Strange Inspiration

A few years ago, when I was at my lowest point emotionally, inspiration to perservere came from a very strange source.  I was pastoring a church in East Knoxville at the time and the prospect of being in a depression was not a thrilling one.  After all, I talked a lot about the “Joy of the Lord.”  But for some reason, I wasn’t feeling it.

For the majority of my life, things came easy.  I did well in school and I never got into much trouble.  Athletically I wasn’t the best, but I still managed to start every game for my high school basketball team as a Senior.  Even in college, I didn’t have many problems.

 Then I became a pastor, graduated from college, started a secular job, bought a house, and got married all within the span of 3 months.  Then things started going slowly down hill as things started becoming more difficult.  I wasn’t really prepared to take on the task of paying bills and managing a household.  I saw myself as a failure. 

I kept reading my Bible and praying during this time, but there seemed to be a wall between me and God.   I thought there may be some sort of sin in my life that I had not confessed, so I did a lot of sould-searching.  Still, I felt so despondent. 

It wasn’t normal for me to listen to country music, but one day on the way to work I tuned in to a country music station to find out about a traffic jam that I was about to get in.  That’s when I heard it–a song that made me smile and cry at the same time.

The voice of Travis Tritt (yes, that Travis Tritt) came through the speakers and he was singing: ”It’s a great day to be alive/I know the sun’s still shining when I close my eyes/There’s some dark clouds in the neighborhood,/But why can’t everyday be just this good.”

I believe that God’s voice is not limited to the pages of Scripture or the messages of preachers.  I believe that He can use anything and everything to speak to His creation.  On that morning, He spoke to me through Travis Tritt.  

How has He been trying speak to you?  Maybe it’s time to listen.

The Same Ingredient Required

I have been pondering the status quo.  In the lives of people everywhere, in businesses, in churches, and in just about everything else there seems to be an aversion to change.  So instead of taking a chace and possibly succeeding greatly, we sit still and do nothing of significance. 

The fear of failure is one of the main reasons why change does not happen.  Why take the chance when everything is basically fine without it.  If we try and fail, there is so much to lose.  We could lose both self-respect and the respect of others who now see us as failures.  The time and energy it took to try are also lost forever.  And for what–nothing.

There is, of course, the possibility of success.  We could dream a dream or foresee a need for change in our lives or the organizations that we are part of and go for it.  In going for it, we could actually see the dream become reality or see the change make us better spouses, parents, workers, leaders and the organizatons we are a part of (including churches) to become so much more than what they are now. 

The same thing that is required for failur is also required for success.  That all important ingredient is RISK.

How important is becoming who you were meant to become?  How important is to you for your family, business, or church to reach its potential?  If it is important, then you should get comfortable with risk.  It can lead to great success.  But if it leads to failure, we should view that as ok, too.  Because at least we have tried to spread our wings, at least we have went for it, at least we can look back without the regret of having a dream and never trying to see it come to life. 

Simple Faith

I envy those with simple faith.  Those who never really question anything and just simply put their faith and trust in what they read in the Bible and hear from their pastor.  They have never been plagued by doubt nor have they ever wrestled with the apparent discrepancies in the Bible.  They just simply believe.

That is not to say that I have a weak faith.  To the contrary, I feel that my faith is as robust as it has ever been.  I am, however, in posession of an inquisitive mind and am in a position where people bring questions about the biblical text to me.  It is a fascinating ride, but I often am shocked by my lack of knowledge.  My faith in God has been tested in the fires of cross-examination.  So far, my faith has not weakened.  It has gained in strength. 

Somtimes, though, I feel saddened that I can’t have that simple faith that my Grandparents had.  But, we weren’t all created the same, were we?

Becoming You

How close are you to becoming you?  This question strikes me as being somewhat philosophical or, as people in our great bible-belt would say, “new-agey.”  But I think it is a question that really needs to be considered. 

Everyone of us was born with the potential to become someone.  That someone that we can become is not the person that we start out being (a fussy, completely dependent baby) nor is it what we are now (somewhat matured but still with selfish tendencies that often override our actions).  That someone that we were made to become is selfless, caring, loving—a person who is capable of living in harmony with everyone and everything else. 

Somewhere deep inside we all know that this is true.  The universality of this belief is shown in our discontentment with what we are now.  In our quiet, reflective moments there are realizations that we aren’t what we should be and there is a longing to be something other than what we are.

We do things to try to compensate for these feelings.  Our desire to achieve personal or professional goals rises from our desire to be better.  Once those goals are achieved, however, we once again notice the hollowness.  There are others who seek after various thrills to fill this void.  Trips may be taken, new ventures tried, even drugs could enter into the picture, but the gnawing reality remains—there is something missing, something better, something more.  It is an unspoken reality that we live with.

Where do these feelings come from?  I believe that we were created, formed, with these feelings.  These feelings of the need for something better are in us to get us to seek for the thing that will best fill the gap.  God, our Creator, desires for us to seek a relationship with Him and it is that relationship that can transform us into the “us” that we are meant to be.

We are meant to be God’s agents for change and blessing in this world.  It is in having this mission that we can really be who we were created to be. 

Using Death

Here is a link to my most recent article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel:  http://knoxnews.com/news/2007/jul/08/using-death-to-really-live/.

It is about using death to really live. Check it out.

8 = Great

July 3, 1999 was when Krisy and I got hitched.  It has now been eight years and I love her more than ever.  Our relationship has changed some, mostly because of children.  However, her heart is still as big as ever and she continually wows me (and puts me to shame) with her compassion.

I used to say things like:  “we’ve been married 7 wonderful year, eight altogether.  That 2nd year was a bad one.”  That statement is somewhat accurate.  During the 2nd year we dealt with depression and unfulifilled dreams. 

 But now that I have gotten older and hopefully wiser, I  consider all of our years together to be wonderful, especially that 2nd year.  During that year I believe that our commitment to each other was solidified through trials.  I grew up a lot simply because I had no other choice. 

 If it were not for that rough year, I would not be who I am today.  I need to remember that, in life, it is the hard times that often determine the content of my character.  Viewing the bad patches this way will make them easier to get through and I will probably be more apt to remain thankful regardless of the circumstance.

To Kristy:  I love you.   Thank you for being my wife and my best friend.

Not Seeking and Not Finding

My Dad is an avid shark-tooth hunter when he is at the beach.  This is not an endeavor that he is able to engage in often, but when he goes to the beach he usually comes home with over 300 of them.  I’m not sure how he does it (or why for that matter) but he always manages to gather up a large amount of the hard-to-spot little things from the sand. 

I spent the last week vacationing at Myrtle Beach.  If you ever have the opportunity to spend the week at the beach with two 3-year olds, a 4-year old, and a 5-year old…don’t.  Just kidding; it was ok and they really seemed to enjoy it.  Anyway, before I left I told my dad that if I found any shark teeth that I would give them to him.

 I din’t find any.  Can you guess why?  I never really looked for any.  There were a couple of times that I peered down at the sand and wondered if there were any shark teeth down there, but I never bent over for a closer look.  I spent most of my time telling my kids that it is not nice to try to drown each other.

I wonder how many people treat seeking after God the same way.  They say that they want to find truth about God and His ways, but are so busy with other things that they never really get around to it. 

If we want to find, we must first seek.  That’s a pretty simple idea.  I wonder why so many (including myself at times) don’t do it.