I think I offended a guy tonight. Not sure. I am one of those people who will specifically complement the chef in a restaurant if I think a meal is particularly good. Whether it’s a diner or fancy place I will give credit where it’s due. (I say “fancy place” like I go to those. I think the fanciest place we go is Carabas Grill and that’s only once a year on Christmas eve.) Anyway...

My wife and I went to the food truck event in Oviedo tonight. There was a truck that sold Philly Cheesesteaks. Oh yeah. I love a good Philly Cheesesteak. There are cheesesteaks and there are PHILLY cheesesteaks. These are not the same thing. Usually when a place advertises they have phllly cheesesteaks the mean cheesesteak. Not a PHILLY cheesesteak. So I ordered one from this particular food truck.

It was awesome. Completely tasted like a genuine PHILLY cheesesteak. So I went back to tell the chef it was the closest thing I had to a Philly cheesesteak since I was in Philly. Apparently he was from Philly and had worked at a cheesesteak place in Philly and questioned me when I said, “closest” because to him it was the genuine article. I enjoyed it very much and thought I was paying him a compliment but I’m not sure he took it that way.

We all want to be genuine. We all want to be authentic. We want to be the real-deal.

What does authentic look like when you are a Christian? Brother Lawrence (17th century monk and author of a book called Practice of the Presence of God) said he felt closest to God when he was in the chaos of his kitchen. Not when he was in the sanctuary praying but in the loud banging of pots and pans. What does it mean to be real when it comes to being in God’s presence?

I think it is when we do what God called us to do....I don’t mean in a let’s-feed-the-homeless kind of “do”. I mean in when you do what God called you personally to do then you are closest to him. What God calls you to do is not what God called me to do. What God called your brother (sister, mother, father, teacher) to do is not what God wants you to do.

I think we are authentic...we are genuine...we are real...when we find out what it is that makes us feel truly alive and then DO THAT for God. You heard people sing and thought “Whoa..they have a real gift.” That’s true. It IS a gift and they are using it. They are authentic.

When you try to be something you are not. When you try to be something to please your parents. When you try and be someone else in order to sit at the cool kids table...you are not being genuine. Genuine is when you are what God created you to be.

Trouble is...when there are people who are so insecure about their own authenticity they usually try and make others feel the need to change. “I want you to be inauthentic in order for me to like you. Change and be like me or you can’t sit by me or be accepted by me.”

Don’t listen to these people.

Whenever you are doing that which makes you feel the most alive that is when you are in the presence of God. That is when you are being authentic. That is when you are genuine. It’s also a great place to start when you think of “What do I want to do for a living when I grow up?” Start with the same question...what are you doing when you feel the most alive? When you can answer that... (without the interference of well-meaning and sometimes not-so-well-meaning individuals who want you to be something else)...when you can answer that you are on your way.

Be authentic.

Be genuine.

Be yourself.