Refusing To Be Average: Thoughts on Tozer

I have a couple well worn, aged, read and re-read paperbacks by Christian writer A.W. Tozer - of all the things he's written I guess I get hit square in the eye more by one statement: "Refuse To Be Average" than anything else. I guess that's not such a profound statement after all, but it's got a lot of weight to it. I would love to step out of the confining realm of "average," and actually be someone who's just a slight notch above. I'm not interested in turning water into wine, feeding multitudes with a loaf of bread and some lunch meat (bread and fish have been done already); I just want to be a person who makes a difference to someone. I guess I look to my inspiration Johnny Cash, who was anything but average, but he was un-average in a sort of low-key, inconspicuous way. He went out of his way to help someone, took chances with people no one else would have give a second thought, hence his Columbia Records Folsom Prison and San Quentin recordings of the 196os, and was a sort of Jesus-with-skin-on to the downtrodden, misunderstood, marginalized, the down-and-out. I just want to hit somewhere around that level, be a friend, a better listener, a more sympathetic heart. Let it start today, wherever I'm at, whatever I'm doing, no matter who the person is or whether they got the spot I wanted to park in at Wal-Mart.