Find your Purpose

As we go day-to-day through our lives, what stands out to you? What is your purpose? What are you good at? Do you excel in an area of your life? Does it have a positive influence on your life? Have you used this ability to help others? Why or why not? Do you want to excel or improve in an area that you feel you have a talent or ability in?

These are the kinds of questions we should ask ourselves every day. We have a purpose here, each one of us. We are each given things we are good at. But sometimes it is difficult to realize these abilities in our culture. America is full of people that are only out to please themselves. This is a destructive lifestyle. We need to look at what we do, as a career, as a hobby, everything we do and analyze it. Does it improve my life or does it take away? Does it give to someone else or does it harm them?

I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up... I am now grown up. But I have discovered through various events in my life that I am good at making things better. I have realized that seeing how something could make someones life easier or improving the way things were accomplished came from an early age. When I was 6 years old, I was very neat - still am. My room was never messy and I had an almost obsessive compulsive way about me to have things in order. Order equaled peace. Without order I was a mess. No pun intended.

In my early teens I realized I had an ability to invent. I have always been into cars no matter what the make or model. I loved the idea that you put the key in, turned it, the engine started, the gas pedal made it go, the shifter made it go faster, etc., etc. I loved to know how things worked. When I saw ways to make these things better, I would dream about how to do that. My mind would race (and still does) to the furthest expanse of my imagination. Then I would reel in to reality and decide what part of these dreams could actually be accomplished. In 8th grade, I went to a private school, Neskowin Valley School, nestled in the foothills of the Coast Range at the base of Cascade Head near the little beach town of Neskowin. There I discovered this ability even more so. I remember a project in particular where we were asked to invent something for our science class. Being a private school, we had no official school bus so we would carpool. I rode in another classmates parents minivan (a Ford Aerostar) that I got to know very well. Being into music my entire life (I had my first "walkman" when I was 8 and "Men at Work" and "The Cars" were my first exposure to "modern" music) I hated wearing those old foam headphones, so thought of adding small speakers into the headrests of the minivan and attaching them to the stereo controls in the back seats of the van. There were several other things I did that were "inventive" that are actually now standard in minivans today.

Later, after high school, and after encouragement from my wife, I went into college to study Computer Aided drafting. After a year of that I was bored so moved onto graphic design. This led to web design, photography, painting, and currently organizational skills for use within the college where I work. The whole purpose for explaining all of this is not to gloat about how "special" I am. It is meant to be an illustration of how we can look back into our life and see a pattern. Sometimes the patterns are not obvious at first but they ARE patterns. We can use this information to narrow down what we are good at and then consciously use these abilities.

The bigger reason for this post is not only to discover abilities. At the age of 19 I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior. To most (non-Christians) they don't really know what this means except that it has become a "catch-phrase" among Christians and Evangelicals. At the time, I really didn't know what it meant, except that I believed (like a mustard seed size) that I was not in control of my own life (rather I shouldn't be in control). High school was a blur and I did not want to keep down that beaten path. Something needed to change and I knew it wasn't within myself to make this change. My journey into my 20s went from surfing with Christian bros to partying again in Salem with old high school buddies during college years. My marriage, only 3 years old, was suffering because of my destructive behavior. A change was needed - again. My wife and I committed to going to church every weekend and haven't looked back. Since my recommitment 10 years ago, God has done amazing things in my life. I am humbled by his grace and mercy on my dirty soul. And best of all, I am forgiven for all that bad stuff I have gone through and every day of my life.

Abilities are given to us for a purpose. God's purpose. He buries them deep within us and slowly molds us to a point where we realize these are gifts from him. That is where the real fun begins. You want to know where JOY and HOPE comes from? It comes from changed lives. It comes from forgiveness. It comes from knowing Jesus on a personal level - not an unreachable god but a personal, loving, gentle, strong GOD. He loves you and wants a relationship with you. If you would like to know more about this contact me: corey@salemsurfers.com.

FIND YOUR PURPOSE