Neale Daniher and his three brothers were talented footballers and together played for one of Australia’s leading football clubs. He was gifted and popular and a devoted family man. However, ten years ago he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, (MND) a terminal illness that has a life expectancy of twenty-seven months. As I write, Neale can no longer speak or swallow or use his fingers or hands. And breathing can be difficult at times but with eye gaze technology, he is able to type.
Neale Daniher is a testimony to the truth that it is your attitude, not your circumstances that determines your life. When asked where he was getting most of his joy from, he replied, “Against the odds, I am alive.” He continued, “a person only needs three things for happiness; a purpose to live for, someone to love and something to look forward to.”
Follow link:
His purpose for life has been found in being actively involved with his organisation, FIGHT MND, for which he has now raised tens of millions of dollars.
Neale’s story has touched me deeply and reinforced some words that have been recently stirring in me, “It’s not where you are in life, it’s what you do where you are.”
Neale was asked, “Have you become a quasi-expert or an enthusiast in anything?” He replied, “I can say I am an enthusiast about squeezing what I can from life. Life can be tough at times – for everyone – but so what, we all learn eventually that life never promised to be fair! Given that, your life’s biggest, most important moments are often defined in how you respond in tough times, and I am very conscious of that. Responding in the right way, with the right attitude, is critical. I can’t physically go for a run each day, but I still take my brain for a run each day.”
I am not sure whether Neale Daniher is a man of faith in God, but he certainly epitomises the words, “It’s not where you are in life. It’s what you do where you are.” Words that have been impressed on the minds of my wife Sue and myself in recent years as we have been through some tough times.
Not only are these words true for Neale Daniher, but they are for many great leaders whose life stories are found in the Bible. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we find him in jail living his life purposefully without any concern for the situation in which he finds himself. It was business as usual.
“I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that EVERYTHING that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For EVERYONE here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.” Philippians 1:12-14
What a great testimony from Paul’s life that it is not where you are in life, it’s what you do where you are. God’s purposes in Paul’s life were unstoppable even when he was in jail. While Paul was in jail, he had the time to write letters to a number of churches and leaders which have been read by billions of people in the Bible, he was able to share the good news of Jesus with the elite Roman soldiers who made up the palace guard and his courage and boldness encouraged the Christians to overcome their fear of persecution and speak God’s message confidently and boldly.
Paul knew that God causes “everything to work together for good” Romans 8:28 and that he was “God’s masterpiece….created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things He planned long ago.” Ephesians 2:10
Even in prison Paul knew that it’s not where you are in life, but what you do where you are that is the real issue. He lived to experience how God takes us through the most unusual doors to achieve his purposes. He wrote to Timothy, “This is my gospel for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” 2Timothy 2:8-9
The apostle John was exiled by the Roman authorities to an island off the coast of Asia. He too was unstoppable for it was there he had a vision from Jesus regarding god’s plan for the end of the world including Jesus’ second coming, His victory over evil and the establishment of his kingdom.
The first part of the book, Pilgrim’s Progress was written by John Bunyon whilst he was in jail and is considered to be one of the most influential books in the history of the English language. John Bunyon, like the apostle Paul and the apostle John and many others realised that what appeared to be closed doors in life, were in effect God’s open doors where they would learn that it’s not where you are in life, it’s what you do where you are.
At the beginning of the year 2020, I felt the Lord clearly speak to me, “Rod, it is time to start a season of writing.” It seemed an unusual step at the time with all I was doing, but it wasn’t long before I would gain a growing sense of perspective regarding the reasons why these words were spoken to me. They included:
- The shut down of much of normal life due to the spread of the Covid virus was soon to unfold.
- The health of my eldest daughter was deteriorating which would require me and my wife, Sue, to give a growing number of hours each day to care for her.
- I was now 75 years of age and after a lifetime of leadership and teaching, there was much I wanted to pass on to the next generation.
- And to complete the picture, Sue had just the right gifts to produce my materials and manage my website posts and online publications.
- In summary, the accumulated circumstances of our lives were leading Sue and me to necessarily withdraw somewhat from the public arena in which we had lived for much of our lives and retreat to life around our home base. Consequently, I have had an ideal environment to live a life where I have been following the prompts of the Holy Spirit to write (so far) almost 200 articles on leadership and discipleship.
One of these articles I entitled, SEASONS….That Give Definition To Our Lives and I began the article with the following words. “One of the most important lessons I have learnt has been to live intentionally according to the seasons of my life. It has helped me to understand God’s unfolding plan for my life and to see how He is at work in various areas of my life at any particular time.” Follow link to article:
SEASONS That give definition to our lives | Rod Denton (roddentoneng.com.au)
And through all this, Sue and I have personally learnt in this season of exile, that it is not where we are, it is what we do where we are.
We look back now and are amazed at what has been achieved so far in this season of retreat and writing. Doors have opened for us to connect with leaders on five continents who are taking our materials and starting up leadership training courses in their countries. One leader who works in an African refugee centre has started a leadership training course for young men so that they will be equipped to make an impact with their lives when they move on from the centre.
Another leader resigned his denominational position so that he could move around the Pacific Islands where he is stationed to pass on leadership resources to pastors who did not have the financial resources to equip themselves. A publishing house in an Asian country is distributing my leadership material to a large number of leaders in Asia. A prison chaplain in Australia is using selected articles in his discipling of prisoners who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. And I have just completed 18 three-hour leadership training sessions by way of Zoom to leaders in Bangladesh.
I close with a few guidelines about living a life of sometimes unpredictable seasons that give definition to our lives.
- It is your attitude, not your circumstances that determine your life.
- “My (our) Father is ALWAYS at work to this very day…….(We) can do nothing by ourselves, we can only do what (we) see the Father doing.” John 5:17,19
- Life is made up of seasons. “There is a…………. season for every activity under the heavens.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Some seasons may not be of our planning for God’s ways are not always our ways.
- No one can prevent God’s unfolding purposes from being lived out in our life.
- It is not helpful to compare ourselves with anyone else as we embrace the seasons of life that God has for you.
- When difficulties arise remember the words of Joseph to his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:24
- It’s not where you are in life, it is what you do where you are.