Average, not to be confused with generic. First off, I am not a fan of the word average. It always seems to carry the connotation of some person who does not exist, because no one is totally average. Some thing about each one of us will go against average (or normalcy), and some people seem to fly in the face of average.

With that said, I have just read a book (wait for it…) that I got free from Waterbrook Multnomah so that I could read it and review it. The name of it is Average Joe (hence my rambling earlier).

I have heard it said that God doesn’t call the equipped, but equips who He calls. Now, I wonder if that is true. Does He not give us what we need for His calling for us? We may not see it at first, but it is there; the talents that we have are conduits for the gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit. Why could He not have everything in place, just waiting for us to make that step?

That is one over-arching message I got from the book by Troy Meeder. We always look at the famous, popular, in-your-face people when we are looking for models, when there are quite possibly hundreds all around us that would be so much better. They don’t draw attention to themselves, but instead allow God to use them to draw people to Him.

He gives many examples from his life, telling about people he has met, and what he learned about God from these people. You can see his personality in each chapter, and you can tell he is sincere in what he says. Reading through the book makes you fell like Troy is talking on the same level, not telling you to listen because he’s an “expert,” but because he wants to save you trouble.

Let us all remember that God uses all types of people; we don’t have to be famous to help, and there are many people around us that we can learn from.