What Am I Doing Here?
Ever ask yourself that question? I remember three times when I really, and I mean REALLY, took stock of where I was in life. How did I get there? Where was I going? Was it still what I wanted to do? Was it what I was supposed to be doing? Or had I ridden that horse right into the ground without realizing it?
The first time I was 27 years old, in Sarasota Florida…sitting deflated in a weight room well after 10:00 pm. I was trying to find the determination to get ready for yet another season of professional baseball.1 And year 8 was only four months away.
After wrestling with What am I doing here?, I stood up and walked out of that building, a retired baseball player. I was done…physically, mentally, and emotionally tired. The next day I packed up my bags and headed home.
Sometimes judgement comes in “What am I doing here?”
The second time came after the loneliest 12 months of my adult life. I was in Dallas, Texas on the back end of a bad break up and a not so glamorous job transfer.2 Calling it quits can be very hard to do. But once again I packed up and headed home. For the final time.
Life has taught me there are plenty of not-so-important times when we stop and take stock of where we are, what we are doing, and make adjustments. But then there is that occasional reckoning along the way with life-changing consequences.
Many reckonings deal with what we are doing here on this earth with our life, in worldly terms and outcomes. But what about in eternal terms and outcomes? There’s a point in life where What am I doing here? takes on an eternal meaning…and then you’re getting somewhere.
God asks, “What are you doing here that really matters?”
That’s God dealing with you. And if I can give you some advice, STOP AND LISTEN TO HIM! He is persistent, and I promise you’ll get tired before He does. That brings me to the third time I REALLY took inventory of What am I doing here?…about things that mattered in the eternal over the earthly.
The answer didn’t come immediately. It took time, even years, and resulted in God basically imploding my life until there was nothing left standing between Him and my stubborn self. I had ridden my “worldly” horse completely into the ground.
But like I said, God is persistent. He chased me for over 40 years before I finally stopped and took inventory…before I began to think in terms of eternal instead of earthly. But it happened for me, and it can happen for you. So if you find yourself in that empty place, get off your tired old horse, and…
Get In The Boat!…Do Your Part…Eternal over Earthly
From Nose to Toes!
Shane
Shane Hale is a redeemed & re-purposed professional baseball player and former corporate sales executive. Shane, his wife Michelle, and their three sons live in Mobile, Alabama, USA, where he works as a Realtor. While seeking God’s plan for his life in the summer of 2014, God told Shane to start writing. Today he shares his faith to encourage and inspire others to seek His plan for their lives as well. Check out his blog at http://www.the1sixproject.com.
Footnotes: (1) I had been playing in Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles organization. (2) Great company, bad timing, and the wrong location for Shane.
Pictures: Banner: Lonely Man by Shivam Singh, Unsplash.com. (1) Image from What Are You Doing Here? by Calhouns, ThePointOfReflection.blog, October 19, 2019.
