With the danger of showing my complete lack of pop culture,
I will post this anyway. Recently at some training I was sharing some of my
story. I was sharing how much I am just an ordinary person that for some reason
God has called to something much bigger than myself. In many ways I feel like
the wrong person for the task but I am willing to answer the call. As I shared
someone suggested I read The Hobbit. So I check it out from the library and on
the front cover it says, “Now a major motion picture.” I had no idea. After
some research I found out that there are actually three movies, and they were
quite popular.
So I read the book. It was ok if you like that sort of thing
and I have a feeling that most people reading this have already read the book
or seen the movie so you have your own opinion. And this is not a review just
an observation. Bilbo, an ordinary hobbit, not looking for adventure, finds
himself on a crazy journey. He feels he doesn’t belong. He is not adventurous.
He is not talented. He is not magical. Yet for some reason he is needed. As the
journey unfolds he often finds himself in difficult situations. Hard pressed on
every side yet not crushed. How? Fate? Luck? And over and over in the situation
he does the same thing, he dreams of being home in his hobbit hole where all is
safe and sound.
Are we not in many ways the same? God wants us to live
beyond ourselves, beyond our comfort. It is at that point that we shine and He
shines even more. We often don’t feel like the right person for the adventure
or calling. We rationalize, “that is for someone else,” Or “that is not my
job,” Or “I am not called to that.” But the truth is it is only in such
situations that we grow. That we see God come through in amazing ways and are
strengthened in our faith.
The adventures are good. They push us and challenge us. Yet
we dread them. We withdrawal. And when we are hard pressed on every side we
just want to go back to the hobbit hole. This is me. Whenever the rubber hits
the road I am the first person to say, “why did I do this, I wish I was back
where everything is comfortable.” I have said that already on this journey
multiple times. But I am reminded that without being without getting out of my
comfort zone, nothing ever changes.
Overall I was not overly impressed with the book. But the last
paragraph is the best. Bilbo and Gandalf are reflecting on their journey. I
will paraphrase Gandalf’s words: do you think this journey was about you, do
you think that it was luck? After all you are just a small hobbit in a big
world. The same is true for us. This journey we call life is not about us.
After all we are just small people in a big world. This begs the questions: why
are you here? What is your purpose?
We
are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
~Josh
