Tonight after we got the kids to bed, my wife and I were cleaning and doing some work around the house. While we were working, I put on the second installment of the fabled Rocky movie series. In Rocky II, the eponymous Rocky sets out to make a good living for his family, trying his monstrous hand at a few different occupations. It proves to be a hard road, as many of us know, and one where trouble mounts upon trouble when things were already difficult. During his crisis of responsibilities, Rocky decides to fight again.
In my life so far I have tried my hand at many things. Lately, most of those ventures have had the underlying motive of trying to make ends meet for my family. And, gentlemen, there's nothing wrong with that. However, I remember tonight that through all of the things that I try and think about trying the one thing that remains, in my mind, as my commission from the Lord is to be the best father and husband that my kids and my wife could have. They are the one thing that God has led me to lay down all of my other pursuits for. And, true to form, the Lord has given me new pursuits that involve them.
Just like when Adrian told Rocky to win, God, Himself, has spoken to my heart and said to fight for my family (Nehemiah 4:14). He has called me to the fight for my family and for other families as well. When the Lord calls you, don't worry about what anyone else thinks or has to say about it. There won't be anything else that you'll be able to do. In Jeremiah 20:9, the prophet Jeremiah tried to stop speaking the Word of God, but found that he couldn't. He said: "But if I say, 'I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,' then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it." Some people won't understand. Some will think that you ought to be doing something else that makes more sense, and some of them will tell you so. Don't you wish they knew what you know?