This morning as I was driving to school, I heard a compelling message by Dr. David Jeremiah.  He was talking about how the only thing we need ever be concerned with is one simple thing…to follow Christ.  Everything else is second.  He uses the illustration of Peter and Jesus.  Jesus tells Peter to follow Him, and Peter looks behind him and sees John, and asks, “Lord, what about this man?”  Here’s the key.  Jesus says, “What’s it to you?  Does it matter if I choose to let him die tomorrow or live until I come again?  The only thing you need to concern yourself with is following me.” (paraphrase) 

Dr. Jeremiah went on to describe how no one will ever serve Christ in the exact same way.  Peter, Paul, and John were all incredibly influential apostles in the early church.  But Peter was the dynamic evangelist, Paul was the dedicated teacher and theologian, and John….John was the fixer, the lover of people, the peacemaker. 

All of these things, along with some other experiences I’ve had lately have only served to impress upon me this great truth: God loves me!  God loves all of us.  And not in a blanket sort of way that we care about the rest of the world, that they have food and water and happiness.  He cares about us.  About every single painstaking detail of our lives.  Somewhere in his great library of plans, there is a specific book with just your name on it.  And inside are plans to create and make and mold a unique person.  And guess what!  You are the only person who exactly fits those requirements.  Everything happens for a reason, everything that happens to you and around you can be used to make you into that person that will serve God uniquely.  But we have to want it.  We have to want God to use those things to mold us. 

I used to be one of those people who believed that God just wanted me to serve him.  Like, I would pick whatever I wanted to do and then I would just serve him and that would be good enough.  Wrong!  A God who cares enough to make every single person different from any other person who ever lived and will live would not take his special Creation and tell him, “Okay, so anyway…you just pick whatever…that career, or that career, or that life…it doesn’t matter to me.”

It sounds like I’m contradicting myself, doesn’t it.  First I say that the only thing we need to be concerned with is following Jesus, and next I’m saying that it isn’t enough just to serve God however.  They’re both right, though.  First, we need to throw ourselves full-tilt-boogie into following Christ, and as we get to know our own Creator, we will know who we are meant to be.  Who better to learn about yourself from than the one who made you?