Brant Hansen “When You Just Don’t Have It”

When You Just Don’t Have It

My friend Jonny lives down the street, and he’s a man’s man. He has a popular manly Instagram thing he runs.

He leads military-style adventures in the mountains. He does martial arts and stuff. He’s big into ice baths.

He’s also really encouraging and loves telling his friends: “You got this!”

And he means it. “You got this!” It helps.

I love it: “You got this!” But the truth is most of the time, when it comes to my job…. I don’t think I got this.

——

Each day, before I prep my show, I don’t know what I’m going to say. I need to come up with about 20 things that I hope have value. I am daunted by this.

I’ve been doing this radio thing for a long time, but each and every workday starts with me thinking WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO GET ALL THIS STUFF TO SAY?

And then I remember I have to walk my dog, Cozy, and when I walk Cozy I remember to talk to God.

Dallas Willard described prayer as “talking with God about what you’re doing together in life,” and boy, do I like that.

I seriously point-blank ask God to give me content. “Please let me be a blessing to these precious people who are going to listen.” I know “precious” isn’t a word Jonny would use, maybe, but I mean it. “Please give me content today. I don’t have anything.”

Each day, I feel overmatched. Each day, I think I’m out of stuff to say. Each day, I don’t got this.

And each day, it turns out I’m just fine.

I feel kind of like the kid must’ve felt with the lunch of loaves and fish. He just shows up. He hasn’t got that much to offer, but… hey, just stand back and watch what Jesus can do with even a little bit.

——

You may feel overmatched in your job, too. I know a lot of us do.

I’ve learned that this is actually a sweet spot. It feels insecure, but it’s a secure place, so long as it drives you back to talking to God about it.

He apparently wants to partner with us. That’s a ringing theme throughout scripture: Looking for people who want to partner with Him, and working it out together.

I just wanted to remind you of that. Some people will read this and think, “What the heck, bro, you need to be more confident!”

But I am confident. Just not so confident in myself, left to myself. I like learning about dependence, and seeing God come through again and again. It’s not a one-off story; He keeps doing it. He keeps helping me. (Every day: “It’s me again… please help me.”)

So it can be good to feel a little overwhelmed, a little helpless. And it can be good to be forced to think about TODAY’s challenge. I’ve honestly never thought about my future career, five or ten or 20 years out, because I’ve always been thinking about the next show. (“Lord, give me this day my daily content,” is not at all a bad thing to ask.)

I don’t see the big picture. But I’m doing fine. He makes a way.

If you have imposter syndrome, you have lots of people in this industry who understand you. Have a seat! It’s going to be okay. Because even though this sounds like a religious cliché, I really mean it. I say it as a witness, someone who sees it regularly:

He’s got this.

Brant Hansen is a radio host and Cozy Hansen is his dog. Brant and/or Cozy can be reached at brant@branthansen.com.