Fifty-three Cents Isn’t Much

Posted on 01/08/10, in Inspiration, by bradhensley

A senior in high school and eighteen years old, a man approached me to tell me that he didn’t respect my walk with Christ because it was too inconsistent. I didn’t get angry, he had a good point. I was the senior captian of the football team; I was the head recruiter for FCA; I was the guy that carried his bible to and from every class and laid in loudly on my desk. I was the guy that told everyone that I felt the calling to be a Pastor at the age of seventeen. My walk shouldn’t have been inconsistent. I wasn’t a “party” guy; I wasn’t a smoker, drinker, or ever even cursed in high school but I still knew I was inconsistent. With that statement, that man nearly crushed me. I did know he had a point but if I have ever prayed to minister to anyone it would have been this particular man. You see, I had prayed for thirteen years that this man would turn his life over to Christ. That he would get involved in a church, somewhere or someday. I remember being seven years old and “fasting” from television because I thought you could just “fast” or give up anything that was important in your life and God would answer your prayers for it. And as a seven year old, I was certain that cartoons were a lot more important to me then food. So I fasted television for 40 days. Its really true. If you don’t believe me, call my mom. LOL

Let me go off track for a minute to share a passion that I have in common with my first-cousin, David Hensley Jr. It’s the lake. There isn’t anything better than “perfect water” at around 7:30pm or 8:00pm when all the tubers put their boats up and we can play hard and fast. On the kneeboard, wakeboard, or whatever; as long as we are behind a boat with a rope and on something. It is perfected ultimate happiness. Our dream one day is to own a boat designed and handcrafted by Malibu. The WakeSetter 247 LSV. It is a MAN’s boat! It will host 16 people, and flys across the water pushing 505 horsepower with a standard hull type V25 wake. It’s what the Pro tour uses. It. Is. A. MAN’s Boat! But it boasts an absolutely ridiculous price tag of around $70,000.00, so until we hit the corresponding 5 numbers plus the Powerball we will continue to dream about it.

I first got on a kneeboard, behind a boat at the age of about 18 months; in fact, I was still in diapers. Since then I have had many experiences on and around the lake, not missing many chances to find that “perfect water”. If there is anything that I have learned it is this: “Make sure that the boatplug is in”. You see it doesn’t matter how much horsepower your boat has; it doesn’t matter how many people it can hold; it doesn’t matter the hull type or how much it cost; if you don’t have the boatplug in they all sink. A boatplug is an item that you can get at any boat dealer. It is about 1/2 inch in diameter, in fact, they are universal. You can buy one that fits a $2,500.00 boat to a $100,000.00 boat. The boatplug is all the same. The only function of this boatplug is to keep the boat from filling up with water and sinking, that’s it. That’s it but that being again very important. The cost of the boat plug, fifty-three cents. Fifty-three cents isn’t much. But try staying on a boat without spending that fifty-three cents. One day I’ll write about the time that we forgot to put the boatplug in and David drove around the lake frantically emptying water from the boat until I got the truck back onto the ramp, to get the boat out before it ended up at the bottom of Norris Lake. It is a hilarious story.

In 2004,on a Tuesday afternoon, I looked at my phone and knew something was different about the phone call I was going to take. It was the guy that 4 short years earlier told me that my walk with Christ was to inconsistent for him. As I looked down at my phone, I had an strange feeling that this would indeed be the last time that I would ever talk to that man. I read my phone as it said, “DAD”. I have seen my father cry once prior to this phone call. When I answered, he was so choked up he couldn’t speak. Finally, he said, “Brad, I want you to know that I love you and your sister with everything I have and if something happens to me that I am so sorry. Everyday I work hard to try to make a better life for you guys. I am so sorry.” My father was on the side of the interstate, in a tractor trailer, seriously contemplating taking his own life and didn’t know what to do. I told him four words as calm as I could say them to anyone, “Dad, you need Jesus.” The shortened, long story, is that he found Him. He found Jesus on the side of I-40 in pouring rain but the fact is he found Him. He made his way on home, found a church, got plugged in and hasn’t missed many Sundays since, and today we celebrated the one year birthday of his first grandson, Keagan Eyre Hensley.

For many years in my life, ignoring what anyone ever said, I did not think I had much value in my father’s life at times. I didn’t think I was worth a whole lot, but there was that one time. That one time when he was at his rock bottom he dialed me on his phone. You might say that he chose to call his son over his daughter or his wife, but I choose to believe that he called me because of my outward, expressional, faith and walk with Christ. As inconsistent as it may have been some days, that day he asked me to pray with him. No matter what I let the devil convince me of for many years, my walk with Jesus Christ was a crucial instrument in my dad sinking or floating. It was the boatplug in my father’s life. You may have a moment; a time; a year or four that you feel irrelevant or not worth a whole lot to someone but trust me they need you. You may be only worth fifty-three cents in their one hundred thousand dollar life but without you there, they will sink. God has planted each one of us in the area that he has for a specific purpose.

I strongly believe that purpose is the people that He has placed around us and the position that he has placed us in everyday at work, with our family, where we choose to eat, everywhere. I strongly disagree with the thought that you have to travel overseas or to a third world country to “share the love of Christ” or “spread the gospel” when people in our own family need him as much as anyone. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying here, I am in complete agreement that there is a calling for missionaries and I thank God for them, because it is definitely not me. But I think we, as the Church that God called us to be, need to focus more on reflecting Jesus throughout our everday lives, instead of saving it all to act out on a trip planned by our local church planning committee.

Maybe you were like me at one time, maybe you feel that you aren’t worth much. Maybe you feel that you aren’t where you need to be in life or your walk with Christ. I pray that you find that place and that you get that experience that I had with my father to realize that you and your walk with Christ are, in fact, a crucial fifty-three cent plug in your friends, family, or coworkers life.I also pray that if you don’t have a home church or are looking for some place to get plugged into that you check us out at OneLife Church. We meet in Powell High School on Sunday mornings at 11:00am. I am inviting you to be a guest of mine, soon Pastor Rodney is going to make me get my own section. LOL! But its okay.

Father, I pray for all that read my blog post and I thank you for allowing me to use this as a tool for your ministry. I pray that they begin thinking about you on a deeper level, everyday. I pray that you bless them and open their minds to see just the little glimpses of you each day. I also pray that you allow all of us to begin to reflect you throughout our everyday lives more and more. Father, if anyone is struggling like I once did in this area, I pray, please begin to show them the people that they are a plug to. Show them that their walk with you is in fact changing lives and people are noticing. Thank you, Lord for everything that you are doing at OneLife Church and in our lives, everyday. Amen.