Anyone who has accomplished a great deal has had lots of help from either family, friends or associates...maybe all of the above. It's extremely rare if not impossible that a super successful individual made it all by himself alone. Somebody, somewhere at some time helped that person in some way. A television show I watched as child was called THE LONE RANGER. I can hear the episodic closing lines in my head now. As the Ranger rides off on his trusty steed Silver a beneficiary of his crime busting fetes would ask, "Who is that masked man?"
"Why, he's the Lone Ranger."
I liked the show a lot but the title was incorrect. The masked avenger of crime was not alone. He had, Tonto, an Indian sidekick who saved his butt from the fire many a time and he had his horse Silver. I always saw my self as a Lone Ranger type, a solitary person not prone to needing swarms of people around me. I moved on m own and did my own thing not worrying about what other people did or thought of what I was doing. I had friends of course but I didn't travel in large groups or clicks. I was never one to follow the crowd because too many people got on my nerves. I marched to my own beat which was never quite like the others and that was fine with me. I was independent to a fault so the last few years the Lord has been dealing with me in that area. It has become disturbingly clear the Lone Ranger bit is not part of a Kingdom program. GOD's about people loving people, needing people, helping people and ministering to people as well as fellowshipping. Well, I don't mind saying I was none too pleased with the prospect of needing people. It smacked right up against my self sufficient attitude and exactly how much interaction do I have to endure? "I'm not a people person!" I protested but the Lord was having none of it. He eventually made it so I had to rely on a little help from my friends....a hard pill to swallow. I was raised a proud person and that went right out the window. A humbling set of experiences indeed and still some are in motion. I've gotten better about my social interaction. I've improved with excepting we all need help sometimes. I understand how Kingdom service works and that it's for other people's benefit. My calling is for the people and that being so I have to deal regularly and intensely with and for the people. I get that. GOD has changed my thinking in many ways since I was saved. It's astounding when I look back but this particular transformation has been a grueling trek that broke me in a way I didn't want but needed to be broken.
What I'm purposed to do requires a lot of being with people. Although a writer gets to spend a lot of solitary time in their craft it's not all solitary. Marketing and all kinds of events will place a successful writer around many people. It's the nature of the marketing/publicity beast. Christian counseling certainly is not a solitary ministry but it's not intimidating for me. I'm great with one on one encounters. All along GOD has been preparing me for whatever lies ahead. I continue to have a somewhat independent spirit and my pride is in tack within reason. I'm still not an Auntie Mame kind of people person but my love for people has grown exponentially as has my ability to give up the Lone Ranger outfit. I give it up because there are lots of people to meet and minister to and many more novels to write and loads of non fiction books to produce with scores of people to counsel before I ride off into the sunset of my life yelling "Hi-yo Silver!".
