Passion IT

It is always tough for me when meeting someone new to ask them, “What do you do?” Mostly to the selfish fact that I don’t want to open a conversation with someone (apparently that I just met since I don’t know what they do) and them begin complaining. I don’t like giving that first impression nor do I like receiving it. So I stole this idea from a good friend. He asks, “What are you passionate about?” What a great question! What a great conversation starter! So, friend, I am now adopting your saying and will begin to use this in my everyday walk as I meet new people. I like it!

My now good friend asked me this several months ago and I completely dodged the question. I offered up some jokes, created some laughter, and threw out some things like my work, social media, & technology. I gave him just the basic answers. I have always known my passion but completely burned as of late so I didn’t want to share it with anyone. Even today, while writing this post, I won’t share my passion. I will refer to my passion as IT for the remainder of my blog for a variety of reasons. Being felt burned by “church(es)”, by people, and by my own agenda at times is not why I don’t want to share IT with you. As a former “church skeptic”, I want you to watch God do His thing from distance. I will continue to refer to IT throughout my blog and will dedicate many posts just about my passion. I love to share what is going on in our lives through my blog but I want to invite you on this journey with me. Let’s first be clear on what being passionate means. Should be a fairly simple answer to the question, “What would you do if money didn’t matter?” If you didn’t have to worry about bills, mortgages, car payments, credit card debt, and everything else life hands us, what would you do? I have had some answer these questions with, “I’d be a high school football coach, not a teacher but just a coach!” That is actually one of my answers but it’s not IT that I am writing about. IT is much bigger than that. I have had one say, “I would opening a free tutoring school for inner city kids.” Another friend said, “I would buy a riding lawn mower and mow elderly peoples’ grass that couldn’t do it them-selves.” From these examples, you can see where their passion lies. All of my friends that have told me have already formulated a plan to reach their passion because we think about this every single day of our lives. For me, I would give up everything for IT. So, vaguely, let me introduce you to my passion, IT.

I thought that I had discovered my true passion at a very young, football. I just knew this was the desire of my heart. During my senior year of high school, as God was trying to shake me up a little to get me focused on IT (and off of football), I listened some but continued steadfast on the “desire of my heart”, Tennessee Football. The University of Tennessee was my only option. My mom had always pushed me to do whatever I put my mind to and instilled in me many verses which many are now my “life-verses” like Phillipians 4:13, “I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me.” Another one is Matthew 6:33, “Seek God and His Kingdom first, and He shall give you the desires of you heart.” On the other hand, my father was what he called himself, a realist. He always told me, “Son, you got to have a Plan B & Plan C to fall back on!” Well, like any good son, I made a Plan B & Plan C. Plan A was to play middle linebacker at the University of Tennessee. Plan B was to play Fullback. Plan C was to move to a new position for me called Tight End. I had great hands in high school so I could make the transition. Going into my senior year of high school, when guys were thinking about cars, girls, and prom. I hit two-a-days (summer football practice) with 30lbs of extra weights on me in hip weights, chest weights, ankle-weights. I knew that I continued to practice with an extra 30lbs on me, I would play at a much faster, stronger, and bigger pace in the games. As the letters began to hit the mailbox and the papers came out, I began to thank God for what he was doing for me. Elected football Captain by my teammates, I gave God all the “public” glory that I knew how to do but I continued only listen to him when I had time. I began to focus on the wrong part of Matthew 6:33. Here was the Bradley James version of that verse, “Seek God and His Kingdom when you have some spare time, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” So I was knocking it out given my own translation of bible. Then I very strongly believe that God showed me how minute that I was. He introduced me to a sprinkler. I stood at 6’0’’, 247lbs., holding the high school bench press and squat records and God introduced me to a sprinkler. I ran the 40yd dash in less than 4.8 secs and had 36” thighs that squatted over 750lbs. I could shed three blockers with my 380lb bench press strength and take the complete breathe from an opposing quarterback or ball carrier. The previous scrimmage at Campbell County I would record 27 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 124 yards rushing with 8 receptions out of the backfield. God was good! We had the entire defense designed around the middle linebacker, me. The offense was game planned around where I was. I just knew that God had placed me right where I needed to be to fulfill my heart’s desires but then, He introduced me to a sprinkler.

You may not know where or what the 5^th metatarsal is and I am glad because I want to discuss this 5^th metatarsal with you in complete medical terminology so that this injury would seem as tragic as possible. With what I am about to share, you can very well put a “super-spiritual, churchy” spin on it and say it was the devil just trying to cause grief in your life, blah, blah, blah, but that IS NOT what happened. Perry Noble at Unleash said it best when he said, “God will bring you to a place where you are desperate for Him because that is what He desires.” That is what happened. God introduced me to a sprinkler where I would have a simple fracture in the 5^th metatarsal on my right foot. Sounds serious right? I used this terminology throughout high school while I was on crutches for many reasons but just mostly girls attention, LOL (my wife is going to go off about this). So what exactly happened in “non-medical” terms. I broke my pinky toe. I can look back on this now and hear God saying, “Hello, excuse me, Brad, do I have your attention now? This is God and we need to talk about your heart’s desires. They are going to need to change.”

Here I sit almost 11 years later as God begins to shake me once again about IT.
So, I truly want to share this journey the 100+ people that read my blog. But I really want to hone in on the “prayer skeptic” that reads this each week. I read your comments, Facebook posts, and see your thumbs up from time to time. I am writing this post specifically for you. I want you to know that IT is above all else in my life and I am praying like man that has gone insane. This time I will choose to follow Job’s example and say, “God, at all costs, I have decided to follow you.” I encourage you
to monitor the ‘Passion’ posts and watch this thing unfold. You are the main reason for deciding to write this in this manner. Many times myself, I have wondered if prayer really works. If you are wondering today, it does and God is going to prove it as I blog about IT. IT may not happen today but God has showed IT to me. IT will happen. When IT happens, you’ll know. If you see that I have quit my job, sold the house, gave away everything we own. You can say, I remember when Brad wrote about something like this. As some of you know that our family’s business is expanding which puts me in a similar position as I was in high school because it is a place that I have always wanted to be. But do not be mistaken when God doesn’t have to show me how minute I am again or break another pinky toe for me to listen. God showed me this 11 years ago and I am no dummy. He is beginning to shake my life once again, upside down and I choose to listen. This time I can see. I can hear. I can follow. IT will be life changing.

If you want to follow posts just about my passion or IT you can do so by clicking on the right side under Categories. I have created a new category called, “Passion”.