Leaving the Grapes

Probably one of my favorite Christian songs is “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath. The singer begs God, “Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing.” This is a very powerful plea. Just take a moment and think about it. In another part of the song, the singer claims, “All those people going somewhere, why have I never cared?” This song truly ministered to my heart. I’ve never before asked God to let me see people the way He [God] sees them. With all the ministries I was involved in during my youth, whether it was feeding the homeless, visiting the prisoners, or going on mission trips, when the mission was over, my work was done. My teams always did a lot of good. But even doing all these things seemed somewhat futile. I still came up empty in my search for purpose with God. I’d always ask these questions to God, “What is my purpose? What am I supposed to be doing with my life?” Have you ever asked yourself similar questions, including, “Who am I and why am I here?” Even when I was a teenager, the American dream—to be born, go to school, fall in love, get married, get a job, buy a home/car/boat, have kids, work, retire, and die—really wasn’t that appealing to me. It just seemed boring. Okay, I know there are lots of vacations, holidays, fun things to do, places to see, and people to meet and if this is a satisfactory life for you, then I am happy for you. It sounds like you know who you are and what you would like to accomplish in life. But for others, maybe there’s something inside still tugging at you, like an itch that needs to be scratched, a hole that needs to be filled, or maybe a desire for an adventure that’s not of the norm. I always felt there was something more to life, and at the time, I could not really find it. This led to soul searching, materialism, and, ultimately, depression. I observed: • Families working so hard day and night having nothing to show for it • People with great jobs living such unhappy lives • People having all their material desires yet so miserable It seemed to me that the only thing that made some of these people happy was to compare their lives to and complain about other people. It is a sick circle of life and I really want no part in it. Is this all that life has to offer? Well, if you are a Christian yet still find yourself wondering who you are, consider the following: God sees you as His child (John 1:12), a friend (John 15:15), someone who has been set free from sin (Rom. 8:1–2), and someone He loves so much that He sent His Son to make the ultimate sacrifice so you would have life with Him (John 3:16). These are just few but I hope you get the picture. So now that we know how much we mean to God, where do we go from here? So what is your purpose? To be honest, I can’t answer that for you, and if you attend a Bible-based church, I am sure you have heard it many times, “God has a perfect plan for your life.” One of the most famous verses in the Bible, “I will bless you with a future filled with hope” (Jer. 29:11), tells us that God has a future written out for us already. He’s simply waiting for us to take the call, step out in faith, and just go for it. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). God has already prepared a purpose for our lives. It seems pretty self-explanatory. How cool is that? So what is it? What has God prepared for you and your life? Well, I don’t know. But I hope I can help you get there. You can start by praying these words to God each morning you wake up, “Lord, give me your eyes so I can see everything I keep missing, and give me your love for humanity.” (Thank you, Brandon Heath.) I began praying that prayer. Boy, did He answer it loud and clear. I hope you are inspired by reading my journey in search for my life’s purpose. I pray that you keep loving and serving Jesus with everything you have. Take a chance on humanity. I pray your eyes are opened just as mine was. Now the world looks very different to me, and my purpose is loud and clear. Seeing the Big Picture In 2007, my pastor was taking a trip to Kenya, and I wanted to tag along. He was going to check out all the things that our church had been raising money for, like a new school building, wells, water collectors, and so on. He had extended the invitation to anyone in the congregation who wanted to go. I had never been to Africa, and to be honest, I had just been through one of the worst experiences of my life. There was horrible split at my former church that left me depressed, lonely, and extremely stressed. I had been an associate pastor at the church, but after the split, I was left with no job, no church, and pretty much no one. (Going through something so testing, tends to reveal who your true friends are.) I was invited to come to one of the services at Calvary Sawgrass. I fell in love with the people and the pastors there. So the healing had started in my life. Not long after, I was ready to step back into ministry so I took a housekeeping job there, but it did not matter to me. I felt at home, and I just wanted to be there. I had only been working at the church for a few months when the pastor announced the Kenya trip. I really felt the need to go. Maybe I just wanted to escape the memories of my last church experience, or maybe it was just the vacation I needed to go on. I talked it over with my pastor, and he made it possible for me to make the trip. I was very excited to get away, have a change of pace, see different things, and have a new experience. But first we had to get there. The first plane ride over the Atlantic was about eight hours. I had never spent that much time on a plane before. Thank goodness no one was sitting next to me. I had all the latest movies to watch and all the food I could eat. I was able to stretch and somewhat sleep. We arrived in England for the layover that took a few more hours. The time difference was taking a toll on my body. I wanted sleep while the other side of the world was eating breakfast. Then I got on another plane for another eight hours into Kenya. Now unless you flew first class, I’d have to say that was a little rough. I’m a pretty big guy. It was hard to fit comfortably in the seat for that long of a time. I only wanted to sleep. Don’t get me wrong. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.