“When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.'” -John 11:32
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Jesus’ actual cadence itself is such an incredible leadership example — one that is very foreign in today’s business culture. I find myself to be very task-oriented: trying to run through a list of to-do’s at lightning speed. While staying focused and completing tasks is very important, what I have learned from Jesus is that people trumped His list of things to do. Interestingly, more than that, people WERE His list of things to do.
I never want to take lightly the wonderful blessing we have to serve at a Christian University. The Advancement Team has weekly “A Team” meetings (we feel cool calling ourselves the A Team) where we review what we need to accomplish, what issues we need to work on, events that are coming up, etc. But maybe the best use of our time is when a team member leads a devotional and a time of prayer. I recently shared with the A Team a personal testimony of a time when my life and my unborn daughter’s life were in jeopardy. At the moment of panic, I heard in my spirit (more than in my mind or in my heart) my mom say, “Laura, if you’re ever in trouble just pray,” and with more urgency, she got louder and re-emphasized — “PRAY, LAURA, PRAY!” Obviously I’m writing this today, so God intervened and turned what the enemy meant for harm into good for my daughter Emily and me.
This testimony has always been a joy for me to share because being rescued by God is such a humbling, beautiful experience. What a privilege it is to be able to testify about how God has rescued us — as believers, we all have been rescued. Just recently, an A Team member’s sister and unborn nephew were in a life-and-death situation. The team member heard a voice reminding her to run to God for help, and she also asked the team to join her in pleading with God. Her sister and newly-born nephew are now doing incredibly well as God heard our cries and rescued them.
I am driven. I like to succeed. I like to accomplish. I like to do more than I have said I will do. However, more than that, I want to follow Jesus’ amazing example of caring for people in times when one may think accomplishing a task — like being there for Lazarus when he was dying — would be more important.
Laura Bishop, Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Vice President of Advancement
