For those of you that may stumble upon this blog I’ll start this week’s entry with a little bit of a set up. I recently became an associate pastor at the church which I’ve been attending for the past 4 years, www.thejourneycommunity.com. This Sunday I was given the opportunity to give the message in our current sermon series, Share Your Story. You can find the message on the website I linked 3 sentences ago. But I thought I’d share a quick recap here:
In the previous weeks we heard the stories of 3 really neat people. The series was kicked off by Meagan, one of the coolest, most creative people and smartest people I know. Then we heard from Dima, an amazing man of God shared how the Lord brought him to the states and the Journey Community. And last week Reynaldo, the pastor of our Spanish speaking church spoke on his story and gave us some more great words from God.
My story is 47 years in the making so I sort of skimmed through up to this past summer.
That is where I’ll pick up. In the summers our little community of faith has been meeting in a local park. One Sunday, as we were getting ready to begin the service, our pastor, Steve, told me “You really need to pay attention to what Kim is going to say today.” Kim is Steve’s wife and one of our pastors. She spoke on the prophet Isaiah during the message she asked “What is stopping you from becoming what God has called you to be?” The question pretty much knocked me on my butt. The reason it had such an impact was due to the fact that I knew what God had called me to do with my life but was taking my own sweet time in getting there (I explain how I came to realize the call on my life in the actual sermon.) I prayed a LOT about that question and came to the answer; I have doubted myself in the equation. There’s a story in the Bible where one of the disciples of Jesus had an issue with doubt and it almost killed him.
It’s found in Matthew 14: 22-31:
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
I can identify with Peter, but in my life, my waves were my mistakes and flaws. I’m old. I’m not smart enough. I’ve been divorced. And I’ve got this knee that continually gives me pain and is currently causing me to use a cane to walk.
I went on to share more about how I would rather not do some things than not be perfect at those things. But recently God has taught me that we are not defined by our mistakes. What defines us is how we respond to our mistakes or shortcomings. Do we learn from them and seek Him during the times of doubt, or do we continue in a downward spiral? Do we call out to Jesus to save us?
See, on my own, I am NOT capable. So the reality is on my own I am unable to do what God has called me to do. There may be temporary, marginal success, but ultimately, I will fail when I try to operate solely by my own strength or abilities.
One of the questions the speakers were given in regards to the series is “where are you going?” My answer is “I don’t know.” I know that I love to preach. Nothing makes me feel more alive than sharing with a congregation the words that God gives me. And I love to work with other- helping them to discover and develop the gifts that God has given them.
Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m one of a kind. There’s nobody quite as “different” as me. I shared a series of PowerPoint slides proving how unique I am. If I can figure out how, I’ll post them soon.
Just as I’m unique, no 2 people are exactly alike. And that’s a good thing! I don’t think the world could handle more than 1 Jimmy running around. We are not in the business of creating clones. Ephesians 5:1-2 tells us to imitate Christ. I believe that the world would be a better place if we sought to be like Jesus.
Your story, like mine, is not finished yet. It’s more like a journal of our journey. The best way to know who we are and what we were called to do is to get to better know the one who made us. Seek him.
What do you love to do? I encourage you to ask God to show you how to do THAT for him.
I really like this, Jimmy. I like what you have to say about doubt - especially and most importantly self-doubt - in the equation of what we're doing in our lives. Good points; thank you for sharing!
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