You Were Made For This

Have you noticed how everyone seems to have a podcast these days? Most of them just don’t appeal to me. So, in 2018, I created one that does— a podcast I want to listen to and one you’ll want to listen to as well. I’m going to give you an example of what I mean shortly.

Welcome to Season Nine and episode 220

But first, I’m John Certalic and you are listening to episode 220 of You Were Made for This, a podcast about … well, … stick with me and you’ll soon find out soon.

It’s been quite a number of months since I recorded any new episodes on a regular basis. It’s not been for want of anything new to say—no, it’s just the opposite. There are so many things I would like to talk to you about. Things like how bandages are so poorly designed these days, the alumni directory I just signed up for…for my grade school. And how come we don’t see hitchhikers anymore?

Topics like these interest me, but I don’t think they’d be a podcast you would want to listen to. So I decided that before I recorded any new episodes, I needed to retool and decide on a clear, distinct focus for moving forward. I needed to spend more time thinking about what the podcast should be about that would make me want to listen to it.

Several possibilities excited me at first. But after a few days or weeks, they all lost their luster, and my interest in them waned. Nothing seemed to click. In the meantime, I spent several months writing weekly blog posts for our website, which you can still read.

 Returning to the beginning

Finally, after a lot of indecision,I found myself drawn back to the title of the podcast we came up with back in 2018: “You Were Made for This.” 

I began reflecting more about the title’s meaning. Maybe the central unifying theme moving forward was right under my nose in the title. I know that the focus of the first 219 episodes was finding joy in the relationships God intends for us. That’s been the focus since 2018— it’s the This we are made for. 

I still think this is a pretty important This. But now I’m feeling the need for a different, yet related and expanded this in a podcast you and I would want to listen to. Especially as I think more about all that this implies.

The word this implies a singularity of purpose. It connotes a decree of certainty and confidence.    When you hear someone talk about this you know what you’re getting. It’s also personal, this is. It’s honest and authentic.

You can’t say the same about that.  That is an external word. It’s impersonal, less connected to any of us.  There’s an aloofness about that. I don’t think I could listen very long to You Were Made for That. It’s not a podcast I would want to listen to. It just sounds too cold. Kind of bossy, too. Like my third-grade teacher sternly waving her ruler at me.

An important question

There’s something warm and inviting about this, which is important to me in a podcast I want to listen to. I’m guessing it’s important to you, too. But it does raise the question of what is the this we were made for.

The answer found in the first 219 episodes is that in some form or other, each show talked about finding joy in our relationship with people, with ourselves with the  world we live in, and most importantly, our relationship with God.  

It’s this last relationship I’ve been drawn toward more closely in recent months. Our relationship with God is the basis for all other meaningful relationships. But considering the many aspects of our relationship with God can seem like water bursting out from a spiritual fire hydrant.

The older I get, though, the more I see our relationship with God like a splash pad in our neighborhood park, where, like young children, we run in and out of, sprayed by the overhead sprinklers, cooling us off on a hot summer day. We learn a little about a piece of our relationship with God, then step outside the spiritual splash pad to think and reflect. And then run back in later when we’re ready for more.

A fundamental truth

A podcast I want to listen to would discuss a fundamental truth about our relationship with God that I don’t hear talked about much. Namely, that all of us are created in God's image and likeness. Because of this, we are made to reflect his image and likeness in the way we live and interact with each other. We were made for this.

I see God as like a diamond, with many different facets that reflect brilliance when the light shines on them all together. Each of us is like one of these facets made to reflect particular characteristics of God. Not all of them, of course, but at least one, probably more. 

I’d like to listen to a podcast about what this looks like, and I’m guessing you might, too.   But I don’t want to listen to a “how-to” format. I’ve grown weary of reading and hearing about “5 steps to do this,” or “3 ways to accomplish that”. I need a break from lists and directives.

Instead, I want to listen to a podcast that shows, rather than tells. A podcast with stories and examples. I’m guessing you may be up for that, too.

Okay. Now for that story I mentioned earlier. It’s an example of the joy found in reflecting well the character of God. We’ll be talking about stories like this in upcoming episodes because that’s the kind of podcast I want to listen to, and I bet you do, too.

The  one I have for you today is from a brief article by Stacey Graham in The Wall Street Journal entitled “My Brother’s Hero and a Stranger’s Kindness.”

My Brother’s Hero and a Stranger’s Kindness

“My father, a high school football, basketball, and baseball coach, loved baseball player Willie Mays. He even named one of our cats after his favorite athlete.

“Every August throughout the 1960s he would pile my sister and I into the car at 4:30am and drive us from our small town of 1500 in rural Oregon to Candlestick Park in San Fransisco where we would watch the Giants – and the great Willie Mays in his prime – play a Friday night game. The trip of 952 miles took us more than nine hours. We were always so excited.

“We had a routine. After the game, we always stayed in the same nearby hotel and ate all our meals at the same diner. We would always head back to the park for the Saturday doubleheader. It was thrilling to see Willie hit home runs in person rather than on our black-and-white TV.

“Our younger brother – Fritz – who liked his father loved Willie – didn’t join us until he turned 5 and was deemed old enough. If he had been any more excited the first time we brought him along, he might have exploded.

“That Saturday morning in 1969, we stopped as usual at the diner for breakfast. Fritz noticed, in a booth near the front door, two gray-haired black men having coffee. My brother, having grown up in a place with no racial diversity, had neverencountered anyone black in person.

“Suddenly, Fritz ran screaming toward the unsuspecting customers yelling at the top of his lungs, ‘Dad, it’s Willie Mays!’

“Bless his heart, one of the gentlemen accepted the honor of playing the role of the future hHall of Famer. At Fritz’s request, he signed a napkin, ‘Willie Mays.’I saw both men smiling and laughing. I think they had as much fun as my brother.

“My family will always be grateful for this unforgettably generous gesture. The man could have mater-of-factly told Fritz it was a case of mistaken identity. Instead, he went along with the harmless charade and pretended to be Fritz’s hero.

“This memory came back to me in full force when Willie Mays died last June at 93 [in 2024]. I remembered the man in the booth at the diner. I cried and said a prayer for both.”

Why I love this story

I just love this story. I love it because of the power of a memory that’s over 50 years old that still evokes emotion. It’s what I want to see in a podcast I listen to – a story that makes me think and feel something.

I love the story because of the people described in it. I found each of them to be inspiring in their own unique way.

Is it just me, or can you see or hear from this article how each of the characters reflects one aspect of God's character? I’m eager to share with you what I see in each of them, but it will have to wait until episode 221 next time.

Stories like this unfold around us all the time. They are everywhere – people reflecting the image and likeness of God in ways that inspire us to do the same.

Closing

As we close up shop for today, I’d love to hear your thoughts concerning the type of podcast you would want to listen to. I hope today’s show stimulated you to think more about what you are made for.

Doing so will help you experience the joy of being the person you were created to be, a person who reflects the character of God.

Well, that’s it for today. If you’re not on our email list and would like to know in advance when new episodes drop, go to JohnCertalic.com/follow and enter your email address and name.

Lastly, if you think of it, try spreading a little relational sunshine around the people you meet this week. Spark some joy for them. It’s part of God’s character to do so. And I’ll see you again next time. Goodbye for now.

Other episodes or resources related to today’s shows

163: What You and I Need Most