Make Your Paths Straight...

Ok, so Alabama hasn’t performed as well as I had hoped, but I was right about LSU and…well, we’ll just see what happens on Nov. 3rd. What a crazy season it’s been! Nothing is for sure in NCAA football and Bama actually played for a full 60 minutes against Tennessee. Exciting stuff!

For those of you who know my financial situation…it’s getting better! Let’s just say I enjoy manual labor way too much, but God has been choosing to bless me in my giftedness as well. It’s always nice to be paid for one of your passions.

Seminary work is piling up. I have an overdue book critique for my Systematic Theology professor and a test in the same class Monday, October 29th. I haven’t even started on the term paper. In my Intro to Philosophy of Religion there are several online quizzes I haven’t completed and another term project I haven’t started. All that to say: this time I’m spending blogging could probably be used more wisely.

And all of that is outside of my teaching and leading responsibilities at church. No worries (one of my favorite phrases if y’all didn’t know), I’ll start my reading and studying for teaching the Sr. High at Ridgecrest and the College at Colonial before I do schoolwork.

So I always loathe updating anybody on anything after so much time has passed, especially when it is done through the written word. It has been over a month and a lot has happened, some of it too personal to put on here. The main reason for a lack of update is for a lack of a computer. Mine died right as I quit Brilla at the end of August.

The abbreviated version is this: I will most likely be making a major decision on a job this week. Pray for me…or send me your wisdom if you like. And God has been teaching me and reminding me of some significant areas where I need growth.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK…

While at Brilla I was unable to spend much time on my motorcycle because I constantly had things I had to transport or I couldn’t go into some meeting looking like I had just ridden 20-something miles on a motorcycle.

A few weeks ago that all changed. I hopped on my 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 Classic and as I rode I was transported back to Niger, West Africa, the Andes Mountains of Peru, Baranquilla, Colombia, and Mexico.

Maybe it was the cool air and freedom I felt knowing I was exactly where God wanted me to be, or perhaps it was the smell that only someone with a passion for international missions can understand; the smell of refuse, poverty, of this earth rising to the heavens. It’s not a smell we often experience secluded and isolated within our vehicles, homes, and workplaces. It’s a smell that is more commonly preceded by love and experienced outside of our walls and in community with the world.

In Erik Mirandette’s book, The Only Road North, he said these words in relation to his pursuit of work overseas that immediately resonated with me: “When problems arose almost immediately, I knew I was on the right track. I was searching for something adventurous, something that had never been done before. It was perfect.”

I see no difference in kingdom work being done here or overseas. In fact, I see the truly difficult work being here in the States. But one thing I have always known is that Erik’s words are my heart…and yet I’m here.

GOD IS PREPARING ME…

There are some treasured words written on the inside of one of my Bibles. They were written by one of my closest friends, Steven Derry. The Bible was given to me as a gift for being a part of his wedding. I don’t even let people read what he wrote. The Bible is falling apart now, but I keep it with me to challenge me. With a simplicity and clarity that I often lack, he writes that wisdom and discipline are two of the greatest strengths he sees in me. I see where he’s coming from, but I honestly don’t measure up.

You see, discipline and wisdom are just two areas of my life that I believe are being improved and refined as God prepares me for his work and relationships. And the hardest part of this journey with Christ is still yet to come…oh dear, it’s coming!

In a letter, Peter tells his audience that they have been given everything they need for life and outlines a process for them:

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

“They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Something I long for! Can you relate??

Well, I have so much more to say and hopefully I will be more consistent in updating. I also hope to open up my other blog very soon, less as a personal update and more as an extension of my teaching times on Wednesdays and my own personal Bible study.