WORDS

TWO YEARS AGO

when blogging was new to me, I invited 13 people, different in age, location, vocation, and gender who know me pretty well to participate in a very "unscientific" survey, designed to help me discover what others "see" and "look for" from me as a writer and blogger. Their responses were both revealing and confirming.

HERE WAS THE ASSIGNMENT

“According to writer/blogger/coach Jeff Goins, there are basically 5 platforms on which to build:

1. The journalist - curious, asking good questions, i.e., Darren Rowse

2. The prophet - telling of dissatisfaction re whatever, the system is broken, but we can fix it, i.e., Seth Godin

3. The artist - fiction, nonfiction, message books, an eye for beauty, thoughts on life, our lives matter, i.e., Ann Voskamp

4.The professor - a thirst for knowledge, loves learning

5. The star - not as in Hollywood star, but as in a heart for people, builds on charisma, shines/attracts attention, empathizes with audience, memoir, blogs, i.e., Anne Lamott

Knowing what you know about me, which one of the above would most likely be your perception of what to expect from me? You can only pick one.”

THE RESULT

was the “journalist” and the “professor” got the fewest votes, and the “star” didn’t attract even one vote (obviously I need to work on my charisma). “Prophet” came in second, and the most votes went to “artist.”

I have an appreciation for paintings, photography and music, but I’m not skilled in any of these artistic expressions. Although while traveling for two years with four great guys in a southern gospel quartet, (think Blackwoods or Statesmen, then back off a notch or three) I met a beautiful young woman in Oklahoma. Six months later she said, “Yes.” So I guess we were good enough.

For those who knew me as a teenager, to imagine my becoming a preacher was a real stretch. Insecure and poorly spoken, to utter words publicly before a group of any size was a fearsome idea. But I was determined. I believed God had called me to do this. To be open, daring to do something I had never done. And I did it.

WORDS

over the years since have become my paintbrush. Word pictures for myself, for others. Some have been good. Others not so much. Like Job, when talking about God, my words have at times been words without knowledge, trying to answer questions I did not fully understand. Eventually I came to know that while he is the God of the Word, he is not in the word business. Instead, he gives himself, and this was all he was asking of me. Nothing more. Nothing less.

RELIGIOUS WORDS

can slide too easily past us without entering our minds—tasteless, stale—having lost their freshness. New words are needed for the Message. Words from our heart, from our experiences. Word pictures that draw us in. Word colors carefully chosen, awakening us, helping us understand. Words that challenge us, inspire us to be better, do better. Words true to our experiences telling God’s stories out of our own.

“If you have to choose between words that mean more than what you have experienced and words that mean less, choose the ones that mean less because that way you leave room for your hearers to move around in and for yourself to move around in too.”[1]

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

is to find and own your “platform.” One of the above mentioned—or something else altogether. Whatever is your gifting or skill set, just remember, we are all kindergarteners, posting our “art” on our Father’s door. He smiles at our childlike efforts to please, places his approving hand on us no matter what and says, “It’s beautiful. It came from your heart. You gave yourself to me, and that is all I ask of you. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

[1] Frederick Buechner, Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation. HarperSanFrancisco