So today is going to be like some kind of crossover event. On this post and on my other blog, AwakenedtoRise.wordpress.com, I’m going to be looking back at my notes from the recent Stronger Men Conference that I attended in Springfield a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t really looked at the notes until now, because I could feel a “weight” on them that I don’t know if I was ready to face. Almost like a challenge. But, I feel like it is time, and with so much wisdom set out for us, I might be here for a long time.

I guess I will start in this space with the message by Craig Groeschel, Pastor of LifeChurch.tv, who set church culture on it’s collective heels by doing something innovative that has really changed the way that many churches do church these days. He was talking to us about the problems with comparison, something that I had just preached about at my church about a month before. He talked to us about “Running Our Race”, and what he essentially said to us is that the fastest way to kill something special is to compare it to something else.

So, last night by brother was pitching in a huge high school baseball game. What made this game huge for him was the fact that there were pro baseball scouts in the audience and he was going up against a guy who was considered to be a rival of his. He struck the kid out. Now, my brother is up for the draft coming up in the summer. I believe that he will be drafted, if not this year, then at some point in college. At that point, the money he will be making will make my own look like chips and dip. For just a moment, I wondered what might have happened if I had shown any skill in sports, or if the skill that I had would have been supported and encouraged through camps and the like.

For just a moment.

See, my brother is special. Comparing what he is doing, what he is getting to do, to who I am and my childhood diminishes just how wonderful the power of God is in his life right now. It also diminishes or spits on my own experiences as a child, and how they have shaped me, and continue to shape me, moving forward. There is a fine line between appreciation and jealousy. I’ve always thought that appreciation gives credit to God for what is happening in someone’s, but jealousy steals credit from God and places it on the person that we are jealous of. One honors God. One steals from Him. We have to be careful.

I’m proud of my brother, even though we aren’t close (which needs to change), but I’m also proud of who I am, who God is crafting in me. I may never know what it feels like to be drafted, or to play on a sports team, but I do know what it feels like to be called on purpose with a purpose.

It is simply the same God manifesting differently. All honor and praise be to Him.

That is why I run my race, and appreciate all of the special “somethings” that happen around me, and through me.

Be blessed today!