Worth. It's a big word, isn't it? One that takes up occupancy inside heartbeats. One that lives humanly in and out of our days. It's collection of 5 letters with a devout focus. An acute direction of an investment deemed holy. And one that we cling to as we walk out this best life here on earth.

Worth is personal. It's a notion that builds inside you. One that transcends from Maker to man. It's not some spontaneous belief bursting forth, but rather a perpetual feeling that grows slowly and in good time.

We all clamor from time to time with this one syllable of us. We second guess ourselves; we obsess over the crooked frames of accolades that hang there on our very walls.

And the simple sanctity is that worth is inside each of us. We possess this absolute reservoir of truth. It's one that rests on the laurels of grace. It's one that's scaffolded by those around us with a strength in believing well before seeing. Those are the angels He uses to build worth here on Earth.

Today's staff writer is someone who builds. He is someone who sees well before for others just the same. Completely oblivious to the terrain, he believes in the better of you not concerning himself with the hills or the flat stretches there around you. This man invests his very worth journey in you more than you even know.

I am honored to share him with you in this space. Moreover, I am most privileged to share my life with him here on this earth. Please welcome Kenny Cobble's story.

Let me start off by saying this: There is always one in every group. That one person who is a bit of a troublemaker, a bit of a pain, a bit of a person that you have to hound to get things finished. In today’s case, that person is me. I am the one guest on this blog team that didn’t make my deadline. While my sweet wife (Yes, the creative and talented gal who is running this thing) has been very kind about the whole situation….I just needed to say I will try to do a better job kicking it in gear moving forward!!

Now, where were we?

OH YES!

My story…

I have honestly been running from this topic (think my tardiness shows that?). I truly struggle when it comes to discussing me. I always have. I am intentionally trying to get better at it, and in some ways I have been able to improve, but it is still challenging for me to speak in any great depth about myself. Why is that? I don’t know that I can place a finger directly on it. I have just always had this inner pull of 2 major questions when it comes to talking about myself:

Who really wants to hear this stuff about me?
What about my story is really all that valuable? Different?

Impacting?

Listening to someone else’s story has often been easier for me (my wife may never agree to that!). Truly, though, I have always felt like I am much more poised for the job of being a sounding board rather than being a billboard. It's not that I trust I will have any great advice to give, or that I will offer some profound resolution to a problem…but I will LISTEN.

What in the world makes me this way? Why can I value someone else’s story, while not feeling my own has enough value to tell? Why is it that I struggle to give details that seem exciting enough to warrant a "Hey, listen to this!" when talking about me? MAN I WISH I KNEW!

But I will LISTEN.

I knew a lady once. She was what I would imagine most angels would be like. Kind, caring, generous, thoughtful, driven, wise, and INVESTED. Invested in others. Intentionally invested in her family. Intentionally there making the one she was with at any particular time seem as if they were the most important person in the world to her. She simply had a way of welcoming you in and giving you value when you struggled to see that you had any. She saw through the struggles of childhood, through the struggles of a broken and pieced back together family, through any obstacle it seemed you may be facing.

She cultivated comfort level. She created a sense of value in what you had to say. This woman valued your opinion, even if she knew it might be a bit off track or lacking the maturity to fully realize the depth of the topic you were opining. She saw your mistakes, and loved you through them. She created a place where I (and many others she impacted) felt at ease and confident telling our story. It is such a powerful and happy place in my memory.

I miss it.

I miss her. I miss this woman's outstanding ability to set all of her life troubles aside and make me feel like I had a place. Looking back, I know her battles were so much bigger than mine. That her hurts and struggles were so much tougher than I could even imagine. Looking back, I know it never stopped her from placing value on mine.