the beauty of being repurposed - funnels and disciple-making, take 2

Our Mozambican friends are great at repurposing.

Everything in this part of the world gets reused or recycled.

Kids turn trash into toys.

Scrap paper and bamboo shards are used to start cooking fires.

Even a busted fridge can be turned into a piece of furniture!   

The other day, in a nearby neighborhood, I came across a guy selling cooking oil.  He dipped a cup into a bucket of vegetable oil and would pour it through a funnel into little bottles to sell to his clients.  But, what caught my attention was his funnel.

In my previous blog post, I talked about the ways that the process of making disciples is like a funnel.   It is an illustration that I use all the time.  I try to encourage people not to act like a cup, but to use what they learn and act like a funnel by passing on what they know to others.

And on this day, the vendor's funnel caught my attention.  Someone had taken an empty, used tomato can and reshaped it into a funnel.  I think it's beautiful - it's a piece of art. 

Now, tin cans are nothing special.  They are containers that we throw away without a second thought.

But a funnel - that can be an important tool.  One that is used over and over again.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the fact that in order to be good at making disciples, we must be reshaped.  To become a vessel that is effective in making disciples we will need to be repurposed.  Like that tin can, we'll need to be formed into something new - a funnel.

The world may have shaped us in a certain mold.  And because of that we may be under the impression that our purpose in life is to store and hold onto what we've got.

But there is something beautiful and redemptive in realizing the truth that we can be remade into something that serves to bless and fills others up.

Now, the process of being reshaped into a funnel may be painful.  We'll be bent and stretched in ways that may be uncomfortable.   But, that's the only way that to become a useful instrument for making disciples.

May we see beauty in the way that God is working to repurpose us - shaping us into funnels that channel blessing and life to those around us.

Grace and Peace,

Alan