Relax, we’re all busy

Busy. Busy is what planning a wedding will make you. It will make you so busy that you will probably go over a month without posting a blog… my bad. I promise to try and do better; but let’s be honest, life is just busy. The thing is though, I am not the only one that experiences busyness.

Busy is how we live our lives. In fact, in America we wear our busyness as a badge of honor. The busier we are then somehow the more significant our life is and the greater our impact will be. I can say that I too fell into the trap of the busier the better. If I am being transparent, I am currently in the process of coming out of the busiest season of my life. After looking back over this past season, I can confidently say that most of it was self-inflicted. By nature, I like to say yes. By God’s design, I like to lead. So when asked to oversee this, manage that, run this; I have historically always said yes. I am now intentionally practicing my “no”; because in the end most of it is meaningless.

Of course, there were many great things that happened in this past season of saying yes. My renewed commitment to Christ. My new marriage. The resurrection of old dreams. The new found clarity on my purpose. But, on the whole, I can say that the sleepless nights and non-stop days working were not worth it.

I can admit that over the last few years, I have heard several sermons on taking days to rest- or practicing the Sabbath; but none of them actually connected until recently.

About three weeks ago, Paige and I were preparing to board a plane for Mexico to celebrate our honeymoon. On this trip I took a massive step… I left my work phone at home. In fact, I left everything work related in the US. I decided to leave it as a commitment to my new wife, and as a symbol of the beginning of our marriage focused solely on us.

If I am being honest though, I was pretty anxious leaving work behind. Ever since joining the “real” workforce at the age of 19, I had never been on a vacation where I was not “available” to those back home. Most of my career has been in sales, where you are always available to your customers. When I owned my own insurance agency, I was accessible 24/7 to my staff and clients. So for me, I was going to be truly disconnected for the very first time.

But what was I so anxious about? I mean, do I think I am really that valuable to my company? Of course not. I was anxious because I was afraid of “falling behind” the competition.

“Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?” – Matthew 6:25-26

I once heard a Pastor say that we have become more concerned with the pursuit of the American Dream than we are fulfilling the calling of God. Quite simply, that’s the truth for me. At the root of my anxiousness is the lack of trust in God’s provision.

But after a day or two in Mexico, I slowly started to realize that something was happening. I was becoming recharged. Now that we are back in our normal routine, I feel more refreshed and rejuvenated than I ever have.

Rest is a reoccurring theme seen throughout the Bible. God designed us to rest. Isn’t it amazing that when I finally found time to rest, I became more aware of God’s presence.

Paige and I have begun working on our family goals for 2020, and you better believe that at the top of the list is a WEEKLY SABBATH. Or in other words, a day of intentional rest. Time that we can rest and rejuvenate in God’s presence.

My challenge for everyone reading this is to rest. We are all in different seasons and have different circumstances that effect our decisions; but I assure you in the end all of the tireless work will be meaningless. While this concept seems counter-cultural, my goal for 2020 is to do less. I am putting my faith in accomplishing more with God in six days than I can by myself in seven days.

Less is more with God.

A Life of Service

Having only attended 3 or 4 services at Connect Church, I walked in that Sunday remembering there was going to be a guest speaker. I thought to myself, “Well dang, this is either going to be a huge hit, or a big waste of time.” Our pastor got up and began introducing the speaker as a mentor and spiritual father, but then he said the words that made me tune right out… missionary . Having grown up in church, I knew having a guest speaker talk about missions meant the service would be less than engaging and more than likely a lousy sales pitch for funding. Now, in full disclosure, Pastor said President of OneHope, a global Mission Organization, but all I heard was “missionary.” I remember thinking, “this will be a snooze fest.” My experience with missions in my previous denominational context led me to boredom and disengagement.

This service was different. This guy was different. His story was different. His passion was different. Immediately, I was captivated by what he was saying. As he told story after story of the organizations history in country after country, I began to see they were making a major impact all over the globe. Once he finished sharing about OneHope, I wanted more. They announced at the conclusion of that service, that in June they would be partnering with OneHope for a mission trip. I knew no one in the church, but following the service, I texted the pastor from the parking lot, “I’m in.”

Fast forward a few weeks later to June of 2017. I found myself on an airplane headed towards Bogotá, Colombia with a group of people I didn’t know, from a church that I wasn’t very connected to. I was nervous. I was anxious. In full transparency, I was regretting my decision. Little did I know, in seven short days, my life would never be the same.

