Over the past two years, a good friend and I rebuilt a 1985 Chevy Blazer. It’s been a dream of mine to rebuild a car or truck since I was a kid, and I made friends with the right person to help my dream come true. We built this thing with power in mind! It’s loud, it’s fast, and it climbs up the sand dunes at Silver Lake with ease. My family and I have a ton of fun with it. 

There is a drawback to this new-found source of fun. Although it’s got a lot of power and does what we want it to do, it took a lot of work and time to build, and it requires a LOT of fuel. It is not efficient at all, but it is effective.

Two words, efficient and effective. A lot of life is focused on being efficient these days. Being efficient is not necessarily a bad thing, but when it comes to people, being efficient is not the way to go. If saving time, saving energy, and avoiding conflict is our focus, then we are going to struggle connecting with others. We need to be less efficient with our relationships. A better way to say that is we need to be more effective with our relationships. Relationships take time, they take energy, and sometimes some conflict and discomfort. Ultimately, however, if we embrace our relationships effectively, those relationships will grow deeper and be more enjoyable. 

If we think of Jesus’ time with people, he gave them time and energy. He was a servant. He gave people time, fed them, healed them, and gave them an indescribable love. He was incredibly effective at building relationships. In a world that needs Jesus, I encourage you to give your relationships, new and old, time, energy, and service not only for enjoyment but for further revealing the Kingdom.

Have a great week, and thanks for your wonderful partnership here at GRC-Iroquois!

—John Barkel