"Go Back"

Go back, go back, go way on back,

To when I was a boy,

A fifties kid, the things I did,

With a six-gun cowboy toy.

Watched cowboys close, and Roy the most,

On a black and white TV,

Three channels strong, to right the wrong,

The white hats won, you see.

A simple time, left far behind,

But when e’er I looked,

A cowboy stood, and always would,

‘Twas God’s plan in my book.

And then I’m grown and should have known,

What we all had back then,

Did other things but always seemed,

I’d ride and rope again.

Got older still, but like some bill,

That you can never pay,

My cowboy dreams, it always seems,

Just would not go away.

Decades gone, and was I wrong,

To love the cowboy way,

The answer’s no, and time will show,

That God said it’s okay.

A-horseback now and still somehow,

I find His will for me,

I’ve played my role, God’s in control,

And He will always be.

I know it’s true what we should do,

Is not our will, but His,

But what runs deep, His promise keep,

I’ll also tell you this,

Identity is ours, you see,

A gift He gives us all,

And trying to, be another you,

Will only miss His call.

Whatever He calls you to be,

No matter how that plays,

Surrender all, don’t fight the call,

But live it all your days.

For me to be, God’s tool you see,

Means go back to my roots,

The Spirit fills and peace instills,

This man in hat and boots.

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day passed…” (Psalm 139:16, NLT)

God knows us, and knows what makes us tick. He gifts us with our basic DNA, personality type, and biochemistry. We do not choose our parents nor where we grow up or how, but all this is used to develop us into the person we are meant to be. Some people get the notion that Christian believers become plain-vanilla, generic clones of each other in order to gain spiritual points. The profile is bland at best. But what if all the exciting parts of who you are and what you love aren’t sinful at all? What if God simply wants to harness that passion for His glory? Then would it be okay to enjoy being you? I think so, and this scripture and others like it indicate that it’s all part of God’s ongoing plan for us, even when we don’t see it or totally understand.

Lord, lead us into who we were meant to be so that we can do what we were meant to do, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Teal Blake, tealblake.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Teal, and God bless you.