One of my favorite poems, and if I’m honest, one of the few I like, is by Robert Frost. He muses about the challenge of choosing between a well-traveled road and one far less traveled. I’m not sure exactly when I read that poem for the first time, but I was young, maybe in the sixth grade. By then, I already knew that this would be my course in life, to travel the paths that few had blazed before me.

In many ways, I saw myself as a loner, the odd man (or boy) out. I didn’t hang around kids my age. I liked girls way earlier than my peers and my church friends were several years older. At 13 years old, I became crazy for Jesus, making me even more unique.

Looking back at my life now, I can see many places where I veered off the typical, expected path. Had it not been for a faithful, loving and devoted wife, I would most likely have found myself alone many times. I don’t think I ever made the choices I made trying to be different. It was just deep in my nature. Those choices didn’t always make me popular or get positive reviews, but each one shaped Jane and me into the people we are today. 

I often think about all the experiences I would have missed had I been “normal.” The adventures, the people, the joys and yes, even some hard lessons. God made some of us “different.” Some of us aren’t drawn to the same things as most people. If that’s you, that’s OK. That means you’ll travel some paths that will bring you experiences that few others will enjoy, heights that few will attain, and best of all, you’ll be precisely the person God made you to be!

Never equate being cast out by some to being cast off by God. He made you the unique and incredibly complex person you are. Never let others convince you that being different is the same as being wrong. And never forget that God loved you so much, in all of your uniqueness, that He sent His only Son to die on the cross. He did that so He could be in a relationship with the very one-of-a-kind YOU!