A homeless man from Columbus, Ohio is the hottest media star this week. If you’ve seen any news or paid attention to Youtube you have heard his story. Standing at an intersection, panhandling for money, he held a sign that said that he had a God-given gift, a great voice. When a local reporter produced a video of Ted Williams speaking, the world would quickly discover that, indeed, this man has a golden voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6kI_u3ho_c
Instantly, Ted Williams was catapulted into a sea of opportunity. The NBA Cleveland Cavaliers immediately offered him a job. Two days after the initial report he was doing the voice intro for NBC’s Today Show, which has featured him as a guest this week. On Sunday night, a national commercial for Kraft macaroni and cheese, with his voice will air on television.
He says that his life was wrecked by drugs and alcohol, but that he has been clean for over two years. His life is a dramatic picture of unrealized, and destroyed potential. But, all along he knew he had a gift. Everyone is hoping that the sudden turn-around will not set him back, that these new opportunities will secure the change that will help him have a better life.
We love a great reversal story, from rags to riches. We love the surprise of great gifts in tragic, or even in ordinary people.
We love seeing someone become something better than they could ever have imagined.
What the Bible calls the Gospel is that story. Starting with a wandering man without a nation named Abraham, to a slave people who become a great nation, culminating in a child born in a stall who becomes the Savior of the world – God likes to do big things starting with nothing but a promise.
This Sunday, I will begin a series entitled Calling, focusing on what and who God has called us to be. We start in Romans 1:1-7.
There is a good chance that you may not know quite who you are yet in God’s plan. If you think you do, you have probably settled for something less than what God has in mind. I’m still discovering what it means to be ‘called’ by God. And I’m excited about what we are going to learn together.
It will be a great way to start off our year together. Good things happen when our lives more and more express God’s calling. For instance, great gifts emerge and find their place of impact.
Let’s begin this year by choosing to grow into our calling.