Hungry Man – Impact Hunger

I go through cycles of elation and depression. It’s really quite annoying, actually, especially for my dear wife who has to navigate the waters of my extremes.

There are moments when I know that I know that I know that I am in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. But then there are also moments where those highs turn into despair, and I lose sight of my purpose, direction and hope.

I’ve come to realize that my emotional yo-yo is tied to my inner hunger for impact. There is something deep within me that longs, needs, wants, desires and hungers to make an impression, to make a difference, to MEAN something to this world. I don’t just want to do a job and earn a paycheck. I don’t just want to find entertainment or comfort. Those things are good, yes, and even desirable, but somewhere deep inside I know that my greatest meaning is to change the world.

Now I don’t mean “change the world” like it’s some kind of pipe dream. I don’t mean change the world like change the trajectory of the entire human race. (Though I’m not against that either…) What I mean is that I want to have an impact. In some way, I want the world to be different as a result of my having lived and breathed this air. However large or small, there is a hunger or desire in my heart and soul that wants goodness to result from my existence.

I am not sure how this all applies to women (lady-readers…thoughts?), but both in my own experience and in the conversations I’ve had with other men, it seems that this Impact Hunger is ubiquitous. It varies in intensity, indeed, but every single man I’ve talked with about this has said “yeah, I feel that too!”

We all want our lives to mean something.
It goes beyond legacy.
It goes beyond paying the bills or even raising the kids.
It’s something spiritual.

I believe that God created men to have an impact. He put the hunger in our hearts so that we would pursue life, change, and goodness. It also presses us to battle against the darkness. I believe He not only placed the desire in our souls, but He also fuels it with purpose, opposition, and challenge. It is the quintessential “living for a bigger purpose,” or “your life is not your own” kind of feeling. There is a bigger story being told here, and I have a significant role.

This past Sunday at our church we had “Orphan Sunday.” There are few things in this world that stir my heart more than the suffering of the fatherless. I sat there in the service, listening to the stories, thinking about the millions of children in the world who do not know the love of a father (or the love of THE Father), and I wept. I literally wept. All of the things in which I am currently involved were brought back to the drawing board and evaluated against the biblical command to care for orphans and widows. The fatherless…

I don’t know what it all means. All I know is that I’ve been racked with thought, emotion, elation and despair these past few days because God touched my heart with a purpose worthy of my life. And it connects deeply with my own inner hunger to make an impact. What happens when those two things are combined? What shifts in the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness when a man’s inner hunger to change the world for good meets one of the world’s greatest needs? I have a deep sense inside that my life is about to change…that the ministry of Restoration Project is about to mean something more…

Impact Hunger. I believe we all have it. The question is, do we listen to it or do we squelch it? What impact are YOU having in your world?

THE HUNGRY MAN SERIES