New Blog! Or, Starting Up the Old One Again...

Kind of amazing to think that it's been about a year since my last public blog post (different account). As the apostle, Peter, mentioned in his second epistle,

Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it [right], as long as I am in this tabernacle (body), to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. (2 Peter 1:12-13)

We humans have a tendency to forget things. Even things we once learned and had that, "Oh, wow! That's amazing!" reaction to.

It's also been said that "we preach best what we need to hear most."

And so I'm going to pick up blogging again for 2 reasons:

     1. I need to be reminded of what I believe.

My particular collection of beliefs are quite eclectic and unique. It's easy to get sidetracked. But God has given us a mind and a heart, and he expects us to use both of them to the best of our ability (Mark 12:30).

Also, part of the season I'm in is to firmly set in my heart and mind how true what I believe is. In life, it's easy to get ambushed and feel like the world hates you and that everything in existence is set against you.

But that's not the truth.

I was at a youth summer camp this past week. I started off the week in a funk, kinda feeling like what I just said above: that everything is set against me, that there's no hope.

But then God brought to mind a quote that I came across:

If you plant an apple seed today, don't expect to eat fresh apples next week... Don't expect to accomplish anything significant in a few days or weeks. Be prepared for a long road filled with potholes, detours, and dead ends. ~ Ross Enamait

What I was going through wasn't about me, it was about the journey I'm on. The potholes, detours, and dead ends are part of the path that we take. In other words, I wasn't to blame for the funk I was in. (Sometimes that is the case, but that's another blog for another time.) I mean, Jesus said it himself: "In the world, you shall have tribulation." (John 16:33)

Don't get me wrong: There's something absolutely beautiful about a heart that is steadfastly committed to praising God during the most trying times, "though there's pain in the offering" "on the road marked with suffering" -- a road that is filled with potholes, detours, and dead ends, "having lots of chances to turn back" but "reaching forth unto those things which are before me, [pressing] toward the mark for the prize":

But tribulation is not the end of the story:

"In the world, you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"To wait patiently, to trust when everything looks dark, is the lesson that the leaders in God's work need to learn." (Ellen White)

Being reminded of what I believe gave me perspective, helped me to see beyond the immediate and into the Larger Story that is unfolding around us and that God is inviting us into.

So that's the first reason why I'm writing: to help remind me of what I believe and why, to give me Larger-Story perspective within the day-to-day mundane.

Which brings me to the other reason:

     2. I need to teach others what I believe.

With what I believe being so unique (or, at least the particular combination of beliefs/doctrines that I hold to), it's easy to feel like you're the only one who believes how you do.

But the more I see how deep a reality that I believe actually is, the more I become convinced that the world desperately needs what I can bring to the table.

I'm not being arrogant; it's just that I've found my place in the battle, discovered the overlap between what I'm absolutely passionate about and what is lacking in the world. As the quote from Mahatma Gandhi goes,

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

This is my chance, on the small scale though it may be, to be that change, to remind myself that I am that change, and to show others that the subtle ways in how you look at the world -- and the subsequent path that you take because of that perspective are so vitally important:

Two [perspectives] diverged in a wood and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. (Robert Frost)

So, here's to taking "the road less traveled by" by reminding myself and others that there are facets a biblical perspective that are critical to keep in mind during your daily living that will enable us to better relate to others, to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to bring our Savior honor, and to show the world the true heart of our heavenly Father.