A Charge to Keep!

If there is one thing I have learned from life it is this; all of us were create for a purpose. We are not accidents of nature or the mistakes of our parents. Our conception was and is linked to a purpose. Like the snowflake, we are absolutely unique and it is that uniqueness that so suites us for our task. When I see children I think to myself what will they bring to life? Will they be doctors and cure diseases and help others ease their discomforts? Will they be teachers who inspire young minds and develop creative gifts? Will they be preachers who lead men and women into a relationship with God? It does not matter whether they are the children of single parents, foster parents, or with two parents, I know they are here for a reason.

When I went from college, I thought my purpose was to be a scientist, a chemist, and to find the cure for cancer. I realized that if it was my purpose the lab work did not hold my interest. After earning a BS in Economics and working in Corporate America, I was awakened to the very reason God caused me to be born. With this revelation came a sense of joy and wonder. I was born to be a Servant of God. Yes, I am a preacher and a pastor, but they are just a part of my larger task. I am God’s servant and I serve Him by serving His people. My training for this assignment has not all been in the classroom. There I learned theology and exegesis of the scriptures. I learned Hebrew and ethics. That was the academics of graduate school, but I also had to become a better student in the graduate school called life.

It was not until I began to understand my purpose that I began to understand my responses to life. I wish I could say I have always been happy. I wish I could say I have always understood why life was so difficult or why happiness was always tempered by some challenge, but I cannot. Yet, I now understand I had to and have to go through the experiences that others face. I must find the solutions they don’t and find the faith they miss. My classes are really faith development classes. They are hard and they are demanding, but there is a great shout in my soul when I pass the finals in each course.

This has taught me to understand my challenges and the difficulties that hit me on two levels, the emotional level and the faith level. The emotional level is big in that it takes a big response from my faith to overcome my emotions. In school they taught us that we have two sides emotional and intellectual, but in that case the emotional side wins out each time and I can make big mistakes that can hamper my future. I now know it is my emotional level that is stimulated through focusing on my difficulties and challenges.

Scripture, sermons, friends, and songs, but most of all God himself rally that faith level. Through these sources, He speaks to me and best of all he holds me. We say in church, “He will keep you from falling,” and I have learned and found that to be true. It is growing in me and empowering me to be a servant to those who are struggling with the same issues. Sometimes we forget others are living out our same struggles we are day by day, but we are called to find a different response and to model that response. We were born to be different, not to allow or fall into the rut everyone else has accepted. The doctor cannot become discouraged because he or she sees death. We were born to be different, to take different paths, and to handle our issues in a different way. You cannot solve problems if you are creating new ones.

I love to work out and in a way I love to compete. I love to compete mentally. I am far past my prime for physical competition, but I love mental competition. I do not always like where I have to compete, but I like believing that I am going to win. Somehow and someway I am going to come out victorious and make God proud, those who need me proud, and myself proud. My faith is going to rally me to victory and I am going to show why I was born.

As I close this blog I think about how might I inspire others? How can I inspire others to pursue their purpose and to overcome their challenges? That is the reason God sent me to Calvin and Elizabeth Thomas (my parents). Every experience I have had and every one I am having is so I can do this much better. And I must admit I like the results. When I weight out everything that is happening in my life I realize I must take the bitter with the sweet. If I remove the bitter, the sweet will soon be gone to. If I surrender to disappointments I will speak my appointment and blessings in negative terms. My vision will be cloudy and soon my purpose will be hidden from view. So I press on to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and I rejoice that the God of all comfort keeps me.

-Bishop