To be somebody
Is to dare to be yourself
And still not rely on your own strength or human resources
But submit to the leading of the Spirit
And draw on his mighty strength
Allowing him to unfold his power in your life
Enabling you to break out of all human limitations
And enjoy the abundance of blessings
And the liberty of God's children

To be somebody
Is to accept yourself the way you are
And trust God for a supernatural life in the Spirit
When you have learned to say no to yourself
– say no to your own strengths and weaknesses
But to embrace everything that God does for you
Then you can live life to the full.

To be somebody
Is to accept no limitations as failures
But as divine steppingstones
Into the life of the Spirit
– the life of trust
– the life of faith
– the life of hope
– the life of love

To be somebody
Is to allow words of encouragement
To become wings of faith
Making you ignore limitations
Causing you to jump over walls
Motivating you to cross borders

To be somebody
Is to believe and receive words
Appreciation from unknown people
Praise from close friends
As seeds of greatness
Producing desires to serve
In greater variety and measures

To be somebody
Is to fly with the wings of encouragements
To new horizons of joy
In being connected to a new reality
Having your life enlarged
Being enabled to break out
Of geographical and cultural limitations
To explore the limitless sky
As prophetic words are coming true
In walking humbly with your God

Today I have had a refreshing visit of one of my good friends, Roger Aubrey, the pricipal of The School of the Word, in Cardiff. It is always such a joy to be with my friend. He is provoking me to love and good deeds and stirring my spirit. It is refreshing just to be in his presence. He is always asking good questions and we always look to the word of God for answers.
Roger is a true friend. I thank God for giving me such a godly man as my friend. God is so good!

To be somebody
Is to be humble enough to take advice from others
To listen to the insights of my elders
To follow the wise counsel of the experienced servant of God
To be willing to change my mind
To make new decisions going a new direction

To be somebody
Is not to compromise my vision or calling
But to find better ways of achieving my destiny
Through taking good counsel from godly persons
Committing myself into the hands of God

This morning I was reading a Norwegian weekly newspaper Morgenbladet after a late breakfast! The editor Alf van der Hagen referred to book with a picture and a story about a young German soldier by the name Joseph Schultz. The photo was taken in the former Jugoslavia 20. July 1941.

Together with seven of his fellow soldiers, Joseph Schultz was commanded out for what they thought only was a routine mission. After a short march it dawned to them that this time it was very different. They were confronted with fourteen captured Yugoslavs – farmers? – partisans? – all with their eyes blinded, standing in front of a large stack of hay. When the soldiers were about ten meters away, the sergeant order them to take aim. The soldiers lifted their rifles and aimed. In the silence that followed, Joseph Schultz entered into history.

Those sentenced to death heard the sound of a rifle being thrown to the ground. They heard the sound of the steps of the young soldier who choose to step out of the execution platform. Instead he went forward and stood side by side with the captives sentenced to death. Joseph Schultz refused to obey the order to kill the captives. He refused to serve evil. He was executed by his comrades. One of them must have taken the photo we know today since it has been published in a book.

But the story doesn’t here. Later, when Joseph Schultz was being prepared for burial, a piece of paper with some words from the first Epistle to the Corinthians was found on his body: “Love is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

The courageous act of Joseph Schultz shows that it is actually possible to say no to do evil. It is possible to be a moral person irrespectively of the consequences. None of his comrades followed him. He caused no revolt, no following, no mass deserting! This is not an ordinary story of a hero. Nor is it the story of a victim. No one was saved by what he did. All were shot, plus one more! But he became a moral example. He refused to shoot because it was wrong to shoot. What he did made no difference in how many of them were shot. But it made a difference to him. And to us!

When I read this story, I was so touched that I had to express it in a simple poem on being a moral person.

To be somebody
Is to be marked by love
Knowing how to distinguish
Right and wrong – goodness or badness
Love is never glad about injustice
But rejoices every time the truth wins out
Love never gives up
Love never loses faith
Love is always hopeful
Love endures through every circumstance

To be somebody
Is to know that it is possible
To refuse to do evil things
Knowing it is possible to be a moral person
Irrespectively of what others do
Irrespectively if others follow your example
Irrespectively of the outcome of your life
Even if you don’t become a hero
Even if you don’t save anybody by your sacrifice
Even if you don’t change anything by your stand
Even if you have to die for your belief

To be somebody
Is to be a moral example
Even more – it is to be a moral person
To refuse to do evil
Solely because it is bad
Then you make a difference
– to yourself
– and to us

Today I have been preparing to be with the pre-teens youngsters in the church. They have asked me to come and tell them about India and what God is doing in that great nation.
I plan to show them many pictures and tell them about some of the wonderful people I have met on my travels in India. I will tell them of a very young man of God called Dinesh. He looked like a teenager, but I guess he actually was in the early twenties! He was very calm, kind of surrounded by divine peace, as he told his story.
After he had finished training in a Bibleschool he went back to his village to share the good news of the Kingdom of God with his own tribe. Faithfully he visited the homes of the villagers, helping them with their work, sharing the gospel and praying for the sick. Gradually a small covenant community developed.
One day a Hindu priest and his wife came to him, carring their dead child, a seven years old boy. The child had been dead for several hours and was about to be put on the bonfire according to the Hindu custom. Then somebody told the priest about this young man of God and what God had been doing through him. Now he approached Dinesh for prayer as his last hope to see his son come back to life.
Dinesh the young man of God prayed for the dead boy but nothing happened. Then he asked the couple to just wait in his home awhile as he wanted to bring another believer to help in in prayer. He ran to his Christian friend and brought this believer back with him and they prayed for the child the second time. When they started to pray the second time for the boy, he started to move a little bit and as they continued to pray the boy was brought back to life! When they finished praying the child immediately asked his mother for milk! He was given milk to dring and food to eat as Dinesh was sharing the gospel with the entire family. No wonder that the whole priestly family came to Christ that day and were baptised to Christ in a nearby lake!
When Dinesh told his story it was like he told something very natural, something ordinary, something normal that happened to him. And indeed it seems to be very natural to a man of God to see miracles like this take place because of prayer.

To be somebody
Is to care for other people
It is to see the needs of people you never seen before
It is to see people and give them attention
It is to discover obvious needs
And act to meet the secret ones
It is to touch people with your hands
Praying for the blessing of God to come upon
Those others would say only needed a doctor

To be somebody
Is to identify with the pain of strangers
Pouring the healing love of God into their loneliness
Refreshing them by simple care
Relieving their hurts through the power of God
Encourage them by blessing them in the name of the Lord