I have had a relatively easy life. Nobody has tried to kill me (that I’m aware of). Nobody has really gone out of their way to really hurt me. I barely made it through high school because I believed it wasn’t worth the effort. I bounced from campus to campus and major to major after high school trying to “find myself” only to end up being the manager of a retail store where I ended up stealing a thousand dollars and getting fired - but even in this, I was allowed to pay the money back over time and never went to jail for it.

This landed me in the military where I really, really wanted to work on jets. Ouch - turns out that was four years of doing something I really, really disliked. But, at least they paid me to figure this out. In the military… I really didn’t have to try that hard to do anything, because, frankly, most of the people I worked with were slackers. Pretty easy to go through everything pretty nonchalantly and just do your job and look pretty golden. I got nominated for airman of the month a few times and people really liked me… but, I never really amounted to much (not self-deprecation - just true).

Throughout my life, I’ve never really had to try hard and, most of the time, I was one of the smartest people in the room. There were few problems I couldn’t figure out and most of my friends looked to me when they wanted some advice or were looking for an answer. A very easy life, indeed.

The problem was, this left me arrogant. When I believed something was right - by God it was! I felt that I could speak with authority on anything - even things for which I had little experience. After all, most problems in the world had a logical solution that fit specific patterns. With just a little information, I could give profound advice about any given subject (whether I really knew anything or not).

This became worse when I really felt that I did actually know something about the subject at hand. I am still battling with this today - even though I know this about myself, I struggle against arrogance every day. I am praying and struggling to become a humble and winsome man. I want to listen intently to what people have to say - to understand the whys and the heart behind what they think or believe. After listening, I wish to speak with passion, but without arrogance - not trying to bludgeon them with my superior (hah!) intellect.

If you’re reading - I ask that you would consider praying for me as I go through this character change that God has initiated in my heart. Only He can truly change a character. I know the temperament (personality) that I have was given to me by God and He can redeem the rough edges that come out due to the sin in my own heart and use those elements of my personality that tend towards arrogance (like confidence) to His greater glory.