Marketplace Ministry Success Mentors

As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.
Proverbs 27:17 nlt

I’ll never forget the first time I saw some of the men in the Jamamadi village sharpening their machetes and axes. They had a special stone which was well worn from much use. This stone had the best cutting qualities of any of the sharpening stones I have seen manufactured here in the industrial society we live in. Just a few well appointed licks with this stone, and it was razor sharp, ready to chop down trees. I was helping them clear their fields for their crops for the next three years. They would chop halfway through all the smaller trees within the range of a large tree they wanted to cut down (sorry - all you greenies out there, but slash/burn agriculture is the way of life for thousands of years for these people - and their impact is small compared to the massive destruction of the rainforest by machines) then they would chop down the big tree. It would fall; taking down a huge section of trees, vines and underbrush like a stack of dominos. Those guys knew how to chop. When I was nineteen in Colombia, I once saw a man chop down a two ft. diameter hardwood tree using only a machete. The secret is to have a sharp cutting instrument, and a good aim. They would stop about every fifteen minutes or so to sharpen their tools. That was good, as it also gave them an opportunity to rest in the hot humid tropical climate.

I thought I could help them get their fields cleared faster using my chainsaw, but sometimes they could chop down a tree about as fast as I could with my chainsaw. One day I started in helping them, and they told me to quit. “You might make the tree fall too soon before we are ready.” So I let them do the work while I observed. Until they came to a large tree which was hollow and full of bees. Every time they would strike the trunk with the ax the enraged bees would come out of their hive to attack. That’s when they called me over with my chainsaw. “Here Hikado (that’s my name in their language) you cut this one down!” “Gee thanks!” I thought. But the high frequency vibrations of the chainsaw was less agravating to the bees and I got stung only a few times. They had prepared the area where the tree was to fall, but my aim was off slightly and the tree fell into the branches of two other large trees forming a huge teepee like structure - very dangerous, and difficult to cut down without all three large (150-200 ft high) trees coming down on top of your head. And the bees were angrily swarming around the tree I had cut. One man studied the problem for a while, then went over and chopped one or two large vines the size of Arnold’s (the governator)arm, and the whole mess came crashing down amidst the cheers of all the indians.

This story illustrates several things I would like to point out. First of all, a big challenge requires sharp tools. “As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.” We can sharpen our tools by the company we keep. If we hang around people who are constantly dragging us down, we become dull ourselves. So climb into the back pocket of someone whom you would like to emulate and learn from him - have a mentor.

Secondly, a big challenge requires a focused effort. Sadly, even after 35 years living in the Amazon, I have a poor aim when it comes to chopping! What took the indians three whacks to cut through, usually took me about 20. If your aim is good, and you know where to strike, then your effectiveness to solve the problem is greater.

Thirdly, it is often one simple thing which if resolved will bring the whole jungle crashing down, but if done improperly might bring it down on top of your head. It helps to study the problem, and pray and seek the Lord’s guidance before deciding exactly where to chop.

Finally, I was always interested in those stones because I have always been a connoisseur of fine sharpening stones, and there were not any stones like these around wherever I looked. The indians always told me they got them somewhere up river, but whenever I made excursions way up into the headwaters of rivers I did not find any. It remains a mystery to me today. The moral of this is that you can’t always find the perfect stone to sharpen you - but don’t let that keep you from being sharpened by the stones that are available to you.

Blessings!

Rick Reece

What do any type of venture, a train, a big ship, a large airplane, and a rocket ship have in common? 

They all start slowly and eventually build up their momentum so that they are also hard to stop. A train, like one I saw last week with over 90 cars, might have four or five locomotives. Their powerful engines straining to get it started. As the slack between each car is taken up and the whole train is in tension, finally the whole train slowly starts rolling. The speed builds up, and eventually it only takes maybe two locomotives to maintain velocity. And when it is time to stop hundreds of brakes are applied gradually so that eventually the train is brought to a safe stop – but it may take 2 or 3 miles to wholly stop. 

All those tons of cargo which the train carries are bound by two narrow steel rails. One is called vision, and the other passion. Without vision, the train (and your venture) crashes. Without passion, it also crashes. With both, nothing can derail you unless you go too fast around the curves of battle. Sometimes you must read the road ahead and slow down. Other times it is right to go fast and faster. 

A big ship also takes a long time to get underway. While in port it is tied to the dock with many lines the thickness of your forearm. There is the line of doubt, the line of fear, the line of unbelief, the line of pride, the line of laziness, the line of lack of motivation etc. Each one of these lines must be cast off before the ship is free to move. However after the ship is free, it still must be maneuvered by a pilot until it gets to open seas. Great motors, sometimes over 50,000 horsepower, slowly churn the propellers until momentum is gained and the ship is able to move at its top speeds. The pilot is like a mentor or a daddy guiding the great ship through unknown and potentially treacherous channels. Once the ship reaches the safety of the open sea the pilot releases the ship. The great ship is guided by the small rudder. It only takes a tiny proportion of weight and size compared to the whole ship to steer it. James compares this to the tiny but powerful tongue. That in-proportionate muscle can control life or death and must be controlled by a master. 

