Step on My Toes. Please. I Need the Pain.

Six months of unemployment have not made me a sadist. Having children did that.
I kid, I kid.
This blog has honestly been tough to put together. The difficulty has been figuring out which illustrations I want to put in it. But the basis is this:
Today I had a job interview, only the fourth since my departure from the last place. This may be difficult to comprehend, but the job interview was fabulous. It left me with a good feeling. The strange thing about that is, I will not get the job.
"Yeah. You've stayed at home too long. You have lost your mind."
 Stay with me here. The interview was at a luxury car dealership. The interviewer, Brian, was wonderful. He was straightforward with me, and we had an interview full of candor and straight talk. What he told me as a complete stranger many friends would not tell me. My wife would tell me, and has many times. She's good for me like that. She is the sandpaper of my life. In that manner, Brian was an excellent face for his company. He was not trying to sell his business just to get warm bodies in the payroll. He has a vision for the place he works, given to him by his superiors. It is a successful business model, passed down from a very respected name.
Basically, as a stranger, he was able to dispense some truth into my life that he could see as an independent observer. I do not think I would have seen this as a younger person. I don't even believe I would have seen this a year ago. I see it now, and I am thankful for it. I have also been getting this at church in the past six months. Challenging words from the Bible, God's Word being poured into my heart, it is what I have needed for my life.
I guess I have been a victim of the Southern culture, where we don't really say the hard things to someone, we just sugar that person up, then say it behind their back, along with a "Bless their heart" that somehow makes it all okay. It's okay to tell somebody something that will be hard for them to hear. That is how the Gospel gets spread. That is how lives get changed. This is how improvements are made. This is how a person grows mentally and intellectually. A person cannot grow without a little pain. Steel is not forged until it reaches the highest temperatures and is pounded into shape.
 The best illustration I can think of is the GEICO ad starring R. Lee Ermey. "Does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist?" The truth is, no he doesn't. Maybe the jackwod that needed a little self-confidence needed a little more drill sergeant treatment from him. It would help him to man up a little, and deliver him from "Namby-Pamby" land.
Thanks to my wife, Pastor Steven Furtick, and to Brian from Hendrick Motors in Hickory.  Thank you for telling me the things I need to hear, and not just tickling my ears. If this made any sense to you, please comment and let me know.