The Door Is Wide Open

Have you ever thought about how much easier it is to verbally support someone as opposed to “hating on them?”  I have to chuckle a little bit as I use the previous phrase.  I never thought I would actually get to the age where the casual repartee of young people would make me cringe.  I remember being a young boy and coming home telling my mother everything was “cool” or “awesome.”  She hated those words as much as her parents probably hated the word of her generation, “groovy.”  Still, the meaning is obvious, hating on someone means judging and being jealous and it takes a lot of useless energy.  I am fortunate to be at a point where I am seeing the realization of my dreams and I want to share a little gratitude for those who have lifted me up.

God is such a loving and merciful Creator.  I don’t believe for one moment that He placed anyone on this earth to fail.  He truly wants joy and success for each of His children.  We don’t always stay on the path designed for us and when we refuse to recognize we are headed down the wrong street, we may never achieve our destiny.  For me, standing up and saying out loud, “God, I have not been a good steward of your blessings,” has been the first step in his redirection of my path. 

When I hit rock bottom back in 2004 and actually plotted my suicide, I was headed rapidly down a wrong one way street.  Fortunately, many people who loved me recognized the signs and were praying even when I was not strong enough to do so.  God answered the prayers.  The night before my plan was to be carried out my late grandmother visited me in a dream.  We sat in my living room and talked about my struggles.  I remember hugging her so tightly in my dream it felt so real.  The next morning I woke up on my sofa, clutching a pillow and my front door was standing wide open.  I loaded up my bike and was planning to head to Cheaha that day to “do the deed.”  My good friend Jean called me on the phone and demanded that I come to her house to talk about my emotional problems.  She said to me, “C. E. and I are sitting here and the front door is wide open.”  God got my attention.

I have made a lot of progress in the last eight years or so.  My very close friends have been God’s resources in rehabilitating my mental state.  My family at the Ohatchee Church of Christ has been the best therapy.  Say whatever you like about the necessity of a regular church home, but for me, it’s mandatory.  I need that edification.  I need a minister like Wayne Dunaway; loving families like James and Jolaine Bowers, Mo and Kay Wildman, Wayne and Zip Lambert, Ricky and Kim Dunaway, John and Jan Dyer and so many others who embrace and show me love and concern.  A church is the “called out people.”  It’s not about a tabernacle or a majestic sanctuary; however the people need to be spectacular in a sense that they love with a tender heart and an open mind.  A Christian will never convert a non-believer with judgment and hypocritical mudslinging.  The only way to help someone else is to accept the overused cliché, “walk a mile in their shoes”, knowing that you never can! 

The majority of what holds a person back from achieving their destiny is impatience and misplaced faith.  How many times do you put your faith in what other men or women think about you?  One of my best friends, Kim McFall is always telling me to just be me.  “Other people’s opinion doesn’t matter, Rob…” she says, “you work on pleasing you and God.”  This is the kind of advice we ought to give the people we love.  Faith is about believing in the unseen.  We see man…and all his flaws.  Faith needs to be in what we don’t see, which is God’s promise.  The evidence of his power is all around us.  Wonder is what the magic of faith is all about.  Learn to wonder what great things He has in store for you. 

Finally, impatience is the other barrier.  We get tired of waiting and so we try and create our own destiny.  I have been very open about my struggles with patience and with taking matters into my own hands.  I jokingly told a colleague the other day that I will never pray for patience because that means I will have to learn to wait longer.  My good buddy, Austin Brown, a very bright young man, wrote me an email tonight congratulating me on an exciting new opportunity with my writing.  He was commenting on the power of prayer and pointed out that he guessed the patience that I claim not to have has paid off.  He is so right.  All this time I have been praying and pressing along, God was preparing the next stretch of highway.  That’s the thing about prayer and patience; before you know it, you have reached your destiny.

Love to you all….