The Day I Learned I'm Not a Jedi

Do you remember the scene at the beginning of “Return of the Jedi” where Luke is about walk the plank, and be forced into the Sarlacc pit, but last minute he spins around grabs the plank, throws himself back up and then goes hog wild with the lightsaber? If you don’t, just read the question again, but this time more as a statement.
 
Are you all caught up? Good, so one day I’m at the public pool, enjoying life, when suddenly I find myself on the diving board (for a more accurate mental picture, I’m wearing a Power Ranger life jacket, but that’s not as important). I’m trying to figure out what sick move I’m going to do, and I’ve got it narrowed down to a front flip and a cannon ball. Now if I do the front flip, there’s a ninety percent chance I’m going to hit the water with my back and that normally stings, but my cannon ball wasn’t the tsunami inducing force it is today. And then it hit me. Luke. Skywalker.

I walk out to the end of the diving board, looked out upon the water, and start to run. I jumped in the air, what felt like several feet, I spun around, prepared to grab the board, and hit my chin on the board and busted it open. I needed like seven stitches. The lifeguard on duty told my parents my head snapped back so fast, they were certain I was dead.
 
Let’s face it, some of us are not good at all things. I’d venture to say that MOST of us are not good at all things. We WANT to be good at them, but we’re not.
 
When it comes to spiritual gifts, we want to be like Swiss Army knives. But the truth is, that’s just not plausible. For every spiritual gift you do have, there’s several out there that you don’t.
 
Maybe you’re a teacher, maybe you’re a leader, maybe you have the ability to discern different spirits. Whatever you have, use it, nourish it, spend time with the Lord figuring out how to use your gift, and make it happen. It may not be the gift you think you wanted, but it’s the one that you have been given, and there is immense potential in its use.
 
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12 “29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.”
 
I am not a Jedi, and after all this time and some professional help, I’ve come to terms with that,  but maybe I can have a servant's heart, and a desire for knowledge and wisdom. That seems like an equal trade. I’m probably not coordinated enough to use a lightsaber, and I get winded pretty easy, so the Jedi life might not be for me anyway.

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John Birkey

John has been a part of the Highland Praise Team since 2013, and became our Worship Leader in late 2015. John has been a musician for most of his life and has been playing in praise bands for several years. He also serves as the Worship Leader for Highland's Celebrate Recovery program.