Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself, Again
Good Son-Day!!!
Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself, Again
The last four weeks have been a physical journey. For 25 years, I’ve volunteered with our community’s youth football program, and this season I battled pneumonia the entire way through. I’ve never had a case this bad, and the toll it took on my body was greater than I realized. Add a full-time job to the mix, and you’ve got a season that tested every ounce of my stamina.
The season ended last week, and I can finally return to some sense of normal. That means getting back to one of my joys: writing. The purpose of these posts has always been about the joy of walking in faith.
That walk gets more natural with each passing day. Somewhere in my day, I get an espresso shot of the Word, and it propels me to take on everything life hands me. The Holy Spirit’s guidance has become part of who I am, sometimes before I’ve even had time to think about it. My persona.
Let me show you what I mean.
Last Monday, my office held a DEI and Youth Conference. Yes, DEI! I was one of the keynote speakers, and my message was built on lived experience: my volunteer work in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, one of the most diverse cities in the state.
Some folks like to poke fun at that diversity, a symptom of the Twin Cities’ unspoken metro caste system. They’ve even nicknamed us “Brooklyn Dark.” It’s meant as a dig, but we wear it like a badge. We own it, and we’re proud of it.
Here’s the funny part. My football program offers opportunities that other cities don’t. So the very communities that look down their noses at Brooklyn Park will happily cross our borders to enroll their kids. And what do they find? A full-color spectrum they didn’t expect to love.
It’s like Christmas morning when you were seven or eight and unwrapped the Crayola box with 128 crayons. You lifted the lid, marveled at every shade, and could hardly wait to start coloring. That multitude of colors was a beautiful thing.
That’s what those parents saw: their kids playing alongside every color of the crayon box, just as God intended. Many of them told me so.
Revelation 7:6: After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. analogy struck a chord with the audience.
During the break after my speech, at least ten people came up to tell me it was a beautiful story. To my surprise, several said I must come from a long line of preachers because it was so inspirational. One employee yelled, "Nice going, 'preacher man'.
As Popeye would say, “I yam what I yam.” I wasn’t trying to preach. I was trying to be corporate proper! But the Holy Spirit had other plans. These employees came looking for something inspiring about the value of diversity, and God chose to give it to them in a genuine way.
Your Gift Is Showing
I live by Romans 12:6: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.”
God created you with specific gifts, experiences, and qualities that He can use for His glory. Trust that He can do something amazing through the person He made you to be, even in a corporate conference room.
Your Turn
What is one gift, strength, or unique quality God has given you that you can use to serve Him this week?
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