Volunteering | Living Life Unscripted

Today at church, we had the opportunity to hear a life changing message. All the services are, and all have life changing potential. The way our pastor speaks God’s heart and shares His word makes such an impact.

Today he talked about finding your place – the place where you can best reach out and make a difference. That place where your talents are best served. What do you love, where is your passion? If you are not passionate about where you volunteer or serve, you won’t enjoy it for very long. The way to avoid burn out is to enjoy what you do.

One thing that really stuck out was when he shared Job 10:8 from the Bible – where it talks about how God formed us with His hands, and in Psalm 139:13 where He knit us together and formed us exactly as we are.

Friends, you are a masterpiece. You are where you are to make an eternal difference in the lives of other people. God’s grace has you exactly where He needs you. You may not be perfect – NO ONE IS. Your life may be messy, and you may have painful experiences making up your life. Please trust that God can use those wounds to share strength and to make a difference in another life. Think about it. If you have experienced loss, you would likely identify more with someone who has also experienced a similar loss. It’s just allowing God to use your pain. It certainly won’t be easy, but it WILL be worth it.

For those of you who look in the mirror and just aren’t happy with what you see, let’s think for a moment about professional baseball players. A recent statistic showed the national batting average to be .251. Initially, you think “this is pretty good!” right!? And, it is. Pretty decent statistics. Those people are making millions of dollars, and can claim talent. Think about it this way. These same people, making the millions, experience FAILURE (on average) 75% of the time!!! How’s that for thought provoking!?

The very idea of excellence really is doing the best with what you have — knowing that you’re not “good enough” in your own strength to add up to any of these acclaimed accolades. However, you are exactly where He wants you. Like I said, His grace holds you and has you where you need to be right now.

Well, today marked the “end” of Family Friendly WIBI Radio. I say “end” because, as referenced in this post, the call letters “WIBI” have been retired, so to speak. But, all is not lost. Instead, a larger extended family is gained. At 7 PM this evening, the switch was flipped, and WIBI was officially taken under the wings of then sister stations WBGL and WCIC.

A little before 7 PM, I felt some unexpected emotions. I was not prepared for tears. As I sat there, I had both “sad” but also really happy tears. Sad, only because WIBI was instrumental in seeing me, my family and so many people through many trials and life’s circumstances. I am grateful for the friendships and prayers that have become a part of my life because of a radio station that put God first, and allowed Him to reach out across the airways to meet people exactly where they are. I have had the honor of meeting much of the staff, and many of the volunteers over the course of time. I consider myself blessed to have been able to volunteer in the WIBI studio several times in support of this station that has come to mean so much in so many lives. Hearing the voices essentially say goodbye, that was sad. Hearing them say, “but welcome to WBGL and/or WCIC” that was happy. Hearing the heartfelt passion and love the on air personalities have displayed and I’m sure will continue to display on an ongoing basis – it was heartwarming, and very much a blessing.

All of these reflections have me going back through some of the pictures I have taken over the course of spending time with the WIBI family. This has been an honor, one I am grateful to now be sharing with the WBGL family.

Anyway, I’d love to share some pictures and videos with you. I have plenty more – and as I sift through them, I will update. To any of you pictured in these photos, know it was an honor to meet you, and to have you as a part of my life. No matter how small or how large of a part you have played, know that I am grateful.