He Finishes What He Starts

I remember the first time someone was saved following a message I preached. It was my third message I ever presented. After I preached for Pastor Pack and the Faith Missionary Baptist Church of Concord, I found myself going from preaching in front of 40 people to 360 people. Faith had asked me to speak at Mt Gilead, a family summer camp they hosted every year that I grew up attending. I was so excited to preach here. It wasn’t the amount of people, but the location. Gilead was so many things for me. It was fun as a child, and God had transformed it into a place of spiritual revival, and each year I always seemed to find some time where I sat alone somewhere and just reflected on where God had brought me from the year before. I wasn’t able to attend the whole week that year because of school, but I came up the morning I was asked to speak.

As I entered the chapel area with excitement, I remember countless people warning me not to go into the lunch hour because the guy the day before did. I got nervous. What if I suck at this? What if I can’t deliver what God expects? If I fail, will I ever get another opportunity again? So many questions. Now, I can’t tell you where my message was in the Bible or what the title of the sermon even was. I just remember getting a big chip on shoulder after because during the message I made everyone laugh and three sermons in, I still thought that wasn’t allowed (the whole, “being yourself”) so I thought I blew it.

Needless to say I got them out well before the lunch hour. So I pleased the masses. But the masses wasn’t who that sermon that was for that morning. Later that day after I shook off the frustration and prayed others didn’t think I blew it, someone came up to me from the First Missionary Baptist Church in Freedom and informed me that someone from their group had been saved immediately following my message that morning and it was all because of one question I asked: “Why wait?” Those two words when it came to the love of Christ apparently echoed in this persons mind and God used it. That was the moment. That morning. July or August 2003. I knew that day, God had begun a work in me unlike anything I had ever asked or imagined. I didn’t walk up there on that stage asking myself how many people might come to know Christ at the end of this sermon. I just wanted to get the people out of there before noon and not make an idiot out of myself. Heck, I told that camp everything I knew in about 15 minutes. To you, maybe this is some drawn out story in a blog. To me, this was my calling.

What God starts, He finishes.

My oh my has the landscape changed in my life since the summer of ’03. The one thing that has remained constant though is the Lord Jesus Christ. I had friends the last 14 and a half years I thought would surely be in my wedding and now we aren’t even social media friends. I thought by now I’d be married with children and if I told you wedding bells were ringing for me right now the world would turn upside down. Sadly, spiritual leaders I once highly respected, have either passed or proven to be something contrary.

Time changes things. Decisions change things. Mistakes change things. And I have been told to believe that now that I’ve sinned, that calling is no longer valid. Have you ever been told you aren’t good enough or fit for the calling God gave you? No. Of course you haven’t been told those exact words. But through harsh criticism, rejection, judgment and lack of support, perhaps one could make you feel that way. Or maybe you’re your own worse critic and you’ve managed to convince yourself you can’t do what God thinks you’re capable of. Here’s the thing, no matter where this vain judgement is coming from, God doesn’t make mistakes.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Senior Vic’s President of Operations at Lowe’s, Terry Johnson, to discuss our new Install Sales Management System software that was launched last week. (I work in Sales for Lowe’s.) He had asked what I thought of the new software. Rather than feed him everything I thought Mr. Johnson wanted to hear, I went straight to the issue. At the Lowe’s store I work at, our competition (Home Depot) is directly across the street. And so I told him, “prior to this software, we have the material, the product knowledge, the qualified staff, but (Home Depot) executes the sale better.” Now, that is a whole parody blog in and of itself, and if you didn’t catch it, great! Maybe that’ll be my next blog. But my point in bringing this up right now is that this wasn’t exactly the popular thing to do, bringing up the Big Orange Box across the street. But since Lowe’s had given me this opportunity in Sales, I’ve done what I can to prove that, that was no mistake. There was a silence across the area where we met in the center of the store. My boss was there. My boss’s boss was there. My boss’s boss’s boss was there – I think you get the point. But there I stood confident in my presentation to a very powerful man in the cooperation. He complemented my passion and speaking ability and admitted they (Depot) used to do it better. I tell you all this say this: His impressed demeanor told me, I still got it. In that time of silence, those in corporate and management stood leaned in to what I presented.

Despite my mistakes, God has not taken my talent nor my calling. As He still opens doors a little at a time, I miss doing what He called me to do and I will not give up as long as there is breath in my lungs. I will preach from my flooring desk or a pulpit; it doesn’t matter to me. This season has been one of the most discouraging of my life, but I refuse to allow it to be the reason I quit. I will not give up and neither should you! If God can use me, He can use anybody; especially you. I know the abilities He has given me will not be spent selling flooring in a home improvement store any more than Paul was meant to just make tents. I believed in 2003 and I still believe today nearly 15 years later that God has called me to change the world with His message. As extraordinary of a calling as that can sound, I know I am far from the first to recognize it. If He’s calling you to change the world, don’t let the world change you. God finishes what He starts and He makes no mistakes.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬

Signing out for now. Talk to you again soon. Thanks for reading.