The good news is we can be what we were meant to be.

He was just Simon, but Jesus said, “Thou shalt be Peter.” Simon had no idea what the Lord had in store for him. Nor do we.

Simon was selfish, cowardly, unstable, but Jesus saw what Simon could be. He knew Simon could become a leader. Jesus said, “Thou art Simon, but you shall be a Rock (Petros.)” He did become a leader for it was always Peter, James, and John, in that order. He wrote two books of the Bible and preached a sermon that resulted in 3000 souls being saved.

“Thou art; thou shalt be.” It’s all about becoming.

Greg McCollum lived with his parents down on 9^th Street. He loved science in school. His father bought him a chemistry set. Greg went to SIU, majored in chemical engineering, became a chemist and lectured all over the world until his retirement. Dr. Greg McCollum became very famous.

Kyle Lehning grew up in a Cairo medical family, but he loved music.  One day he told his dad, Fred Ent Lehning, that he wanted to go into music, not medicine. His dad said, “Then that’s what you should do.” And Kyle made his mark in music and still lives in his happy world of melody.

Sometimes we parents make the mistake of wanting our kids to be what we wanted to be, but our children don’t have that interest or aptitude. We should want them to be what they ought to be.

Jacob was a cheater, trickster, deceiver, but God saw what Jacob could be, and God changed him. He even changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which means “a prince of God.”

God did it for Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith and had them meet up in the Super Bowl, the first two black coaches ever to reach the zenith of that profession. He did it for a kid from a Detroit ghetto named Ben Carson, the foremost neurosurgeon of his day.

It is no secret what God can do.

What will you be? Go with God and find out.