Take Two

The longer I live, the more perfection seems to be out of my grasp, even though Jesus told us in Matthew 5 to, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.'' One thing about admitting our flaws- we know have a great deal of company! The following is from September 9, 2007.

I'm excited. My summer plans included organizing my blog entries into a one per day devotional guide but issues with my folks' health shelved it, at least temporarily. Recently, I've become intrigued with recording these thoughts in an audio format instead of on paper. Adding audio to my website and making voice versions available could increase my marketablility. I've always believed the Lord puts people in our path who can help us succeed. This venture, the expertise comes from Paul Pollard, Westbury Christian's technical guru, and the designer/constructor of my book's website. I ran my idea past Paul and he thinks it has merit. Yesterday, we sat down in the conference room of our administrative offices and went to work. I brought with me fifteen of the devotionals and Paul explained the procedure. He set up a microphone as well as a camera to help him synch up the final product in case of mistakes. I was confident. I preach and teach so I spend my life talking. I perform wedding ceremonies using a script so I am used to going word-for-word. Each devotional can be read in three to four minutes so it would be a breeze. Paul advised me to mark the spot on the paper when I made a mistake to make it easier on him. The first one went off without a hitch. It was about an incident with one of my players from last season entitled, Does Jesus Care? It was the only flawless one- it went downhill from there. I made mistake after mistake. I stumbled over words that I pronounce with ease in conversational English. The harder I tried, the more I goofed up. I became increasingly frustrated with myself....but Paul never did. He just said, "Go back to.." and I would start over from a point directly preceding my blunder. We finished seven sections in a little over an hour. The final product will be excellent, as soon as Paul does his editing magic, but I wasn't prepared to fail like I did. I don't know how actors do it, especially with the pressure of big money and deadlines. I was wiped out when we finished.Do you ever feel like you can't do anything right, like the simplest task is beyond your capability? My dad is fighting that right now in his stroke recovery and I gained some empathy when the mike was turned on. Trying hard doesn't insure perfection, in our work or in our spiritual lives. Even that giant of righteousness, the apostle Paul, bemoaned his ineptness at the pursuit of perfection in Romans chapter seven. He concluded that the answer to his drowning in a world of sin was the ultimate life guard, Jesus Christ! We have no chance at sinlessness but we have the antidote to sin...and the solution to our frustration of continually failing to make it through a day without giving in to temptation. I have comfort in this new audio career that my good friend, Paul Pollard, will erase my flubs and make me sound worthy to tell the story of Jesus. And this is the story of Jesus: he takes my flaws and makes me perfect in the eyes of God through his precious blood. I don't have to mark my place or start the tape over. His editing is eternal and doesn't depend on my efforts. With Jesus in the heavenly control room, I'm sounding better all the time, even if my voice is just average. You know, I'm still dealing with a Nebraska twang!Applicable quote of the day:
"Have no fear of perfection- you'll never reach it."
Salvador DaliGod bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com