Part 1: Why Not Having It All Together Never Makes You Less

Hi, I'm John Lynch and this is John Lynch Speaks. Today is the first video of two videos, I hope, on things I can't do. You see this? Let me see, I don't know if I can get it. No, it doesn't flip around. Let me show it to you. See that that's a skill, variable speed, keyless, chuck drill. I show it to you just because it's part of the story that I need to go outside for. That drill, I use every... never. I don't know what to do with it. I have it. I think Stacey's used it. Other people have come over and use it. I, maybe, have used it twice and I don't, I can't remember about what for.

So the real story here is about my fence. Okay, see this, it's an old fence. We never really stained it to keep it from getting bad. But right here, these slats, somebody drilled in, you know, like little staple nails. Well, over time, they've kind of, the wood has kind of enveloped it and pulled out. And now I've just got these slats all the time, falling down, like a nuisance to the neighborhood.

So Super Bowl Sunday, I get the drill. I've got these wood screws and I'm thinking, I'll get the extension cord and I'll bring it out here and I'll be like a hero in the neighborhood and my wife will be just more drawn to me. Well, first thing, I get the extension cord out and I plug in the variable speed chucks drill. And it doesn't work. I'm thinking, I can't believe it, my extension cord doesn't work. That's not right. Okay, I'll try another one because I've got a number of them. And I try that one and it doesn't work. I say, “What's the chances of that?” So I'm thinking, okay, I know what it is, the outlet doesn't work. So I go to another, the lower outlet, and that doesn't work either. So now I'm just confounded. And so I plugged in the drill somewhere else, thinking, okay, the drill doesn't work. And well, it works in another outlet. So I know I have a working drill, but no ability to make extension cords work anywhere.

And then Stacey walks by and she says, “What are you doing?”

I say, “Well, trying to get this drill to work. So I can put in these wood screws into the fence because they're falling down, three a day.”

And she says, “You know, you have to have a light on, turn that switch on for that outlet to work.”

“Oh yes, of course. I knew that.” So I turn the switch on, everything's working. Now, I'm out here ready to put the screws into the fence.

And Stacey says, “How are you going to do that?”

And I said, “Well, with the variable speed chuck drill, saw. Not saw. You know, drill.”

And she says, “Those things are so big. Those screws, those wood screws that you have, they're gonna... This is old wood, it's going to break it apart.” And she was right, of course.

So I think I wasted an hour, hour and a half doing that. And I've done this before. I don't work on things. My dad didn't teach me, whatever excuse I've got, I don't work with things well that involve my hand and tools. Or feet, for that matter.

So, I say all that because this is something I can't do, and you couldn’t train me to do, I just don't have it. I hurt the team every time I try to do something, a project like this. Well, all that to say to you, we all have stuff like that. I just happen to have a lot of it. I can do one or two things well, and I'll show you another one this next time. But anyways, I wanted to share that to say to you, I walked in that day feeling like I do this, I'm just a failure, I'm a mess, I know I can't do anything, I'm disappointing Stacey, I'm disappointing God, I'm disappointing the history of mankind. And I want you to know that's my first thought. And now, as I have gradually come to believe who Jesus says I am and how much He is crazy about me, I now realize that that's okay. I lost an hour and a half, but I got a great illustration. And so I want to tell you, I know there's things in your life that you feel like this proves I'm not a good person. That's what I felt like that day, I'm not a good person. You are. And we are in this together. And He made you exactly who He wanted you to be with all your capacities and lack of capacities. And He says, “I wanted you on this planet at this time.”

All right, you guys, I'll see you later. This is John Lynch for John Lynch Speaks.