Doing Your Best

 I confess I was not a good student in high school. I was never into math and science. I did enjoy English and history more. I calculated during my senior year that I did not have to pass my math class in order to graduate. I passed it during football season so I would be eligible to play. After that, I did not try. I don't think you understand. I did not turn in homework assignments. When our teacher passed out tests, I wrote my name on them and turned them back in completely blank. From late November to May, I should have had a zero on my report card. I think she put a 40 I am sure more to protect her. What would it look like if a teacher gave out a zero on a report card. That was what I deserved. 

I used that class to do homework in other classes, study for tests in other classes, and to read. One day I was reading a football magazine. The teacher walked by and commented, "I hope you are better at that than you are in this class." I replied, "I am." She could not motivate me. Once I learned I could graduate without passing that class, I was no longer motivated. Nothing the teacher did or said motivated me. I was the man in our home. My mother did not comment on my grades in high school. There was nobody else to do so. I am ashamed of this now. I should have tried harder. 

I was a very young Christian at that time. Nobody had ever taught me that God wants our best. I had never heard of Col 3:17 or Col 3:23. I would not learn those truths until my second stint at seminary. Even in college I did just enough to get by. I tried. Thankfully I only had one math class. The classes interested me more. I had to pass classes to be eligible to play football. I did not do my best except on a few assignments that interested me. 

I hated seminary. I never felt I fit in with a bunch of preacher boys wearing ties or bow ties. I was bored in classes with the exception of two professors. I was put on academic probation after my first semester and was suspended after my second semester. I did not do my best. I wanted to get on with ministry. God had several things He needed to teach me before He would trust me with people to lead. 

I got married in this time and God opened doors to serve several small churches. Seminary was out of mind. I can't say for sure when it happened. One day I read those verses in Colossians and was convicted that God wants our best in whatever we do. We are to work heartily as unto the Lord and not men. Col 3:23. We are to do everything in the name of the Lord. Col 3:17. 

As the years passed, it really bothered me that I started seminary but never finished. I followed the counsel of my pastor from my hometown who told me about a distance learning Seminary. You moved along at your own pace in your studies, the professors sent the assignments to you. I listened to lectures on cassette tapes. It took a while. Little by little I did the course work for each class. In 2014 I graduated with a Masters degree. I made the best grades I ever made in school because I tried my best. I fought pride but not putting that degree on the wall in my office. It sits in a box along with my college degree and ordination certificate. 

God wants our best whatever we do. School. Work. Sports. Band. Volunteer work. Not doing our best for people dishonors God. Look around. Do you see people always trying their best? Customer service is lacking in many places. Employees cut corners glued to their phones instead of the work they are supposed to do. Some employees give minimal effort just to earn a pay check. Unfortunately, many students do what I did. 

Brenda and I certainly did not let that attitude fly around our house raising four sons. We did not demand perfection. We did challenge our sons to give their best. If their best was a C in a class so be it. If they were capable of earning an A that is what we expected. Parents fail children here when they demand perfection. None of us are good at everything. 

I don't know your role in life. I challenge you to give your best in whatever you do. Do it as an act of worship. Do it for the Lord even if nobody else notices. He sees. I think He is pleased when we try our best. Even if we are surrounded by people who give less than their best. You heard the old saying, "If it's worth doing it's worth doing right." Let us be people committed to doing our best. 

The Walking Wounded

 Family is supposed to be a safe place. A place where love flows and where support is found. These things are true in many families. It is a wonderful thing for a child to grow up in a family where they know they are loved in words and actions. It a confidence builder to be a part of a family where you are supported when you succeed and even when you fail. 

Tragically there are some families that are dysfunctional. Children get wounded in these families. They are not only unloved, and in some cases unwanted, they are also wounded. The wounds are sometimes physical. At other times the wounds are psychological. Messages of worthlessness are imprinted on the mind. Wounds they carry through life into adulthood believing they are not good enough, they are failures, losers, garbage, and have no purpose. Sometimes the wounds are sexual damaging young girls and boys for life. 

We have a society filled with walking wounded. Because of poor self esteem and poor choices, these wounded fall into cycles of making the same mistakes over and over again. Their lives become a series of additional wounds and in some cases they repeat the patterns of wounding they experienced. The cycle of wounding is passes from generation to the next. 

On my paternal side of the family, wounding was generational. A cousin told me once every single female she knew in our family had been sexually abused by a family member. Multiple boys and girls were physically beaten. The Edwards name is not held in honor in that community. It is disgraced several generations over. 

There is hope for the walking wounded. Jesus extends the invitation for all who are weary and heavy laden to com to Him to find rest. Matt 11:28 Jesus is a safe place to turn to for help and healing from the wounds. Nobody can love us like Jesus. Nobody can restore and renew a person like Jesus. People search in vain with many things trying to find healing. Alcohol does not do it. Neither does drugs or multiple sexual exploits. Each only deepen the wounds and leave a person feeling more hopeless. Read about the prostitute who poured perfume on Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair. She found healing. Luke 7:36-47 Read about the woman caught in the act of Adultery. John 8:1-11 Read about the leper Jesus healed. Matt 8:1-3 You can check out the story of the demoniac who had a legion of demons but Jesus delivered him Mark 5:1-20

Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief, otherwise known as the devil, only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan does a good job of those three things. Jesus offered a contrast. He said He came to give life more abundantly. Life to the fullest. The best life. He did not say He came to make people rich and famous. He did not say He came to give people all they ever dreamed of getting. He said He came to give abundant life. 

Abundant life for the walking wounded includes deep healing. It includes forgiving those who did the wounding so a person is not trapped in bitterness. It means connecting people to their purpose. It also means guiding their paths. According to Rom 1:2, just like Paul, each of us was set apart by God for the gospel. Your testimony matters. People can benefit from journey to spiritual, emotional and mental health. 

Earlier this evening, I received a text from a lady thanking me for a recent message. She confessed to being wounded earlier in life. She does not talk about it because she wonders who would ever listen to her. I told her to tell her story. She never knows what God may do when she does.

 I tell my story. I was physically and sexually abused as a child. I AM NOT A VICTIM. I was one of the walking wounded. Jesus has been healing me for the past four decades. Through Him I AM A VICTOR. I want other walking wounded to experience the same healing and wholeness that He gave me and many others.