Painful but Profitable

The Drive That Changed Me

In graduate school, I spent two years in a cohort of twenty students. We got to know each other well.

One day, while sitting around eating and laughing, a classmate said to me,

“Cedric, we’d bet a million dollars you couldn’t help someone very different from you — because you’re too tight and rigid.”

We laughed.

But on the three-hour drive home, I couldn’t shake it.

I was investing time and money to enter a helping profession — yet others experienced me as someone who couldn’t help.

That was painful.

But it became profitable.

Somewhere on that drive, I faced the truth: if I wanted to serve beyond my tight circle, I would have to change.

First, I talked honestly with God about my legalistic tendencies.

Second, He exposed me to His grace — the grace to let people be. Grace gives grace. People belong to God.

He began freeing me from controlling and directing others to accepting them.

Third, He placed me in work on the streets — serving the least, the lost, and the last. It stretched me in ways comfort never could.

I learned that pain can be preparation.

And character failure can be feedback.

The moment hurt.

But the turning point helped.

Painful — yet profitable.

Life is short. Live.

The rest of your life can still be the best of your

Cedric