As a boy, I remember seeing a man come to speak with our class during a presentation day. I loved presentation days. It meant we got to sit around and listen and even if the guy was talking about something boring, like wearing helmets on bikes or not taking candy from strangers, we got to do something besides sitting in a stuffy classroom. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old, my hair combed perfectly with a crease off to the side, my goofy smile with a few teeth missing here and there, and my strange heighth (even back then I was a sasquatch for my age). Our school was having a "western day," with everything from hay rides to lasso contests and BBQ. Like I said, though, I didn't really care a whole lot about that, I just liked that we didn't have to sit in class all day. We moved from station to station, learning all about the wild west and a bunch of other country-related stuff, of which I don't remember, with the exception of this man.
He was a tall, scrawny man with a handlebar mustache that dipped low on his chin. His hair was coarse, plastered down by his bulky, wild cowboy hat. His leather jacket covered his flanal shirt that was tucked into his starched, brown jeans. His belt buckle was huge as I recall, but none of his apparel caught my eye except for one thing. Hooked around his belt loop, clutching tightly to his hip was a silver pistol. It stole my attention as it did with all the other boys around me. We watched as he pulled it out of the thick, leather holster and raised it up in the air. We leaned forward with intense excitement as he tossed a quarter up into the air and shot the pistol, the sound of the gun clashing through the air. The coin plumeted to the earth and in the coin was a hole the size of a bullet. Right then and there, I thought guns were the coolest and I wanted to be able to do that one day. That initial shot never stopped resonating with me.Years later, here I am shooting guns like a madman. I am somewhat of a conesure, as I am sure I have mentioned before on this blog. As a kid, my dad would take me to the range and he instilled in me a respect for guns as well as a passion for them. Today, I go to gun conventions, go to gun ranges, watch shows based on guns, speak about guns on a regular basis, and even spoke at a business/economic workshop about, you guessed it, guns! I am a little obessed, I realize this, but it's not called a passion for nothing. I consider it a gift, one area of my life that I excel in.
Ephesians 4:11-13 says this in the Message translation: "He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ." God has given out different passions for each of us, no matter how unconventional they may be- singing, dancing, writing, speaking, selling, driving, shooting- all of which have the fascinating potential to be made into something awesome. When someone mentions "using your talents for the Kingdom of God," I often wonder what that means. How do I do that? In truth, I believe it means that you should enjoy what you do. There is a book out there called "Strength Finder 2.0" which talks about developing your strengths over developing your weakness. It reasons that using your strengths compels you to greater heights where as dealing with your weaknesses only fill you with stress. In their book Jim and Casper Go to Church, Jim Henderson and Matt Casper talk about how we often focus our spiritual life to become a one-stop-shop for God instead of using what we are gifted with, our strengths. Too often, we find people who aren't necessarily disgruntled with life, but just average. They are glazed over with indifference and filled with an absense of consideration for others. It seems that this "average" mentality is a result of not using your strengths and thus not doing what you enjoy on a day to day basis. They simply feel unfulfilled, a feeling Christians often feel in their walk. We like to dwell in our weaknesses, but in 2 Corinthians 12:10 God assures us that "When you are weak, I am strong." Life is covered, whether you are struggling or sailing, so why not sail?
My point is about finding your strengths through finding your inspiration. We cannot be everything at once. We cannot be a one-stop-shop for everybody's needs, but we often try to solve the world's problems as a one man band. One of my strengths is shooting, and it was a strength I discovered by inspiration. Likewise, we each have an intergral part in the kingdom to play, a place we each have to stand in the body, but I doubt we will find that place if we don't have our inspiration. Like DaVinci had his board to paint a Mona Lisa, like VanGough had his starry night to gaze upon, so the Master Artist has us to shape and mold-- clay in the potter's hands. So my prayer this week is that you find your inspiration from the Father much like I found my inspiration from the man at my school. May you sit at his feet and listen with intense excitement at his words and may they encourage you to strive for higher places.
As for the inspiration in my life, the funny thing was, the coin already had a hole in it. 7 year old kids don't realize that a man can't just shoot a loaded gun on a school campus so he used blanks and a pre-shot quarter. It didn't stop me though and I doubt that if I knew that back then, I would be any less impressed.
KB
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