I Get To

One of my wife's commonly used comments of late when facing something she may not necessarily want to do is, "but I get to .."  That finally rung home to me as I sat in church this morning hearing Pastor Jake's excellent sermon and he used that very term.  I am pasting in a link to a Southern Gospel song by Jeff and Sherri Easter that I want you to watch and listen to the power of the message, please:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IEclz9rQiI

As I listened to Jake's comments, my mind began to work back through my own life.   My own life, like most others, are normally controlled or heavily influenced by others' will on our lives.  Parents, teachers, employers, coaches, spouses; the list is endless when you begin to think about it.  But I believe you reach a point in your life when you step across that mystical point of life where you get to choose what you will do and will not do.  That line is what I guess I will call the "I Get To" line of embarcation.

In my own life, if you know we very well at all, you know I have many areas that comprise my life.  My God and what He wants me to do with my life resides at the top of my list followed quickly by my wife of almost forty-two years; I get to!  My wonderful children and their loving spouses and the  immeasurable love for my five grandchildren.  Wow, that is a good list right now but wait, there is more!

Teaching the future at a University level has become the vocational joy of my life. I still find it amazing that I invested thirty-six years of my life with one company, identified by all that knew me through those years by that company and less that ten years later after retirement over 7,000 students, the thought or hint of that company ever being not only a part of my life but it was my life is nonexistent.  Teaching is something I realize that I Get To Do and what a blessing even in the tough, disappointing times of student issues and behaviors, I can glean such joy in working various equations of behaviors and leadership to find a way to move that student toward the light of learning; I Get To!

Singing! Wow, never in my fondest imagination would I or could have imagined that so many identify me with that piece of my life. I do love to sing but the difference today is that I love to sing for I see and realize that God is using this vessel as a means to touch the hearts of those before me I get to sing to. Not for my glory or ego but for His spiritual refreshing. I Get To and I do love it!

Jail!! Say what?  Yes, I Get To go into jails on a regular basis and have met well over 200,000 male and female inmates in last eight years in getting to speak and sing praises to His Name as preparation for a sermon.   Getting to preach myself is something I would never have conceived I would want to do but ... I Get To and I love it even when the place is hot, smelly, disorganized, tension filled and you see the hurts, fears, discouragements of men and women that cannot forgive themselves.  Getting to talk about and sing about a God that loves them and is there for them; I Get To and I do love it!

Think about all the things you have to do and then think about the few but blessed things you get to do.   Guess I need to start listening more to my wife's comments, right?  So whatever this day holds for you, seek to think about what fuels or motivates you; do I have to do this or do I get to!?  Powerful stuff!