Suprise Endings

A crisis of faith begins when your view of the world is challenged or totally undone. But every crisis resolves like any good short story. The problem for most of the 6 billion plus on the planet is that we only like resolution when it’s to our liking. Or maybe I underestimate people.

In any case, I think it’s time to blow my own cover. This whole 6ixth Man thing is nothing less than a testament to the truth that God teaches. And I have to credit God because everyone at some point references deity. Expressions about God come all through life, some positive and others dismissively morbid. As people ask, “What is 6ixth Man” I struggle to package a neat and tidy definition because I think too hard. The simple explanation is that life is a series of contests. It’s you and me versus disappointment, rejection, death, racism, sexism, politics, nepotism and the like. Grapple, scrape and claw while on your knees praying and you’re still often met with a different resolution than you anticipated. You’re also left to decide if life is a roller coaster of coincidence and happenstance or something more orchestrated.

At the heart of my mission via blog, book and coaching lies a true desire to see people confront reality. Confrontation is violent and feelings/preconceptions get hurt. I want people to bravely examine themselves because if you don’t look at yourself in true light, you might very well convince yourself that you never cheated, never lied, never lusted, never felt shame, never wished harm, never displayed arrogance. In the struggle is a lesson but it only surfaces, I’ve found, if you confess your flaws. The Christian world calls this sin and you don’t have to be Sunday School Sam/Samantha to be guilty.

We all are found lacking when it comes to aspects of character and beyond that fact, no positive character trait is created in a vacuum. If Every hardship teaches a lesson, is it possible that the hardship was placed in your path by someone? That’s what I want people to explore. I’m just daring myself and y’all to dig deep – as deep as you can into yourself and your journey. The way I see it, in a world where so many people believe so many different things, maybe I can get people to tell a seminary graduate/basketball enthusiast what or who they think is responsible for giving us wisdom at the expense of our comfort. Happy Monday.