Sam Dye “Contentment In Being “The Little Guy”

This is something that I have had in my mind for several years. “Will I always just be one of “the little guys”? To some who know me, that might seem like a pretty ironic question for me to ask. I’m 6’6” and have never been a “little guy” in physical terms. But physical stature has nothing to do with why I’m writing this.

Have you ever looked at others in your field of work, your hobbies, or just your community and dreamed of someday being as successful or accomplished as them? Perhaps you have spent years or even decades working towards the same general goals they are, but they have reached a level that you can only dream of? You look to them and wonder, “why am I stuck here: Will I always just be one of “the little guys”? If you say “yes” then I say “me too”.

This question for me started several years ago, but it really took hold in June of 2022. For fifteen years I have been working in Christian radio. Most of that time has been hosting “on-air” and managing a small network of stations. With the stations growing I really hadn’t thought to compare them to other stations around the country. That changed in June of 2022 when I attended a Christian radio conference in Orlando Florida. I was surrounded by amazing people who are all doing what I do. I looked around this huge room and had the thought “this a very big pond and I am a very little fish.”

Comparison is the enemy of contentment, but I couldn’t help myself. The questions were there and I couldn’t shake them. “Will I ever reach as many people as them”? “Most of these people don’t even know that our stations exist”. “Will I always be one of the little guys”? Let me tell you, once you start asking questions like that, it is very difficult to stop. Even in writing this, I am still asking myself those questions. I’m not writing this because I have the answers, I’m writing this because I suspect that I’m not the only one asking the same questions.

At first I thought that, if you’re not hosting on K-LOVE, you might be feeling the same way, even if your station is what the rest of us would still consider to be “large”. But then I wondered “what if even the ‘big guys’ feel like even they are ‘little guys’ compared to someone else”? I haven’t had the chance to ask them, but I suspect that even they are not immune to feeling this way. After all, they may look within their own company and wonder “will I ever get to manage that department, or host that show, or will I always just be where I am”?

That’s when I started to see what I think is the bigger picture. We are all “little guys” compared to someone else. If you host Mornings on K-LOVE you’re still not the PD. If you’re the head coach of a professional sports team, you’re still not the owner. If you you’re the President of the United States, you still answer to the people. Here’s where I think I’m starting to see a glimpse of understanding. Even if you reached the absolute top and achieved what no-one else has, you would still be “the little guy” to “THE VERY BIG GUY”.

We all want to feel significant. We all want to know that what we’re doing really matters. What I’m starting to learn is that you and I already have that status to the one who matters most. There are not levels of accomplishment or status that can change it for the better or the worse, and we can do what we were made for from wherever He has us.

Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Sam Dye has been working in Christian radio for 15 years. The past 10 years hosting AM Drive time and managing Way Truth Life Radio in PA. Sam has been blessed with his wife Stephanie and three boys Jeffrey, Rocky and Ben. Contact Sam here sam@wtlr.org