Be still and know that I am the Lord. I think that’s a verse in the Bible. Right?
Be still?
Doesn't that mean being quiet? To stop and listen. Seems like we are always told we should shut up, sit down, and just listen. We should not speak up or talk back.
My calling to “Live Out Loud” came a year or so after I started attending a “new to me” church. The message was one that I had never really heard before. Grace.
You need to understand that I grew up in a small town going to a small Church of Christ. They preached a very angry God. One that had already sentenced me to Hell due to my sins. Jesus was the only one who ever lived on this earth without sin. Each of us is a sinner and sinners go to hell. It's simple but it does not leave a lot of room for grace.
But this new, different church... I met this guy there named Jesus. I had always heard about him, but I got to meet Him there. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “It’s going to be okay” and I believed him.
Soon after, I started going to a Men’s group hosted at this place that taught radical love. In this group, I met other men on a journey not unlike mine. Other men that came alongside me and propped me up and spun me in the right direction when I started to drift off the path.
One night at the meeting, Jesus was there, as he usually was. This time, however, he came over and told me I had to “Go” and to “Make disciples” for him. When I asked him how I was supposed to do something so daunting he just simply told me to “Use the gifts I have given you.”
Gifts? What gifts? I have no gifts. Right?
Do I?
I don’t have cash just lying around to be able to fly off to some faraway place. I am not very well-spoken, and so speaking can’t be it. Right?
I can make a video. I have made a few short films and been a part of several productions. So maybe I do have a gift. I can make a video.
A video of what? Me? Saying what?
“Tell them I love them.”
Oh. But I am not a good public speaker.
“Neither was Moses.”
Over the next little while, I struggled as to how I would do this. How I could do this?
It was then that I read in Exodus 3:11-12 where Moses asked God the same things. And then in Exodus 4: 10-12 where Moses talked back and said but I can’t speak well. God did not budge. So, neither could I.
From there I found Matthew 28:19, also known as the great commission. It was all laid out for me as plain as day. All I then had to do was, well... Go and Tell!
That is when I started what I call “Soldier for Christ.” It is a web show that began in October 2015. It has spawned 143 videos, 4 books, and a Group study DVD with an accompanying workbook.
When I had someone subscribe to my videos from the Philippines I was floored. He had done it! He had taken my little 5-minute videos and somehow got people from the other side of the earth to see them. I can only pray that the words spoken provided hope.
I like to say that even if no one else ever saw any of the videos or read any of the books they at least helped one person get closer to God, Me. These videos were a way for me to literally live out loud for God. And trust me, making 143 videos is most definitely a struggle.