Finding Your Niche

Jeffrey Steele, a gifted songwriter from Santa Rosa Beach, is a talented guy.  He has written many songs you would know, including a portion of "Knee Deep" (Zac Brown), "My Wish" (Rascal Flats) and "The Cowboy in Me" (Tim McGraw).  I could name many more, but he has lots of talents in his hands, fingers and mind.  He has been very successful.  He tells a story about how he did things (including songwriting) backwards.  When he took guitar lessons in high school, he was failed because his finger picking was sub-par and he actually cheated a bit by using a pick.  He says he even writes songs backwards.  But it works for him ... it is his quirky niche.

Maybe you are like that.  I am too.  I cord my guitar differently than other folks because I was injured playing football and I am missing a finger ligament.  But I have adapted my style in spite of what could have been a deal breaker.

The point is this.  We have things happen to us all the time.  Someone has an accident.  Someone we love dies.  We get into a financial bind.  Our nation is hit by a pandemic and economic woes.  We lose a friend.  We make a bad choice.  I can go on.  But all of these things, while difficult, are things that God can, if we allow it, redeem.  God has a way of taking these difficulties and somehow turning them into what one writer said was ... "Something beautiful, something good."  One of my Seminary professors wrote ... "God never wastes a good crisis.  He doesn't always cause the difficulty, but He is always able to lift us out of those dark places."  Psalm 40 says, "He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along ... "

Peter was an uneducated fisherman.  Paul was an enemy of Christians.  Matthew was a tax collector.  All of the disciples had flaws that would have disqualified them from being used by God.  David was the runt of his litter, yet God loved and blessed him.  They and we are/were quirky people.  Jeffrey Steele says that his life experience caused him to rethink failure and flaws.  He realized that all of these things are opportunities for his special talents to be used for something worthwhile.  Hillary Scott sings a song that lifts my spirit every time I sing it.  It is called "Beautiful Messes" and it describes us ... people of infirmity ... people with quirks ... all lifted up by a God who wants us to find our niche of usefulness.  And don't think you don't have one.  If you are a Christian you have a gift or gifts and a unique nature that God can and will use.  All you have to do is one thing ... give God the 'yes' He has already given you.  And the beauty is ... after the yes, God does all the heavy lifting.  Never forget you/we are the Church ... the bride of Christ ... the hands and feet of the living God ... ambassadors with a mission and a message.  So, let's act like it and find our place in this world where Good News seems in short supply.  Get up and get going!  Randy