I Lost My Mojo.

I should probably start this post with a disclaimer. The word "mojo" has several meanings. It references witchcraft, voodoo, and drug use.  It is most commonly used to refer to sexual prowess thanks to Austin Powers. Since it would be incredibly awkward for all of you to read a post about that,  I'm going to use it to mean confidence for this post. Now that I think about it I could have just said that I lost my confidence...but that doesn't sound as good. 

Boy this post isn't starting out well. That won't help get my mojo back. Let's keep going.

The truth is that the past two months have been a little rough for me. I've had a number of things happen that have really shaken my confidence for whatever reason. They've shaken my confidence in my job, in my writing, and in life in general. And to be completely honest, it sucks.

It sucks to write something and think..."this isn't really that good" (i'm doing that right now)
It sucks to plan something and think..."i bet no one will like this"
It sucks to have to make a decision and think..."I bet someone will complain about this."


I don't write all of this to complain,or to look for sympathy. I write it for a couple of reasons. First, to be honest and clear about the life of pastors. I think in America people, expect pastors to be super humans who never struggle and can do every aspect of ministry perfectly. My hope is to be honest and human about being a pastor. But that's only a small part of why I write this.

The main reason is that I'm writing in an attempt to identify with you and offer a bit of hope. The thing about losing your mojo is that at some point it happens to everyone. Depending on where you are in life you might be experiencing it right now. Everyone goes through it. That's the good news.


I'm reminded of Moses at times like these.  Moses had the good life. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh. It would be adequate to say he was the son of a king. Given how Pharaohs were seen in Egyptian culture, it would be more correct that He was viewed as the son of a god (although adopted of course) He had it made. Then he made a mistake. He got emotional when he saw an Egyptian guard beating an Israelite. So He kills the guard. This didn't make Pharaoh happy and he tried to kill Moses. Moses had to go on the run and settle for a life of being a shepherd.

Son of a King to a shepherd. Talk about losing your mojo. Moses had to be in rough shape.

That's when God steps in to do something big with Moses. He talks to him through the burning bush. I think that's funny. Why a burning bush? If God does that with me, I hope He uses a bear that talks kind of like Yogi Bear.  "Hiyah Jon, You should feed the homeless with some pic-i-nic baskets." haha. I'm just thinking about that. Anyways I digress..

God tells Moses to go toe to toe with the most powerful man in the world.  The man who was trying to kill Moses. The best part of this story is that Moses gives God all kinds of excuses as to why he shouldn't be the one to do the job.

Moses didn't have any confidence in himself and much less confidence in God. Moses at one point complained that he wasn't a very good public speaker to which God responded, "who made your mouth?" I can see God getting impatient and just saying, "TRUST ME! I'M GOD!"

That's what it comes down to isn't it? trusting God? When we get past how shaky our confidence is and just trust in God, He shows up and does some crazy awesome stuff.  

God made me.
God made me a youth pastor and he'll tell me what to do next.
God made me a husband and father and he'll tell me how to lead my family next.
God made me a writer and He'll tell me what to write next.
All I have to do is trust Him.

That's where I'll find my mojo.


Have you lost your mojo?  Where do you need to trust God?

The Quick and the Dirty: Dressing Room Signs

I hate going into the dressing room to try stuff on. Part of it is that I'm a guy and well I should know what size I am. Another part is that I would rather drive home, try it on there, and drive back then use the semi-private phone booth that they call a dressing room. Today I had to go to Target to get some running shorts for the 10k tomorrow. I didn't want to try them on...but my wife insisted that I try them on before I left. (I'm finding that she's usually right about these things) While in the midst of my shorts adventure I noticed a few things about the dressing room.

First, why are there 17 mirrors in one dressing room. Ladies, I'm blaming you. There's no way a man came out of a dressing room and said the phrase "How do you expect me to see how these pants fit in the rear?"  Seriously. I felt like I was in a fun house somewhere. I half expected a Carnie to knock on the door and try to guess my weight. But that's not what this post is about. This post is about the following picture.

There's something wrong with this song. It's not grammatical. At least not as far as I can tell.
My problem with this sign is the word swimwear.

Maybe I'm being a little picky but shouldn't the sign read:

Please leave on undergarments when trying on EVERYTHING!

My use of the exclamation point may seem excessive but I feel that I can't express enough the fact that you should probably keep your underwear no matter what.  I mean if you like the commando lifestyle in clothes that you've purchased  that's cool. 

But for these clothes that are about to be put back on the rack so that some unassuming person will grab and try on next,  you should definitely keep your underoo's on. 

So please, please, for the sake of humanity. Keep your undergarments on when you are trying on things!!



Jon