Authority

Until the early part of this year, I interviewed, recommended, and when authorized, extended an opportunity or two.  In the past six months, I have interviewed a few and authorized far more hires than I imagined I would in a lifetime.  As I look across our offices in Singapore and New York, I am humbled by the reality of how many people have accepted the opportunity to be part of the vision.  In some way or another, I authorized each contract.  Authority is a strange feeling.
Far too often, I do not think of myself as having any authority. I am never quite sure others, especially Cherry, Carli, and Whitney, are going to listen, much less act on my words.  Yet the completeness of the realities you and I live in are quite different than the ones of our imaginations.  The reality is that “God has rolled up his sleeves.  All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.  Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other, sees him at work, doing his salvation work.”  (Isaiah 52.10)  In the edges of the vision, God’s agents are at work – dispensing compassion, giving acts of mercy, and demonstrating community.
We may not see ourselves as being part of this vision.  We may not think that we have any authority.  We may feel no connection with God.  Yet in spite of what we see, think, and feel, we are part of God’s world!  We are God’s kids, human beings Divinity is passionately restoring to their full creation potential.  We are God’s agents.  We are living breathing examples of what is means to be saved.  We lived with and under God’s authority.  Every act of kindness is an act of God.  Every act of love is an act of God.  We live with God’s authority embedded within our souls. 
Sometimes it is hard to see how our authority plays out.  It can be very frightening to realize how much God has entrusted with us.  Today is an opportunity to live and act.  We can see God work.