Is you is, or is you ain't Johnny Bravo?

Greg Brady as Johnny Bravo.

Several years ago I bought a really cool journal.  I had heard that journaling was a great way to remember the things that God had done, or that you were learning.  I figured if I was going to journal, it needed to be cool.  So I bought one.  That was several years ago.  So far, I have only one journal entry, and I'd like to share it here.

I have many skills and abilities that I can and have used for you God.  Many things you have allowed me to do.  But how many of those things are what I'm supposed to do?  How do all those things relate to what you have called me to do?  John Eldredge has a quote in one of his books.  "Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that...." it's attributed to someone else, but I read in Wild at Heart.  So anyway, I sit and I think about that.  What makes me come alive.  And then it hits me.  There is only one thing that makes me come alive, and that's youth ministry.  God I've put that desire aside for a season because I thought you were leading me other places.  Turns out that God it wasn't you leading me.  It turns out that for too many years, I've let people tell me that because I can do this or that,  that that is what I need to do.  But God, that's no different than that episode of The Brady Bunch, where Greg gets  a record deal, not so much because he has the talent they were looking for, but because he 'fit the suit, man.'  God, I DON'T WANT TO BE JOHNNY BRAVO!  I don't want to do anything just because I can.  I want to do what you called me to do, and what makes my heart come alive.


What is funny is that since that writing, I've found myself off and on being Johnny Bravo.  I hate that.  I remember writing that line 'God, I DON'T WANT TO BE JOHNNY BRAVO!' and the freedom I felt at that moment.  I'm shouting that out right now, because I find myself in a pivotal time that is causing me to re-think, re-evaluate, and re-group on a lot of things, and I'm not going to let anyone tell me that I need to be Johnny Bravo, just because I fit the suit, man.

So my question to you:  Have you let someone convince you that you are Johnny Bravo, just because 'you fit the suit, man?'  If you are, can I suggest you find your suit, not Johnny's.  You'll find your heart starting to come alive the moment you do.