God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there. – Oz Guiness
But, Mom, I don't want to practice...
When I was 18, I went to college to study music… it was really hard.
If you’ve never studied music at the university level, you may not understand what I mean by “hard”… I took 18 hours my first semester at school and only one class that was outside the music building… The people that were successful in the music program were resigned to the fact that the program owned their life… I couldn’t resign myself to that…
So, I changed my major to Psychology…
At the time, it didn’t seem like such a big deal, but in retrospect, it was a huge mistake that shaped the next 20 years of my life…
Because God’s purpose for my life was leading and teaching worship.
It took a lot of drama (the bad kind) and a lot of strangers speaking uncanny words of knowledge (the good kind) over me, but it finally started sinking in about 10 years into the process:
I needed to get my life back on track to lead and teach worship.
It’s not enough to know your purpose… You have to LIVE your purpose… And that takes a lot of focus and work. I was selling sprockets full-time, so the focus and the work got stretched over the next 8 years.
About a year ago, I developed this really focused plan for teaching worship to artists. I wrote it down and talked about it with my pastor… He redirected me and I let him because he’s the pastor… I trust him… I respect him… I love him…
So, today I’m looking at my calendar. I have a community group that I’m helping lead and I’m greeting newcomers one Sunday each month. I am working with one of the associate pastors on developing a program to help newcomers make connections in our church… There is an expectation that I’ll be helping canvas the neighborhoods around the church. I process visitor surveys. I do some consulting for a christian author who is promoting a new book. I play keyboard, sing and occasionally lead worship on a scheduled rotation.
Until I started writing for WOP, I couldn’t squeeze an opportunity to teach worship to artists into my schedule…
I let my dutiful obedience to my pastor lead me off-track… It’s not his fault, he’s got his own calling and purpose to tend… Let me say this again:
It’s not enough to know your purpose… You have to LIVE your purpose… And nobody else is going to make you do it.
I met a seminary student who was a pretty unremarkable fellow… He was a good guy… smart… funny… I liked him alright. But he left to go work in missions, his true purpose, and the next time I saw him he was a different person. He was still smart and funny, but he seemed alive in a way that I have only imagined for myself.
Alive in his calling… Alive with purpose…
So, that’s why I write about worship and art and spend my days promoting WOP… because I saw my friend come alive…
And that’s how I want to live…
How about you?
