24 years ago today, a newly converted 18-year-old said, “Lord, if you want me to preach, I’ll preach.” Then followed teaching kids lessons, speaking in Bible college chapels, starting a radio broadcast and podcast, helping with services in nursing homes, and even speaking on sidewalks. I had no idea what my future would be like, but I wanted to show God that I was willing to speak his word regardless of a title or money.
Fast forward. The present looks very different than the past, but I get to spend much of my life in a ministry setting that years ago was only a dream. Years back, I would beg for God to open a door where I could spend my days in his work. And this week, for example, I’ve been consumed with following up on my last Sunday school lesson by spending hours focusing on a plural participle in Genesis 3 where our understanding of so much hinges on one word… when I talked to Rachael yesterday afternoon, I was almost in tears telling her how happy I was that I could actually study and focus on things that bring me joy.
To others, the labor and the fruit may appear to be a small flock in the wilderness, but to me, it is a place where I get to pour my heart out to those willing to listen. Numerically, it may not be hundreds or thousands, but realistically, they’re not my main audience—God is. Just like years ago, I had no idea what the future held. And today, I have no idea what the future holds. But my focus has never been on the future, or the title, or the money. My focus has been on my relationship with God, how can the nuts and bolts of his word practically apply to my life, and by chance, there’ll be a few people with the same struggles as me willing to listen to someone take off a mask and talk plainly about how the Bible can help them follow Jesus one more week.
If someone who reads this is wondering, “I can’t. I’m not loud enough or smart enough or outgoing enough or polished enough, etc….” I would tell you the same thing I would tell myself 24 years ago, “It isn’t about you in the first place.” It’s about God taking people with sins and baggage and problems and pasts and insecurities and struggles and valleys who are simply willing to say, “Here I am, Lord—a very weak jar of clay telling people about a very great Treasure.”
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