12 weeks ago, I never would have dreamed that I would be in the position I was on Sunday evening. Fists clenched, jaw set, on the edge of the couch staring intently at the TV. This was it. This was the moment. This was the final play of the game, and the Tennessee Titans were going for the final score on fourth down with 0:00 on the clock.

This wasn’t just another week-12 game. This was history.

For those of you who don’t follow football or all the drama that is the NFL, the Tennessee Titans ended last season quite abruptly after finishing with the league’s best record: 13-3. They went 10-0 before losing their first game of the season and did it all without Vince Young, their first-round draft pick from 2 years ago. All cylinders were clicking and everything was in place for a run at the Super Bowl, but it all unraveled in the first round of the Playoffs, forcing the Titans to take an early trip home and leave us, the fans, eagerly awaiting next year and the hope of another Super Bowl run.

Enter the 2009 Titans squad, full of vengeance and eagerness, ready to make amends for the abrupt end that met them last season. We were ready for a stellar year. Division champs. Super Bowl rings. Final retribution.

What we received in the first six weeks, however, was anything but.   

After a dismal 0-6 start, most of us were calling it a year and hoping to at least secure a good draft pick. Write em’ off. The season’s over. Maybe next year.

There was one issue yet to be solved, though. Vince Young, the former “franchise quarterback,” was still on the bench. Understandable, as Kerry Collins (his replacement) took the team to such a great record last year. But no longer could Vince sit on the sidelines and keep making a paycheck. The organization, the coaching staff, the team and the fans deserved to know whether Vince Young had matured in his time off or not. If so, great. If not, let’s move on.

And my oh my, were we all surprised!

The Titans, as of Sunday, November 29th, have reeled off an NFL-record-setting 5 straight victories since Vince Young’s triumphant return. Never in the history of the NFL has a team started the season 0-6 and turned around so dramatically. Never.

They said it couldn’t be done. No one’s ever done it before. It’s just not possible.

Perhaps not. I guess it all depends on where you stand, what you believe is possible, and what’s actually inside of you.

For the Titans and Vince Young, they have the chance to be the first team in NFL history to start 0-6 and end up in the Playoffs. Unlikely? Tell that to the team who was written off for finished only five short weeks ago and is now being touted as one of the toughest teams in the league to beat. Tell that to the team who had every reason to quit. Tell that to the team who, in this fan’s eyes, is the whole reason the NFL is the greatest sports league in the world. I would be willing to bet that this team and it’s fans believe just about anything is possible.

And that sense of excitement and belief really made me do some long, hard thinking the past couple days.

This blog has been such a great place for me to create and share with a lot of people. It’s been a blessing. And yet, I feel like over the past few months, I lost my willingness to give myself to this task. You see, it’s not easy writing all the time. I truly enjoy it. I feel God’s gifted me. I sense the call and importance of it. I just thought that, when you are gifted at something, you shouldn’t have to work so hard at it. It should just flow out of you and be effortless. And because it wasn’t always like that for me in relation to this blog, I lost heart. I just got tired of feeling like it wasn’t working. I got tired of working at it.

And that’s where I was mistaken.

You see, what the Titans have so clearly illustrated to me is this: when it all doesn’t work out the way you wanted, the way it was “supposed to,” the way everyone expected it to, you have a choice to make. Hang your head and move on to something else, or dig your heels and get to work.

I’m getting to work.

A close friend of mine spoke two very important things into my life recently. For starters, he told me that I am a very gifted writer and that I should really be making money writing. While I was humbled (this was not the first time he has complimented my writing), I was somehow profoundly moved, also. I believe this was God at work in me.

Secondly, at a different time, I was listening to him teach on a passage where Jesus states that God takes care of the birds of the field and, because of this, we shouldn’t worry about being taken care of. No biggie, I’ve heard that many times. But he threw a twist in there on me. He said that while the birds are always fed, God doesn’t drop the worms in their nests.

They have to go out and get them.

And this statement bowled me over. For too long, I’ve considered working for provision to be almost a taboo subject. We say, “God will provide” and yet we go to work to provide for ourselves. It was a conundrum I really didn’t grasp. I just knew my mentality was always work and provide the best you can. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I would let God do what He needed to do. I honestly just didn’t know where the line was.

And that mentality plagued me when working on this blog. I thought anything resembling work when doing something I felt called to do was somehow spitting in the face of God’s sovereign provision. But it’s not. I thought that trying to find ways to make a part-time or full-time living by writing was a dirty thing to try and achieve. But it’s not.

It’s just me going to get the worm.

So I’m starting again. And I want this space to be a place where you, faithful reader, can come and enjoy what you read, learn from it, and pass it on to others who might benefit. It’s going to take work and dedication to be a success. It’s going to take perseverance. It’s going to take heart. And I intend to give it all of those things from this point forward. Expect weekly posts. Expect strange, funny, uplifting, heart-warming, and peculiar stories. Expect to be moved as God moves me.

This is my prayer and my hope, that each of you will follow along with me on this journey. May you be encouraged as I have been this week that no matter how far the goal, it is still attainable. No matter how far you’ve fallen, His grace is within reach. No matter what you think you can’t do, He can.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13