As we walked through the schools and orphanages of Colombia, I began to see that these people were living with real pain. They were longing for any sign of hope, but they were also resilient. They didn’t need material things for a smile to be beaming on their face. Standing among them, my perspective began to shift. While sharing the Word with them, I realized their pain wasn’t much different than the pain I’d been suppressing myself. I began to see that while we have endless material wealth in the United States, we are just as broken. Standing in the streets of Bogota, I realized for the first time that we are a world of broken people. The only thing that can bring true joy to all of life’s circumstances is peace found only in God.

When I arrived back in the United States, I was shaken and confused. Prior to our trip, I had a significant amount of worldly success and received many accolades in my business. None of that brought fulfillment to my life though, like being in a foreign country sharing God’s love. I didn’t know then, but recognize now, that God was calling me to be all in. In those moments, I realized true joy in life is found in serving others.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, “I’m not sure about the idea of serving”. I’ll admit, I was quite apprehensive at first myself. I encourage you to start small. Not everyone is called to go on, or needs to serve in global missions. There are daily opportunities for you to serve others. At the very essence of Jesus you find service. In our pursuit of becoming Christ-like, what better way than to start each day with an attitude of service.

“ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 (ESV)

Connected Community

A few months ago, in my effort to be intentional about what God is calling me to do, I started making decisions that to some others didn’t make sense. One of those decisions was to sell my truck. If you know me, that doesn’t sound like the most bizarre thing—I got my first car at 15 years old, and since then I’ve owned nine different vehicles, all of them completely unique. I went from a 1992 Ford Explorer to a BMW to a brand new 4-door Jeep Wrangler with a four inch lift, plus a few more in between. (I still really miss my Jeep). This time though was a little different, I bought a very small and practical car. This new car is something Dave Ramsey would encourage one of his listeners to buy.

Sometimes though when you buy a “beater”, as Dave calls it, you inherit the problems. The first problem I inherited was that after only two weeks of driving the car, the transmission had to be replaced…that wasn’t the biggest issue though. The biggest issue I faced with this car was that it already had an owner— an ant community. Yep, that’s right, my car was COMPLETELY infested with ants.

As I began to strategize, I knew I’d have to outsmart them to rid my vehicle of them. At the time, I had about 100 different thoughts racing through my head. Where are they living? How did they get in my car? What will get them out? My first plan of attack was to take apart the covering of the gear shifter where I first noticed them crawling. When I shed light into that space, I noticed food crumbs left from the previous owner. I vacuumed and cleaned out that area. Thinking I had gotten rid of their food source, I was confident that I had fixed my problem… WRONG. The next day I got back in the car and much to my dismay, the ants were back. I realized since there wasn’t food anywhere else in the car, there had to be another reason drawing them inside.

Over the course of two weeks I learned a lot about ants. They are very tenacious and determined insects; but most importantly they are a species that lives and dies based on their community.

In hindsight, I wish I could have experienced the ant infestation years ago; not because it was an enjoyable experience, but because it was a great illustration of a lesson I myself learned a couple years ago.

During the early stages of my agency, I realized it’s difficult being a single guy working to build a successful business. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of perks- no one was asking when I was coming home, or getting mad if I worked 18 hours a day/7 days a week, but the downside was huge. I was exhausted. I wasn’t looking out for my well-being, and I was chasing my own desires. If all of that doesn’t sound bad enough… I was alone. I was investing so much energy and effort into creating something for myself, that I pushed away those closest to me.

Fortunately, I eventually learned what Solomon pointed out to us in Ecclesiastes… it’s all vanity.

“All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity”

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (AMP)

When I got to this point though, it left me confused and lost.

Not knowing which way to go, I began investing in a relationship that started out simply as meeting for coffee once every couple weeks. The conversations soon led to coffee on a near weekly basis. Through these weekly meetings, I truly discovered a real relationship, one that left me hungry for more. I began to think, “I need to follow this guy”. Fortunately he was a Pastor, so it was easy to “follow” him.

I began attending his church and there found more relationships. I learned quickly that just like the ants, we all need community to prosper.

Growing up, church was just church, simply a box to check off on the religious list of duties. But after experiencing life, I began to realize there was more to God’s design of church than a checklist. We are designed for community. We are meant to be in community. Life is not meant to be lived alone.

While I cannot speak to your current situation, I can guarantee that if you find a church that values community, you will begin to see real life change.

