The More Needful Thing (The Deceptive Art of Distraction)

For those of you who know me personally, you'd most likely know how I work for the devil. There are so many horror stories, it would require more than three different hash tags for #leadershipfail because if I were to tweet them all, the world wide web would certainly come crashing down from complete system overload thus resulting in the rapture of the church or a zombie apocalypse. Ok. So that's probably a bit of a stretch. Zombie apocalypse first, rapture second. I digress.

I have a confession to make. Today was actually my last day at my less-than-completely-awesome place of employment. You wouldn't believe how much sweeter strawberries taste, how refreshing the 100 degree, non-existent wind gusting Texas air is and how much my life seems to have slowed down to snails pace less than an hour after I turned in my key card.

Last night, as I was watching The Incredibles for the hundred-thousandth time with my son, I pulled him close to me, gave him a big hug, kissed him on the cheek and told him I loved him as though it may have been my last chance. What I realized in that moment was that I had allowed my not-so-desirable job situation to steal my joy for an entire year of my life. I had allowed it to rob me of the opportunity to enjoy my family time, steal my health, cloud my mind and bring untold elements of anxiety into my life. In some ways, I even allowed it to change me.

I was on my way to church to film a 60 second internet spot to introduce a class I'm teaching this fall at my church, and it hit me, I was put on this earth to help people, teach people and grow...people. What in the world was I doing for the past year of my life? Why did I wait so long to find something else? Then it hit me, like a lightening bolt of wisdom and knowledge that almost split my brain in two. Distraction. One word. Plain and simple. Distraction. 

We've all heard the story about Mary and Martha when Jesus came to their house. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, and Martha was whipping out the Pine Sol and the Swiffer Duster ready to take down dust bunnies like Clint Eastwood in a bar full of baddies. Martha thought it was so unfair that she was doing all the work, that she told Jesus to tell Mary what for! Jesus responded to Martha by saying that Mary had chosen the more needful thing. WHAT???

If that's the case, then that means that sometimes WE allow OURSELVES to be "cumbered about" with many things. Could it be that by choosing not to do anything about my job situation, that I was the one responsible for neglecting what is needful? I believe so. I also believe that this is one of the toughest pills to swallow in our culture because we avoid assuming responsibility for our faults or failures like a red neck at a beauty pageant. 

Jesus Christ, Who He is, what He did for us and who we are in Him are the most important things in life. Everything else is secondary. Learn from my mistakes. Don't allow external situations to rob you of your time with your family, rob you of your peace or ultimately rob you of your destiny. Take a moment right now to examine your life. 

Are there things that are stealing your joy or robbing you of your peace? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify those things and eliminate or change them for the glory of God. Refuse to allow things to distract you from what is needful. Tell your spouse you love them more, hold your kids tighter, take a deep breath and make it a point to enjoy your life rather than stress about it. 

"Faith Pants" and other life lessons...(Yes, you read that correctly, I had pants that were full of faith...or were they?)

Several months ago, I was shopping at the mecca of commerce we here in the States call, "Kohl's". They happen to have a brand that I particularly love called, "Rockin Republic". The only downside to this brand is that you have to be slightly more svelte than the current version of myself. Be that as it may, I laid eyes on a pair of jeans that I couldn't pass up. 

Aside from the fact that they clearly won't fit (which on a side not means that I'm virtually buying a pair of pants that I cannot actually wear.), I decided that the deal was too good to pass up. I would merely lose the amount of lard necessary to fit into them. They shall be my "Faith Pants"! (Cue inspirational music, begin Rocky Balboa fitness montage.)

Fast forward several months and for whatever reason, my "Faith Pants" have found a new home at the bottom of my drawer. The reason? Up until a few weeks ago I had failed to realize the seriousness of my dilemma. I knew that I was overweight, I suppose I just didn't realize "how" overweight I really was. 

I was on vacation visiting my family when picture time came around. We all got together for the family photo and I realized that I had the biggest boobies of anyone in the picture. If I were a woman, I might have thought differently about this predicament, but being the man that I am, this news was very disheartening. How in the world did I let myself get so fat? Just 5 years ago I had lost 80 lbs. and got down to 183, and in 5 short years I had allowed myself to gain almost all of it back!

My problem was that I had failed to accurately access my current situation or my starting point. When I looked in the mirror, the reflection may have been a slightly smaller version of Chris Farley, but what I actually saw was more like Arnold Schwarzenhoweveryouspellhisname...only his face looked different...and he didn't have all the muscles.

When we fail to accurately access where we're really at in certain areas of our lives, those areas continue to spiral out of control simply because we lack the necessary vision for those areas of our lives to take their proper shape and form. For me it was my body, but it could be your job situation, the real condition of a relationship you're in or a host of other things. 

Zig Ziglar once said, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time!" This is what I was doing with my body and my career. I had yet to conceive any clear vision for those areas of my life. I had much more control over those things than what I had realized, yet the only control I exercised at the moment was to allow those things to spiral out of control. 

Luke 14:28 ESV says, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" 

An integral part of counting the cost is being able to accurately account for where we currently stand in the area of our life needing improvement. It's interesting that whenever I use SIRI on my iPhone to tell me how to get somewhere, the first question she asks me is if she can use my current location. What she's telling me is that in order for me to get where I want to be, I must first know where I actually am.

Taking a good, hard look at where you are is only going to increase your effectiveness in attaining the object of your affection. One day, I will fit into my "faith pants", but that journey didn't begin until I was able to accurately discern my starting point. 180 here I come!!!