“Not all that counts can be counted, and not all that can be counted counts”

—Albert Einstein

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ccording to Dr. Myles Munroe, the most profound speech that Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr gave was not the “I have a Dream” Speech. Of course there is nothing that can ever be taken away from the “I have a dream” speech. I have categorized it here is one of the greatest speeches ever, but I have also told you that there is yet another.

So according to Dr. Munroe, Martin Luther King Jnr’s most profound speech was the last he ever delivered. In that speech, Dr. King said, “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He said:

“I don’t know what will happen to me now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter to me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top. I won’t mind. Like anybody else, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I many not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy tonight…I’m not fearing any man. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming Lord”

The following morning, that great orator who will forever be young and whose voice will forever ring in our ears through all generations, was felled by an assassin’s bullet. Was his life of purpose an event or was it a process?

That question about purpose can easily be answered without taking in consideration what another great soul earlier on shared. He stood almost single-handedly against Hitler’s Army and refused to give up. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill said the following:

“There comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission—a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness. It is his finest hour”

Stop and think of the gravity of what Churchill is saying. He is basically telling us that at times, our greatness depends on rising to the occasion at an event and doing that which we were meant to do from the word go. Now that is an event.

• For Jesus Christ, the event was his death and resurrection from the dead.
• For Winston Churchill, the event was his stubbornness and resistance against the Nazis that lead to victory.
• For Paul the Apostle, the event was his incarceration in Rome where he wrote two thirds of the New Testament

At this point, I ran out of examples of people’s finest hours for obvious reasons. The paradox is that yes, we were born to serve our finest hours but no, those are not necessarily events. I will never forget my fervency in the quest for knowing my purpose in life more than a decade ago. Do you know what I was looking for? I was looking for an event—for God to come down and tell me, spelling it in bold letters, what He created me to do so I can serve it without looking back. I wanted God to point to me the path for my “finest” hour. Believe me, I have never been so passionate about a prayer like I was for that one.

One day though, God spoke to me (please don’t log off) through a poem that I wrote—and lost it over the years. I cannot remember the exact words of that poem, but I do remember the message, especially the way the poem ended:

“Given to you is this day

To do your best today

And tomorrow’s sorrows let rest”

—Lawrence Namale

In other words, God was saying that I was not living in a vacuum. He was saying that there are things that I could do today and to the degree that I accomplish them, to that degree will He reveal what’s next! God was saying that “faithfulness” is much more important than knowledge. In fact, the only way we get to move to the next level (read: discover the details of our purpose), is to be faithful now with what we have been given.

• Perhaps it is being a spouse
• Perhaps it is being a parent
• Perhaps it is being a leader
• Or a team member
• Or a pioneer
• Or a “helper” in a team

Whatever it is, it is a cog that fits in the wheel of purpose.

What I am saying is that even if life purpose for people will be pronounced through a single event, you will never fail to see the process that qualified them to that single event. As much as the finest hour for Jesus was the cross and resurrection, we can never take away his impact in teaching and impacting the masses. Each event that He engaged in marked purpose for him. The same can be said of Winston Churchill while still in South Africa, and Martin Luther King Jnr. By the way, did you know that Dr. King chronicled some of his great achievements in his last speech? Did you know that “I have a dream” was a mere footnote to Dr. Kings speech of “I have been to the mountain top?”

Friends, the best way we can live our purpose on earth is through excellence with each event that comes our way. Fulfilling my purpose is a process and not an event. Why? The process is the one that qualifies me for the event. In other words, if I am waiting for the event and neglecting the process, I am not getting qualified for the events. I can only ascend to the throes of my purpose by daily applying myself to being “poured out” in service to God and humanity whatever I was intended to do in the first place. I came across the following sobering assessment that I would like to invite you to analyze:

 

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, that carried over no balance from day to day, and allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening canceled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent, of course.

 Well, you have such a bank, and its name is “Time.” Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present-on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

—E-sword

 Think about that.