:10 Jesus states His purpose again, “For the Son of Man CAME to seek and save those who are lost”. Jesus commands us to “Go… make disciples… baptize and teach…” Matt 28:19-20. In Heaven we will have wonderful amazing times of praise and worship. The teaching will be extra-ordinary, new revelation will be, well, unbelievable, connecting with others will be unbelievable and out of this world, meeting new people will be amazing, God’s presence will be… no words can describe it! There will be no sadness, no crying, no funeral directors or health workers needed. BUT there is ONE THING we cannot do in Heaven and that we can only do here on earth, that is to tell people the Good News and win them to Christ! An African proverb say’s it this way, “There’s a crime in the desert worse than murder and that is to know where the water is and not tell others” Friends we know where the water is… let’s be intent on finding people, praying for them and telling them where the water is. Leaders are people who somehow figure out a way to do this and find ways to motivate people in the greatest cause ever. Let’s stop the hole digging. It’s quite simple really.