Jealousy and growth

     I had been so jealous of a friend of mine for so many years. I'm not sure how specific I want to get as then everybody will know who it is. Well, there's two people really. My old roommate Tim was probably the first. Everything he touched turned to gold. Everybody liked him. He was better at basketball than me. As we went thru the automotive tech program it was apparent he was more skilled than I. He never even got a job as a tech but took on a piece of his dad's construction business. He was gifted there as well. Then there's Tim. Super talented artist. Can also play about any instrument he touches as well as sing. I was so jealous of these guys.

     Maybe I just started slow. I have done many amazing projects. Built cool trucks. I can fabricate all sorts of cool stuff out of metal. I've built many Rad things out of wood also. Built a loft in the shop, rewired much of the house and shop, and so much more. I have more projects spinning in my head at any given time than I can ever get to. And I would bet that I make some other people jealous.

     So God has given me so many talents but it has taken me a lot of life to begin to grasp them. And these are just the MacGyver gifts. These aren't even the spiritual gifts. Those are the ones I really look forward to unfolding in the future.

     So I'm not writing this to say how awesome I think I am but I wasted a lot of time looking at how awesome others were and thinking I had little to nothing to offer. I just couldn't see it. There may have been not much to see. It seems like my life has been a slow build. Looking back there is a small thing here and another aways later. But those were very far apart although they built on each other, and a lot of failure. Now I build and do new things all the time that are the product of all those years of preparation.

     At one point almost ten years ago God put this guy in my life who was a few years older than I and had a lot of experience building hot rods and restoring cars. I had won this old Truck on Ebay for $50 down in Eugene. Each day I'd go to work with this guy who cuts things up and builds cool cars and since I had only spent $50 on this truck it was no loss if I ruined it. So every night I would work on the truck and every day I'd tell Mike what I did and he'd give me encouragement and offer creative suggestions. This was really the springboard for me becoming the mechanical madman I am today.

     There is also a spiritual journey that has taken place. Much, much growth has happened there in the last 5 or 6 years but I don't know where that is going yet so we'll leave that for another time.

     Pastors always talk about the "takeaway." We'll I don't know what that is so you'll have to figure it out for yourself. I'm just telling my story.