Making Your Mark

"When you aim at nothing, you will hit nothing every time" - Allen Whittaker

Do you ever have those times in your life when things are just percolating in your mind, and you can't figure out how to pull all of those ideas or thoughts together? You know that somehow there is a link, but you can't see where that link is, it's just not that clear. I've been having that the last month or so.

The quote above is from the Director of Youth at our church, First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville. I didn't hear it, but Dr. Davis Chappell quoted him in his recent sermon series, On Your Mark. I'll get back to that eventually.

Recently, I've had the pleasure to hear about a young man who we grew up with, Curtis Mann, who is making his mark in art. Curtis does some incredible things with photography, which quite frankly, I can't even describe, so I will refer you to his website, http://www.curtismann.com/, so you can see the unbelievable things he is able to do with photos. Curtis is making his mark, he is touching lives with a great gift that he has been given. To be honest, I struggle with making stick figures, so when I see something like this, I'm in complete awe of it.

I recently had some e-mail dialogue with Aaron Keyes. He is a worship leader in this area, and has touched many lives, but particularly both of my sons, Patrick and Sean. Aaron has appeared at their school several times, and has a gift for spreading the word of God and the love of Jesus through witness and music. His website is incredible, here is the link to it - http://www.aaronkeyes.com/.

As I've noted on my blog, I follow Dave Carr, his blog is at http://carrpediem.blogspot.com/. I have used Dave for learning initiatives at least four times for three different organizations. In each case, even the most stubborn dissenter, the ones who wanted to be there the least, came up to Dave afterward and expressed how much the course touched them. Dave has a unique way of bringing out the most in individuals and groups. Each time I've been through it, I've been enriched by the experience. As I've noted, when I grow up, I want to be Dave.

So what has been percolating the whole time for me was "how do I make my mark?" As noted above, it surely wouldn't be art. It couldn't be through music, as Laurel notes, I really don't have the ability to even clap along to a song, let alone sing. So what about those poor schleps (is that even a word?) like me who have no real talent or ability to touch the world with some great gift?

The good news was that it was a four-part sermon series. I guess there was a good reason to listen and pay attention to all four parts because eventually, I think, it all became much clearer to me. Dr. Chappell focused at one point on what is the aim of Christian life? The answer - to know Jesus and to become like Jesus. As Dr. Chappell pointed out, while he'd like to make it complicated for those who like things complicated, it doesn't get any more complicated than that.

I guess because I have always been so inept at art and music, I've always had a huge appreciation for what people can do with it. I'm amazed by Curtis' artwork, I marvel at people with musical abilities like Aaron Keyes, or even my own sons, Patrick and Sean. As noted, they didn't get it from me. I tend to be an introvert, so I'm never going to touch people like Aaron Keyes does as a worship leader, or even what Dave does as a trainer and facilitator. But I can try to know Jesus and to become like Jesus. After a great deal of percolating, and a great sermon series, I think I finally figured out that while there are some among us that are going to make their mark in a great way, there are many of us that will have to settle for making our marks in a simple, but very valuable way.

Friends, I'm far from this goal. There are so many times that I fall short, and it hurts when I do. Thankfully, there is grace, and I can keep trying, and maybe eventually, I'll make my mark. The good news is that I'm not aiming at nothing anymore.