Excerpt from Laughing with Sarah

Here's a section from Chapter 4 in Laughing with Sarah:

God Works through Our Disabilities

I do not have great eloquence or superior wisdom. I can tell you that many times there is weakness, fear, and trembling. I’ll never forget my first real experience as a preacher. My first official appearance as a professional pulpiteer was in Los Angeles, California. I was a South Carolina boy from a Texas seminary in La-La land as a revival preacher/evangelist scheduled to speak at a week-long revival meeting. Nine services in a row, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and every night through the next Sunday morning.

For some reason, I thought I needed a different suit for each service. I didn't own any luggage, so I arrived from Dallas/Ft. Worth airport at LAX with my wife's matching pink luggage including pink hanging bag with nine suits. I was confident enough in my masculinity to carry pink suitcases through LA, but my confidence in my evangelistic skills were cause for concern. I was anxious before my first appearance that Sunday morning and worried about blending with the California culture with a Southern accent. Ten minutes before the service began, I overheard a senior adult lady say to a friend, "I'm glad this year's preacher is from Texas. The fellow we had last year was from South Carolina, and I couldn't understand a word he said."

Enter nausea.

Believe it or not, God used this pitiful excuse for a revivalist that week. God spoke to some people and lives were reinvigorated - at least temporarily. It was definitely not because of my great eloquence or superior wisdom. It was totally because of God working through a rookie preacher from the Deep South.

The truth is, I've heard a lot of popular speakers who are not the most eloquent, entertaining, or scholarly presenters. But God uses them because they are usable. That is what God wants, availability. You let him have your abilities, no matter how feeble they might be, and make yourself available, and he will use your humble service to draw others close to him.

Believe it or not, Paul was not an outstanding orator. He mentioned in one of his letters to the church in Corinth that some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."

Paul writes that he did not intend to preach "with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power." He did not want to speak in such a way that his human effort would persuade people. He depended on God’s Holy Spirit and divine power to do the work.

What does this mean for us in our everyday lives? You should live obediently for Christ, loving him, worshipping him, serving him, and trusting him. You should live out your faith within your own unique personality in the places where God has placed you with the people that God has put around you and depend on his Holy Spirit to speak through your life with wisdom and power.

You do what you know you should do, and God will take care of the rest. You will be amazed at what God can do through ordinary you.