08/31/2026
Good mornin and God bless y'all! Thank You Lord for this day! Well after havin a conversation the other day with a gentleman about how foolish pride makes us think that the things we get up and do everyday is the "why" of our success, God put this one on my heart to put down on paper (well in the computer anyway). I am not worthy of the things God has blessed me with and that starts with the very breath He allows me each day since birth. My "success" is not dependent on my efforts, but instead His favor, grace and love. It all happens in His perfect timing! If you are strugglin to make it just know that it ain't you that will make it happen, but Him. Start each day on your knees, grateful, humble and empty. This one will most likely become a song as well, Lord willin of course.
"Empty Vessel"
I ain’t never understood
how a man can look at everything he’s got
and somehow convince himself
he did it all on his own.
We’ll say,
“I worked for this.”
“I earned this.”
“I built this.”
“I got up every mornin’
when everybody else was sleepin’
and I went to work.”
And maybe you did.
But who woke you up?
Who put the breath in your lungs
before your feet ever hit the floor?
Who kept that heart beatin’
all night long
while you didn’t give it a second thought?
Who gave you the hands to work with?
The mind to figure things out?
The strength to keep goin’
when everything in you wanted to quit?
See, somewhere along the way
we started believin’
hard work made us gods over our own lives.
Like success belongs to us
because we sweated for it.
Like the harvest belongs to the farmer
because he planted the seed.
But a farmer can work that ground
till his hands bleed.
He can plant every row straight.
He can do everything right.
But he still can’t make it rain.
He can’t make that seed break open.
He can’t reach down into the dirt
and command life to come out of it.
That part belongs to God.
Always has.
Always will.
And I reckon life ain’t much different.
We can work.
We should work.
We oughta give everything we do
everything we’ve got.
But don’t ever get confused
about where the increase came from.
God opens doors
no man could kick down.
God closes doors
no amount of money can pry open.
He gives.
He takes away.
He raises one man up
and humbles another.
And sometimes I believe
God allows a man to carry more
because He knows whether that man
will hold it with a closed fist
or an open hand.
Because every blessing
comes with a responsibility.
Every talent.
Every dollar.
Every opportunity.
Every voice.
Every person placed in our path.
It ain’t just somethin’ we were given.
It’s somethin’ we were trusted with.
And pride is a dangerous thing.
It’ll have a man standin’
in the middle of everything God gave him
talkin’ about everything "he" accomplished.
“I did this.”
“I built that.”
“Look what I became,
because of my grit, my gumption"
All the while forgettin’
he couldn’t make his own heart
beat one more time
if God decided otherwise.
That’ll humble you
if you really think about it.
Truth is,
there ain’t no good in me
that didn’t come from Him.
Anything I’ve ever done
that helped me or somebody—
Him.
Anything I’ve ever written
that touched somebody—
Him.
Any picture I’ve ever taken
that made somebody stop
and see the beauty of His creation—
that glory belongs to Him too.
I just happened to be holdin’ the camera.
If I ever spoke a word
somebody needed to hear,
I was just the mouth.
If I ever reached down
and helped somebody back to their feet,
I was just the hand.
If anything good
ever came through me,
I was just the vessel.
And maybe that’s where
we get things backwards.
We spend our whole lives
tryin’ to become somethin’
when maybe the greatest thing
we could ever become
is empty.
Empty enough
that there ain’t so much of us inside
that God ain’t got room to work.
Empty of pride.
Empty of ego.
Empty of that constant need
for somebody to notice us.
Empty of worryin’
whether our name gets remembered.
Lord,
if You ever bless me with plenty,
don’t let me forget
where plenty came from.
If You ever put me somewhere
people can see me,
don’t let me stand in front of You.
If You ever give me success,
don’t let success convince me
I no longer need the One
who allowed it.
And if somebody ever looks at my life
and sees anything worth rememberin’,
Lord, please don’t let ’em stop at me.
Let ’em look right through me.
Because I ain’t the light.
I ain’t the water.
I ain’t the truth.
I ain’t the source.
I’m just an ol’ cracked vessel
made outta dirt,
borrowin’ breath,
borrowin’ time,
and carryin’ whatever
my Father chooses to pour into me.
And one of these days
this vessel will go back
to the same dirt it came from.
The pictures will fade.
The things I owned
will belong to somebody else.
Whatever success I had
won’t mean much anymore.
And my name will eventually become
just another name
somebody used to know.
But if somehow
one thing remains—
if one life was changed,
one heart turned toward Jesus,
one person saw God
a little clearer
because He chose to work through me—
then Lord,
let nobody remember the vessel.
Let ’em remember
Who filled it.
Because there ain’t no good in me
but Him.
And there ain’t one drop of glory
that belongs to me anyway.
It was His before I got here.
It’ll be His when I’m gone.
I’m just an empty vessel.
And that’s all
I ever wanna be.
2 Corinthians 4:6-8
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Be Blessed, No Bad Days!