If you’re having trouble finding a local church, I suggest checking out this website for starters:

www.arcchurches.com

Finding Joy in Your Work

Have you ever had a job that you didn’t really like? Maybe the job wasn’t terrible, but the boss that you worked for made you dread every moment of being at work? I‘m sure we’ve all been there at some point. When I was in high school, I worked for a large grocery store chain for a short period of time, and I hated every minute of it. From that moment, I used that experience as my metric for if a job was “bad”. After leaving my job there, I went to work for a family friend at a BBQ restaurant. That experience turned out to be just the opposite—it was hands down my favorite job in the world. (If I’m being honest, still one of the questions I ask today on a new job site is, “is this as enjoyable as my time at Whitt’s?”) As silly as it sounds, that became the metric I used for job satisfaction in my early working career in the political world, and then working in an insurance agency.

As time passed by though, I forgot about that little test I used to use. A year into owning my own business, I thought…“this is worse than working at Kroger.” I thought it was going to be “sunshine and rainbows,” but really I was just as miserable as when I worked for someone else. The years leading up to the point of opening my own agency were three years, that in full transparency, were not focused on the plan of God or the purpose God had for my life. The three years that lead to this point where I am today focused on me and my plan. They were focused on accomplishing what Charlie wanted to do; on achieving the things that I desired– money, power, and fame. I was slowly realizing that the endless pursuit of those things wasn’t going to bring me true joy.

The first year of owning my own agency became a very difficult year, both personally and professionally. It was difficult personally because I felt like I was at rock bottom. From the outside though, it looked great. In the political world, I learned how to master the art of making a fake façade, which is exactly what I did for everyone around me. It was difficult professionally because the demands of the business caused me to be crippled by overbearing business expenses and unrealistic expectations to maintain the success of our Agency. On top of that, I was finding no joy in what I was doing. In fact, I became resentful to the company I represented, the agency I created, and the industry I was in.

If I were to say that I have completely found true joy in running my business, I would be lying. The reason for that though is not because I don’t enjoy it, but rather I know that is not where true joy is found. Joy is not found in material things, or in things that we accomplish; but in living out our purpose.

Over the last 15 months, God has put me on a journey that I never thought I would be on. As I have leaned into God, I’ve begun to see there is a direct calling on my life and there is a purpose that God has for me. The things I desired have changed too; it’s no longer about money, power, or fame, but instead about wealth, influence, and making Jesus known. (I’ll share more about this in another post.)

If you’re reading this, I hope that you see that no matter where you are on your journey, God has a calling for your life as well. He has called each of us to a specific purpose. I simply ask you to take the next step. For me, it all changed when I adopted Proverbs 16:3 as my verse of the year in 2018, and I released control to God. I encourage each of you to go on that journey for your own life.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” -Proverbs 16:3

Welcome to Building Brooks

Welcome to Building Brooks! I cannot thank you enough for stopping by my blog site. While it is only in the beginning stages, I have had so much fun using some of my creative side that the mundaneness of everyday life doesn’t allow me to express. I want to invite you on this journey with me, and allow it to be a space where you can laugh, enjoy, think, grow, move and be inspired to build up yourself and others.

At this point you are probably asking, “Ok, Charlie…but why in the world a blog?” Well… that is the same question I asked myself at first. After some serious time of reflection, I realized that over the last decade I have had the opportunity to work in several different professional fields engaging with people from all walks of life. What I’ve come to learn from my experience is that people need to be built up. I chose the name “Building Brooks” because over the last few years it has become evident that God is building up something inside of me far more important than just running my own business. For me, God has been revealing Himself in ways that are beginning to show His true purpose for me is MUCH larger. I firmly believe that I am not unique in this. I believe that if we surrender to God and begin to lean into him, He will reveal His “master plan” for each of our lives. What I have learned is that this process is much like building a house; there are plan changes, rainy days that cause delays, and failed inspections all leading to a finished product.

My hope for Building Brooks is to share content that is both useful and inspiring. The topics we cover will be wide ranging—from business concepts to stepping out in faith and being obedient to God’s calling, from my journey of becoming a husband to Tennessee football and everything in between. My goal is to share a post every other week or so.

If I’ve still got your attention at this point, that’s a good thing, thanks! From week to week and topic to topic, serious to light-hearted, I hope you find value and encouragement in my words. The final thing I ask is that if something speaks to you, please share the post or drop a comment in the box below. Grab your hard hat, because together we will be “Building Brooks.”