Be Ready For The Opportunity

I, like everyone else, have been fixated on the magnificent story of "Second Chances" that Ted Williams gives us. Williams, to those few who do not know, was a homeless man who fell on hard times after succumbing to drugs and acohol abuse. He found himself living on the street after he destroyed a promising career through personal vices. But Williams, a trained radio announcer, thought that he would use his voice on the side of the street. Unlike other panhandlers, he would "speak" for the dollar that you give him. He would use his career even on the side of the road.

Use Your Gifts At All Times

Williams teaches us that we must find a Way to use your gifts wherever we find ourselves. Brother Williams didn't allow his circumstances to remove from him his ability to use his gifts. In fact he found a way to distinguish himself from others who were asking for money, he would use the gift that not only God gave him, but he cultivated in the past. Don't give up on your gifts, use them. If Ted Williams can find a way to use a "radio-voice" as a homeless man on the side of the road, then you can use that gift that God has given to you.

Williams story also teaches us that our whole life can be changed in a moment. Ted Williams was on the side of the road one day and the next day he was on television and has the number one video on YouTube. One day he watched people walk by him without even looking his way, the next day he has to be picky which job he will take. One moment is all it takes.

Be Ready For Your Time

Finally, Ted Williams' story teaches us to be ready for our time. I remember one of my seminary professors told me once, "One day you will have a big opportunity, I just want you to work so that you will be ready for it." If Williams hadn't been working on his voice. If williams wasn't ready for that YouTube video. Then we would not be talking about this magnificent story of redemption. Williams was ready. Today, you have God given gifts that you haven't been exercizing. You want to be a singer and you don't have a song ready. You want to be a preacher and you haven't worked on a sermon. You want to be an author and you aren't even working on an article. You never know when your time will come. You never know when your chance will come. You never know when circumstnaces will align to give you that one break. Since you don't know, get ready and be ready. You need to get ready!

Your Situation Is Not Your End

Your current situation is not necesarily where you will end. Your pain does not have to have the final say. You may have made poor choices in the past, but that is not the end. Don't let go of your gifts and don't let go of your God. Remember to cultivate your gifts, remember to use your gifts, and remember to hold on to the hopes for the future with a resolute determination. I cannot promise that you will be on TV, but I can say that God will use that gift for God's glory if you will just make it ready and give it to God.