So I was looking at an unpublished post from last September. It set out some goals for myself for the future. No need to go into everything because there is a reason I didn't post it. But imagine my surprise to find that I have not given up what I set out to do six months ago.
It is very strange to me to have found a level of consistency. Surely, it is not my doing. I have never been one to follow through on my lofty ideals. Every school semester started with setting out to do all the reading and get in shape and maybe learn an instrument. By the third week I'm barely skimming the books, watching TV most of the time, and could barely whistle.
I do not say any of this to say what a slacker I was (though, truly, I was), or how much better I am doing now (though, clearly, I am). I say this to say that Jesus is so much more gracious and good than I thought He was. And if He can use a screw up like me, why not you? If He loves me as greatly as Scripture promises and I have had the joy and privilege to witness, why not you?
Philippians 3:10-14:
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Let us press on.
P.S. I edited this post to make it clearer. A new thing to add to my to-do list: work on clarity of thought. Hooray.
4 comments:
Hey Jeroth (can I use your true name here?) I stumbled across a link to your blog on your Facebook profile, and I decided to come over for a visit.
I've decided to start blogging again too, but with a wordpress.org personal website, in case I want to do anything besides blog in the future, I'll always have that webspace.
Anyway, everyone has trouble with goals. Heck, after I joined the Navy in September, I had it in my head that I was going to be in ultimate shape by the time my ship date hit, but I only just started running the week before last.
I hope that God can use me too. I've been trying to go through a whole new viewpoint shift thing and get reacquainted with the church after these past couple years of running away, so I guess I'll see what happens.
By the way, what kind of books are you into? If you get the chance, check out "Thief of Time" by Terry Pratchett and / or "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'm not a very big fan of the discworld stuff, but those two books had my complete attention for a handful of days.
Grace and Peace be with you,
-Blake
Yeah, screen name references would be preferable, though Fezzik is also acceptable. Future stories may need to be confidential and the best way to do that is to leave names out, mine or anyone else's. Anyway, glad to hear you are back in the fold. When is your ship date? We should meet before then.
Grace and Peace,
Jeroth
P.S. I do love Neil Gaiman. I'll have to give those books a look.
Awesome man, I'll just post under this moniker then. If you want, you can view my blog just by clicking my screenname (there's really nothing there yet). I have this OpenID thing set up on my site which lets me create a permanent, cross-referenced, web ID that I can use pretty much anywhere.
I guess if this is supposed to be kind of a personal blog, and you would like for me not to read up on it, I understand, just let me know. I don't want to be a nuisance.
Anyway, I ship the third of August ( almost a year after joining... they pushed it back from my original ship date in May), but I will probably be the cool guy that I am and quit my job in July and take that time for myself and just generally having fun. We will have to see what each others' schedules are like (well, mine will be empty) and try and get together.
ta-ta for now, buddyboy.
Oh no man, please do read. I some confidentiality so that in case I talk about anyone, their name can't be googled or something. I have no problem if people I know learn about whatever is going on with me, mostly because God is working on me and it is awesome. Yea, Holy Spirit! At some point, some of this stuff may turn into a book anyway so read on while it's free :). Now, I should have a pretty flexible schedule for the foreseeable future. Just let me know when you wanna hang out.
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