Where Does Your Purpose Come From?

In a conversation we were having about aging, my barber said, “I am waiting on God’s purpose for my life. He has something in mind. He wants to use me. I know it.”

I’ve been going to the same barbershop for over thirty years. And my hair has been cut by the same barber, Bill, for the last twenty five of those thirty years. I didn’t go to him in the beginning because his haircut of choice was a mullet. If you know anything about me, you know I’m a city boy who doesn’t understand a thing about being country.

Bill will celebrate his eighty-sixth birthday this week. He still cuts hair but only on Mondays. He may only be working one day a week, but on Monday he shows up at 8 am and leaves at 6 pm. He no longer has a mullet or his former ponytail since his hair got a little too thin for either style.

In all that time I sat in Bill’s chair, I can count on one hand the times we talked about religion and God. He never brought up this subject. I was always the one who tried to get him talking, but he was quick to change the subject. I finally got the message. It just wasn’t something he felt comfortable talking about.

But here he was two weeks from his eight-sixth birthday and he stated unequivocally in front of me and the other barber, “I know God has a purpose for me, and that’s why I keep going.”

Dean, the other barber, and I just looked at Bill dumbstruck.

I thanked Bill for sharing this with us and said, “You have no idea how much of an impact you just had on me.” God showed up through Bill that Monday morning to give me this message.

Bill is sixteen years my senior, and he keeps going. And the hope that keeps him going is his relationship with God. Bill isn’t looking to die as one might expect from a man his age. No. He keeps cutting hair waiting eagerly for God’s new purpose in his life.

I also think God has a purpose for my life. What it is, I’m not sure. But now, because of Bill, I know it is coming.

Thanks, Bill.