Measuring up

On my way to church a couple of weeks ago, one of those "out of the blue" thoughts ran into my head...."do I measure up".  It didn't take but a minute for me to answer that....."measure up to what".
Then I got to thinking about the guys in my small group (Men's discipleship group) that meets every Sunday after church, and that reinforced my thought "measure up to what".

I'm sure there are many folks who think of "church folk" as a different breed.  Perhaps, as I often did before I came around, "church folk" are thought of as relatively bland and dry, somewhat humorless, pious, snooty, and maybe even clannish....as in thinking they are better than anyone else because they are so "goody-goody".  Pretty fair assessment??

Prior to going to this church, I was sure that I would never really measure up.  You see, I have secrets about me.  I also know that I so things that don't make me feel good about myself, and that I think others would frown on.  And, I was also sure that none of those folks at church were like that at all...but I knew I had to go, because I knew I had to go.  I felt compelled to go, in fact.

What I have found is that there is no measuring up.  All of us, every one of us has brokeness.  Each of us fails, and falls short.  Each of us have our little secrets and behaviors that we wish to not share.  No, there is no measuring up.....to each other that is.  We're all in this together, and there really isn't all that much separation between us...because we are all flawed humans.

Where measuring up comes into play is in our building and growing relationship with God.  And it is a pressure (a positive and good pressure) that we put upon ourselves as we try to be better husbands, fathers and men.  For once we cross that bridge by accepting Christ in our lives, we start to grow into more godly men...and it is a process.  The measuring up comes at the end of that process....that point in our lives when we have reached the end of that long narrow road of life when we stand before God.  Everything up to that point is is but the process of moving two steps forward, falling one back, picking up the shoes and hitting it again....over and over and over.  All the while knowing that God loves us so and forgives our every fault, and is patiently waiting for us.
So how do you measure up?  Only time will tell.