It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know

I ran into a friend today at Johnny's lacrosse game.  I went to high school with her and she's a fire fighter and paramedic for Woodbury, so JB works with her.  Small world.  Anyway, I told her about my job at UPS and how it's going to pay for my chemical dependency schooling.  That's when she told me one of her friends works at a treatment center right here in Woodbury.  It just happens to the be the center where I would like to eventually work.  She texted her on the spot and I got her name and number.  Before I left I thanked my friend and said, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." 

I was thinking about that again tonight as I was thinking about a book I just read called, "I Dared to Call Him Father," which is a muslim woman's story of how she became a Christian.  It's a very interesting story.  One of the things I really admire about this woman is how she heard God's voice and then how she followed it even when she didn't know where it would lead her or what she would have to give up and this woman had a lot to lose.  That's when I put together the Muslim woman's story with my coicidental meeting of my high school friend and began to wonder about who it is that I know that makes a difference in my life.  What if I left the wording of that statement but changed the meaning a little bit.  "It's not what I know (about life), but who you know (Jesus)."  I think I could have saved myself hundreds of frustrating hours over my life time if I could just focus on who I know; Jesus. I could probably give up the emotional roller coaster I ride every three months, the many jobs that I've tried to "fix" my life with, and all kinds of other head aches and back aches if I just listened to the one voice that I know will get me where I want to go.  Do I really believe I can just listen to the voice of God for direction in my life?!  Yes.  I've done it before!  It works really well.  So, why don't I do it?  I guess it's the same reason I don't exercise or eat the right thing or make the right decisions, it's hard.  It's hard not knowing the whole road map.  It's hard not to be in control.  And it's hard to change my expectations from what I want out of life to what God wants for me in my life.  I don't have a nice ending to this post, because I'm not being a very good listener right now, but maybe that will give me more to right about next time.