There was a song in the 1950's, "There Goes My Heart," which was right on the target for us teenagers who began to notice that boys and girls were different.

The lyrics told our story, "There goes the one I love. There goes the one I'm not worthy of." Okay, so most teenagers didn't know squat about life, let alone intimacy at those painful growing up stages, but we did feel a primitive need to make contact with the opposite sex. Listen, you tell it your way and I'll tell you mine. I digress.

School – or real society – had a certain sameness. The uniform of the day for girls was bobby socks, pleated wool skirts and sloppy, loose sweaters. Us guys wore unwashed blue jeans, white buck shoes, argyle socks and white button down oxford cloth shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

There was always one class clown, one football hero, one prom queen, one nerd and one brain. Everybody else was just one of the pack wondering why they had missed the boat.

The people of the first century weren't a whole lot different than those of the 1950s or even the 2026s except – and I'm going biblically – those whom God had blessed and those whom God just didn't know existed. If we read the Scriptures carefully, we know the names of those who were special and not one of the masses. We have the important and the unimportant. Back to the average.

When we feel that we are unimportant and that what we have done, will do and are now doing is not going to change anything one little bit, we have the tendency to do the expected. Not much. It is sort of, "I'm average, I'll always be average and that's the way it is in my life."

I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone out there, but imagine if you will that you have led people on to believe that you are something you really are not. Suppose you have told people that you were a professional athlete, have a lot of wealth, work for the government or ... well, you name it, and you weren't or didn't. Folks, I'm not pulling your legs.

There was a man in our extended family that admitted to us shortly before his death that he lied about most of his early life and career. For our family reaction, we loved what we knew he was and always had been, and never asked why he fabricated so much of his past.

Here's the nitty-gritty. Is there anyone here who has looked at his or her life and said to themselves, "I am not worthy, or if people only knew." Some believe they're not worth the powder to blow them up. Some hold on to the belief that if they try something new or challenging, they will fail, look silly and be the town laughingstock.

How much education must you have before you can call yourself a teacher? Those who teach or have taught know that there isn't enough education on the face of the earth to make you into a teacher.

You've got to teach, and after years and years of struggling with students, materials, administration and you have survived, you can properly call yourself a teacher.

Here's the rub. If you never begin, you'll never know. How many books must you read, tests you must pass, academic awards must you receive?

I love old Simon Peter: fisherman, owned his boat, was successful and confronted by the Son of God and could only say to Him, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. I am not worthy of or ready for the job You have for me. I'm not capable."

Not capable! It would take a strong man accustomed to hard work and able to take extraordinary courage for the awesome task ahead.

Don't you ever think that you are worthless! Don't you ever get it into your head that you don't deserve the chance.

God Almighty knows you inside and out and you must be something very special. You will be called for many tasks and your first reaction will most likely be predictable, "You don't want a sinful person like me, Lord."

"Don't be afraid. From this moment on, you will do just fine!"

Thanks, God!