LEADERSHIP IN THE CESSPOOL

PERSPECTIVE CHANGES EVERYTHING

There is a great story that come's from WW2.  When Japan invaded China many people we're assigned to concentration camps.  These camps were brutal places of inhuman treatment. Many didn't survive the ordeal and those who did were forever changed.

One man, a Christian pastor, was imprisoned in one of these horrible  places. While there his assignment was to clean out the cesspool. Everyday he was to wade into the quagmire of human waste and unclog the drainage system.  This task was vile and unthinkable but this godly man embraced his lot in life with joy. How?

Upon his release he shared that he learned to love the cesspool.  He learned to treat it as his private place to meet with God. While in the cesspool he could sing, pray, quote scripture without the harassment of the guards.  He called the cesspool his garden.

I have learned that there are times you have to wade into the cesspool.  Making decisions that are difficult sends you into isolation that can seem polluted and vile.  I have also learned that the cesspool can become a place where you meet God. During those difficult times of cesspool living God becomes nearer and clearer.

The stench might raise around you but Jesus can meet you there. In the cesspool you can grow to become more dependent on God and His Holy Spirit.  Desperation leads to dependence and dependence leads to deliverance.

 Desperation leads to dependence and dependence leads to deliverance

Like most cesspools, you didn't create the mess...it belongs to someone else.  There are times when you have contributed to the problem...admit it and clean it up.  

The wise Chinese pastor knew that there is no place too vile for God and situation to hard for Him.  There is an old hymn called "In the Garden"...next time I sing it I will think about the cesspool.