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Why this Song? ...I Won't Let You Go

Over the last few years a few songs have come into my life, flowed into ears and ultimately gotten into my heart, that have made some measurable difference.

While maybe not life changing, yet they have added something to life.

They haven't fixed me, but have measurably helped me.

One of them is I Won't Let You Go by Switchfoot.

Essentially for me it is a reminder that someone (God) is looking out for me, somehow right there with me, while I have navigated some of the more challenging moments of the last decade.

Hearing each maybe every few months has reminded me and helped me to turn my focus onto Him.

Because of its impact I had a thought the other day just to record a little sample.

Again for the same reason. To remind me of the truth it carries. 

And also in the hope it might help someone else...

Maybe even you?

To check it out click here.

You might think you are small...

Maybe you feel like many who see the world as big and that you are small…and wonder what difference you can truly make?

I believe the world is changed by big things and the so called big people, but also by small things and those who feel small in the middle of it.

I have been kindly reminded over the last few weeks of the impact my little life has had on some others. 

It has been truly encouraging.

So if you feel small today.

And that the world is big.

Can I encourage to do small things where you can and for who you can.

You have no idea the impact your actions can have!

Something to think about…

Would you like to watch the #failedpastor series?

Great news if you do!

Click on the link to visit my Youtube Channel and check out the Shorts covering this series of Simple Thoughts.

Thanks.

#failedpastor Part Five - Maybe I was supposed to fail?

Was Thomas Edison a failure?

Did he ever think that he was?

I mean he failed a lot! 

Literally 1000’s of failed attempts before he cracked making a sustainable working lightbulb.

What about Steve Jobs, was he a failure?

Famously fired from Apple, the business he actually started!

But comes back later and we get the iPod, iPhone and so much more…

Here is what I have discovered…

Sometimes you need to fail at something, to get better at something.

And it appears the sometimes the pain of failure actually helps you to build something better.

Am I a really a failure as a pastor?

Yes, I failed, spectacularly, publicly.

Yet thankfully not from moral failure, if you were wondering?

I overworked myself. 

Most of our leaders chose to bail.

And within a few months of our enforced break, the church of over 2 decades closed for good.

My heart has wrestled many times with this, because a public failure, at scale, well it hurts.

There’s shame along with the pain. There is a weight of embarrassment.

So am I, Locky McNeill, really a failure?

The answer is of course is no in the context of my entire life.

But I did fail as a church pastor.

It may surprise you that I am right now, the most ok with that result I have ever been.

Something I have been thinking about lately is that…

Maybe I needed to fail?

Maybe failure is exactly what God needed to happen?

And maybe something is supposed to come from it that is even better than what we consider to have lost?

Job lost his family, his wealth and the respect of his wife.

For all intents and purposes he looked like he had failed in the human quest for success.

It must of hurt so so much.

But something happened that I need to remind myself of.

That if I am still breathing then I am not finished.

The Bible tells us that God restored Job and blessed him.

His sense of failure may have left a scar, but it didn’t define his total identity.

According to Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

I believe that I am only truly a failure, if I chose to park in my failure forever.

But I am declaring today as best as I can, with your fine people as my witnesses, that I am not a failure at life, just maybe part of it.

And finally to quote Thomas Edison: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

I don’t honestly know if the best is yet to come, but I do know that I am not done.

I don’t know exactly what my life, career or ministry will look like going forward, but I do know I still breathing. 

I still have hope. 

And right now, I feel like I am back…

Watch out world!