If I were only Cool...

The problem with being an Average Joe is that your are just that...Average. When I dwell on it, I hate being average. Who in their right mind would choose "Average Joe" over being "Joe Cool!"

I wish I could invent the camera that takes a shot of me and it comes out looking like Keanu Reeves. Or better yet, I actually looked like Keanu Reeves. I wish my clothes fit like they do on the mannequin, but there are no paunchy mannequins at J.C. Penney's, so that's out. I wish my intellect rivaled that of some of the great thinkers and/or theologians in our world, but that's really not me either.

I often catch myself seeing people on TV or the movies who speak well and are good looking and think, "if I were only more like them, I could really do great things." Maybe if I used the latest technology, used younger terminology, or spoke in a more professional tone, I would be cool or at least not so average.

But, for me, here is the real rub. Sometimes I let my "averageness" get in the way of God's calling for me. I'm like the little boy with a speech impediment who eventually thinks that because he has trouble being understood, he has nothing to say. You see, God uses average people as his tools more often than not. Look at the apostles...I'm not even average enough to fit in with them; and they changed the world.

Maybe being an Average Joe isn't so bad. I work hard every day, go home to my family when the day is done. I have kids who are pretty good kids considering, and I am married to a woman who is not only a good wife and good mother, but is genuinely a good person. I love God, even if I do screw up my relationship with him from time to time and I feel I understand his calling for me.

I was recently asked, "if you could go back in time and become anything in the world you want to be, what would you become?" My answer? "Me. But I'd become me alot faster!" I love what I do, I love where I do it, I love who I do it for and I love who I do it with. So if that's not cool, I think I can live with it.

Most folks would say, "if that's the definition of Average, sign me up!"

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6 -JD