Writing Out Loud

These days, I make a lot of my living by speaking. I speak routinely to groups ranging from 20 to 200. In a year, I'll talk to smaller groups at least 150 times. I'll talk to groups of 100 to 200 people 50 times.

To people who have known me in any other capacity, this has got to seem pretty funny. I am a quiet person. I'm not, nor have I ever been, outgoing. I've suffered much more in life from omission than commission when it comes to talking.

Yet, the job God put before me involves speaking. And it's really not that bad. In this specific context, I kind of enjoy it -- most of the time, anyway.

How to make sense of this?

On a personal level, I have to figure that talking to a group must be something like writing. That's something I generally know how to do. Only now, I'm writing out loud.

On a larger level, I have to figure that God has a great sense of humor. He took lots of little details in my life and, without my realizing it, pointed me to exactly where I am right now.

This process is one I've heard described as like working a tapestry. From the back, it seems to be nothing but a tangled mass of colored thread in messy knots. From the front, those threads flow together to form a beautiful picture.

I think about this with my own children, and with my students. What work will God put before them? I have no idea. But in incremental steps along the way, he'll get them ready, if they follow the plan.

Only the plan isn't always obvious. Maybe that's a good thing for some of us. It's a good thing I couldn't see where my tapestry was going. I'd never have believed it.