Become who you were born to be.

Put aside the ranger. Become who you were born to be. ~Elrond.

One of the many story lines in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the Aragornm heir to the throne of Gondor... a position and responsibility that he has been running from his whole life. When we first meet him in Bree, he is simply introduced as Strider.

He saves the Hobbits from the Black Riders and guide them through the wilderness to the safety of Rivendell. It is only during the Council of Elrond, that we learn Strider's true identity.

Aragorn: You cannot wield it! None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master.
Boromir: And what would a ranger know of this matter?
Legolas stands suddenly.
Legolas: This is no mere ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.
Boromir: Aragorn? This... is Isildur's heir?
Legolas: And heir to the throne of Gondor.

After that, through the duration of the next few books, we see Aragorn developing "kingly qualities", each battle and hardship is tempering him as he heads for his destiny.

At the encampment near the mountain Road of Dimholt, Elrond coems with the reforged sword of Isildur that was broken during the first battle of Sauron. It is in this moment in the film Return of the King, that Elrond says: Put aside the ranger. Become who you were born to be.
Aragorn takes hold of the sword and his destiny with stony determination and makes for the mountain pass where the army of the dead dwells. He then leads them to victory at Minas Tirith.

In our lives, we each have a specific purpose or dream that we can choose to take hold of, or we can run from it, like Aragorn.

My whole life, and my parents can vouch for me when i say this, I said that I would never (notice the use of the most ironic word in the English language) ever be involved in a ministry style life, or even marry someone who wanted to be in the ministry.

I am here to tell you that sometimes God has a sense of humor, and the one thing that I spent most of my life running from has become the greatest blessing in my life. Stephen and I are now co-founders of a wonderful ministry, we are happily serving God... and I can tell you I wouldn't have it any other way.
As I watched The Return of the King yesterday, I felt like those words were being spoken to me... Put aside the ranger... Put aside your old life. Become who you were made to be... Let God work in your life to make you new and to fulfill your purpose for Him; your destiny, if you will.

2 Corinthians 2:17-21 says:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Get rid of the ranger and stop running. Embrace who you were meant to be... God's original masterpiece with an amazing purpose!