Tools

I was walking past Chris Mitchell’s truck the other night and admiring his vast array of tools. I looked across the room at Billy Ellenburg and said to myself, “Self…I bet Billy has a lot of cool tools as well.” After a short conversation with myself I began to think about the tools of my trade…not that my tools make me any less of a man they are just different.

I’m still new to this stuff but I feel I’m equipped to do the job that has been set in front of me:

I have a pair of 10 year old brown loafers which are nothing like a fine wine…they have not gotten better with age. They are cracked and cannot be worn when it is wet out or they get waterlogged and begin to smell.

I pretty much have two pairs of pants and then some dress clothes…Jeans and khakis. These go well with the handful or polo (style not brand) shirts that I have to wear to meetings and class.
My accessories include a necklace that I have been wearing for about 4 years and 237 days, a bracelet that a Jamaican suckered me into buying in Paris, my graduation ring, an anklet that Jessica Mitchell made me months ago, a watch I hardly look at, and my beard that makes me look older than the teens I work with.

I have a man-bag (satchel, messenger bag, whatever you want to call it) that broke this past Thursday that typically holds my laptop, book I’m currently reading, backup book in case I get board with said book, and the Good Book…my Bible I was given when I graduated from High School.

Like my shoes, my Bible has seen many miles. Unlike my shoes, it has been rebound before and doesn’t smell bad. This is the Bible I used when sitting in my classes in college…so I have a lot of memories with it. I preached my first sermon here out of it. I teach out of it. I level projectors with it.

I guess I listed this stuff to say…we all have different tools but we can do ministry with our tools. I can get jealous of Chris and Billy’s tools but those are what they have to work with to reach this world. Use the tools you have to bring God’s Glory to the people around you.