Not the Trevi Fountain!

We have a calendar up on our kitchen wall that our friends gave us commemorating a trip to Rome that we made together last year. Each month includes photos taken on the trip. It also has the birthdays of each of us and the anniversaries of all three couples. This comes in very handy for guys like me who live with a certain amount of pride because we actually manage to remember our wife's birthday... most years.

For the month of July there are two photos. The one on the left shows the three ladies with wonderful smiles in front of a landmark we had mistakenly identified as the Trevi Fountain . They look like they are enjoying the time of their lives with good friends - even though they have no idea of what is really behind them.

The photo on the right shows the three men.

I like the picture of the three guys because we all seem to accurately communicate what we bring to the relationship we have enjoyed together since the Sixties. I am on the left of the photo, grimacing and flexing my imaginary muscles. I may have been trying to be funny, or, it could have been the pain I was experiencing that particular afternoon. At any rate, I look like I could cause some trouble. On the other hand, Joe is in the center and looks like the steady strength and glue he has always been in our relationship together. Gary is on the right and appears to be about ready to reach for the guidebook in his satchel. There is no doubt he is going to try to figure out where we are and where the actual Trevi fountain is located. Gary is good at figuring things out and making plans.

A strength of a good friendship, ministry team or church is when each person understands who they are; what their gifts and strengths are; and, how to serve each other while being true to who God has made each one of us. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (ESV) In a church made up of Jews, including the former head of the synagogue, pagan Gentiles, slaves and wealthy merchants, it was incredibly important for each member to understand what they brought to the koinonia of the local fellowship.

Unfortunately, we often spend great portions of our lives trying to be something other than who God has made us to be - this is especially true for men. Even in ministry (or, maybe, especially in ministry) we tend to try and imitate whoever is the most successful, popular or "best-selling." We forget the truth that "... we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

One of the joys I have had with my closest friends and co-workers is experiencing the freedom of being who I am and knowing that God can use that for His glory. My personality is one that moves very quickly between being the class professor to that of being the class clown and back again. Sometimes I wish I could be the principal, "good student" or, even, the school janitor. However, I am never really comfortable in those roles.

In the 1980 film version of Popeye, actor Robin Williams wonders “what” he is. He asks first: “ What am I, some kind of barnacle on the dingy of life?" Later he asks, “What am I, some kind of a judge or lawyers (sic)? Maybe not, but I knows what laws suit me.” Finally, he concludes with the defining lines, "I yam what I yam."

If we are followers of Jesus Christ, we can have the certainty that we are who we are for His honor and glory. Each one of us has been given gifts and talents to help us build up the community of believers. For us, a "purpose-filled life" does not have to remain a former best-seller. Instead, it describes what God has called each one of us to.