Have you ever seen a large heavily laden airplane take off? (Or been on one?) It slowly taxis down to the end of the runway. It looks like such a huge and heavy beast that it could not possibly fly. Then the powerful engines kick in and slowly, so slowly it accelerates. The engines use incredible amounts of energy, in the form of burning fuel and heat, aimed to provide thrust which will push the vessel forward at an ever increasing rate of speed. It passes the markers slowly, eating up the runway, gradually building up speed. If you are seated inside you may start to get worried because it seems like there is not much runway left, and you still have not left the ground. But suddenly that magical velocity; which is enough for the wings to provide enough lift to offset the total weight of the airplane, is reached and the plane rotates into the air. It is flying, but still slowed down by the landing gear and flaps which restrict it’s speed and ability to fly efficiently. As soon as the gear is up and the flaps raised you notice a surge in speed, and this huge hunk of metal is climbing to the sky at 1000 feet per minute. Unshackled from the gravity which holds it down, the laws of aerodynamics kick in, and you are hurtling across the skies in a controlled fashion to your destination. So a venture requires lots of energy and expense to get going until it reaches the velocity it needs to take off. Yet many people limit the size of their runway, believing that it cannot possibly take off. And they give up before even reaching the go-no go point. And they crash and burn at the end of the runway. 

The space shuttle sits on a gantry shackled by gravity and by restraining clamps of guilt and shame. Inside is explosive potential of anger and rage. But if the guilt and shame is released then the explosive power can be released under control of a master, and the ship slowly rises, ever accelerating until it is free of the bounds of gravity and the friction of the atmosphere. The boosters and extra fuel are jettisoned and the shuttle is free to do its mission. On returning to earth, to the bounds of gravity and the atmosphere his angle of entry must be just right or else he will either be burned by fires of hate and lust or he will bounce off the atmosphere and perish for lack of essential breath of heaven. Once he is past the entry there are only a few places where the pilot can land this big fast craft. 

As the Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere it heats up because of friction, however the insulated tiles keep it protected. So your venture may heat up with the friction of unbelieving or fearful people. You are going too fast, they say. But your vision sustains you. You can see what others cannot see. That insulates you from the heat. There are also only a few places where your vision can land. If you try to land in a grass strip you will have missed out on the greatest part of your venture. You must land on the designated place. 

From over 17000 miles per hour to Mach 22 to 200 or 300 miles per hour takes time, but gradually you are able to stop with the brakes of self constraint and the parachutes of love. If you tried to stop too fast your train would probably de-rail, your ship would probably be crunching into something immovable, your airplane would be destroyed, and your shuttle would break apart. 

Sometimes it is right to slow down – slowly. And speed up gradually. But as Newton and every High School Physics student discovered, momentum is best left alone it takes as much energy to slow down as it does to speed up! Almost every venture starts gradually, but once the momentum gets going it takes less effort to keep it going. 

So if the going seems slow at first, just take a look at a train, or a ship leaving dock, or a large airplane, or the Space Shuttle leaving the gantry. And be encouraged! 

Rick Reece 

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is quoted to have said “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop look to fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

My one claim to fame is that I actually met Eleanor Roosevelt. It’s true! I shall never forget the day she visited my first grade class in 1951 or 1952. I don’t remember whether it was the first half of first grade, when I was 5 or the second half when I was 6 - but it was first grade. Back then, I did not know who she was nor that she was a former first lady. All I remember about her was being awestruck at her manner, her kindness to us little kids, and somehow I knew at age 5 or 6 that I was in the presence of a great woman.

Another great woman in my life is my mother. Today she lays bedridden with alzheimers disease, and can no longer talk. But one thing she always instilled in me from an early age was this: “Rick, you can do anything you set your mind to doing. That’s what your grandpa Torrey always said.” Grandpa Torrey was first cousin to RA Torrey the evangelist,

We are often beset by trials and struggles which seem overwhelming to us, but none of these are so overwhelming that they cannot be conquered by determination, consistancy, boldness, faith, and love, among other things. Setting our minds, or “mindset” is a key factor to overcoming. The apostle Paul said “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2) It is when we focus our mind on the heavenly, that the earthly things become very puny indeed.

A good example of this happened to me this week . I was begining to feel sorry, and afraid that I would not be able to meet some payments coming due. But I knew that I could not live with such negative thoughts and survive for long. So I started by praising God for His faithfulness. As I praised him, it grew into worship. As I worshipped Him, faith built up so that eventually I could see God’s glory in that situation, and then the obvious response is that of gratitude. When we have our mind set on heavenly things, the things of earth grow strangly dim, as the old hymn proclaimed: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus… and the things of earth will grow strangly dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

So with thanksgiving and worship, faith is strengthened and we are able to receive God’s love, which wipes out all our fears. Eleanor said that by determining to do an action we can do that which we once deemed impossible.

I believe that much more could be accomplished with proper mindset. If we believe that something is impossible, it is. If we believe it is possible and we can do it, it is.

So what holds you back from accomplishing that which you believe God wants you to do? Put it in proper perspective - from a heavenly view. “Keep looking down!” was what we always used to say when everyone else was saying “Keep looking up!” They would question us, and we would say, “If we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, then we can look down on all our problems!”

God Bless you.

OK, this is just a short test to see if my Gcast Podcast is working. I’ll try to put a real podcast up in the next few days. Just click on the top podcast play button - be sure the volume is turned up. The other podcast below this one is the CrusaderX podcast of my friend Eric Standlee.

Have a listen to  this podcast from Eric Standlee - this is an amazing and exciting concept. When I heard of this recently I was shocked and mad that I did not know it sooner.

New Podcast with Eric Standlee and Tim Darnell