Jack Of All Trades, Master of None

Many of us go through life being "average" at a lot of things but never seemly being an expert at anything.  I laugh at myself when I look back at all of the things that I have attempted to learn to do in my life.  At the risk of being too transparent let me list a few...

Musically talented?  Hardly!  By the age of 16 I had taken musical lessons on how to play the Flute, the Accordion (back in the Lawrence Welk days), Guitar (in the Elvis Presley days),  and Piano (in the 'Deno's days).  I never mastered any of the above and don't know that I am "average" in being able to play any of the instruments mentioned.  But it was fun trying to learn.  I contribute my lack of success on these adventures to lack of practice.  My mother always told me "practice makes perfect."

Superb athlete?  I don't think so!  I love sports and still attempt, at the age of 53, to play softball and basketball occasionally but have shifted more to table tennis (ping pong) and a popular game in this part of the world called "corn toss".  Yes, I now refer to both of these last two mentioned as a sport!  I actually wrestled in high school for one year and attended spring training for football for one week but never really mastered any of the above.

Construction?  I have done a little construction; laying block, laying carpet, laying tile, and laying down on the job but the later is what I seem to do the best.  Maybe I am "average" at doing construction but you wouldn't want me to oversee the building of your home.  If so, you would not have an average home.

This is probably the story of a lot of our lives.  We seem to be "average" at a lot of things but master very few things in life.  I hope that I am at least considered an average pastor, average preacher, and hopefully an average writer.  And I am okay with that as long as I am being measured, not to the standards of others, but to what God's Word teaches us what an average pastor or preacher should be like.

"Friends, don't get me wrong:  By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-to Jesus.  I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."   Philippians 3:13,14 MSG

But the things that I want to focus on being above average are being a good husband, father, grandfather and a good friend.  With the risk of sounding tawdry I hope that the later part of my life I can work toward being exceptional in these areas of my life.  Theodore Roosevelt once said, " I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man."

I have come to the conclusion being average is not a terrible thing after all.  In fact, to make it through life you need to be "average" at a lot of things and will probably only be really good at a few.  I encourage you to master the areas that God has gifted you and be content at being average in other areas of life.