I thought a good way to start out this blog is by listing a number of things that I’m not. This may sound slightly self depreciating but its an incredibly helpful exercise for me. Don Miller in Searching for God knows What tells a story about an actor who said that he does a lot of stuff just so that people “liked him.” Miller then made a statment that I think about a lot today. He said that what he wanted was for people to (loose translation) “Know everything about him and still like him” My desire to post this list is so that I can enter into a place where people know a lot about me and I no longer have to hide behind things that I am not. So, here it goes:
1. I’m not a very good writer.
2. I’m not incredibly insightful.
3. I’m not a very good speller.
4. I’m not a great Bible scholar and my theology is at times messy.
5. I’m not a particularly good student.
6. I’m not a great pastor.
7. I’m not the person people run to when they want counseling.
8. I’m not the most creative person.
9. I’m not the model Christian.
10. I’m not very detailed.
11. I’m not very focused a lot of the times.
12. I’m not a great speaker.
13. I’m not a great visionary leader.
14. I’m not in shape.
15. I’m not very compassionate.
As I started working on that list I began to realize that I was feeling a little depressed. So, I thought I’d add a few things that I am good at so that I didn’t wallow in my own self pity.
1. I’m a pretty good dad.
2. I’m a pretty good husband.
3. I’m a great reader.
4. I’m a good friend.
5. I’m pretty driven to do things well.
6. I’m good at taking care of my family.
7. I’m good at fixing things.
8. I’m good at tearing things apart.
9. I’m good at listening to others talk about theology.
10. I’m good at making students in my youth group feel comfortable.
11. I’m good at minimizing my weaknesses.
12. I’m good at figuring out how to love Jesus within my culture.
13. I’m good at being organzied for big stuff.
14. I’m good at contingency plans.
15. I’m good at having fun.
Now I’m done. There’s probably a lot more that I left out but this is a start of a healthy self-awareness. If no one ever reads this blog I think I’ll still post regularly because its helpful for me.
