What would I say if I only had a thousand words? What could I tell you that would change your life? What could I say to you about my experience that would alter the course of your life forever?
In the past couple of years, I have written a great number of blog posts and placed them on different blogging websites. Some of them have been short and sweet and others a little longer and probably exhausting to the ones have read them. I have spent many hours pondering what to say-- what to get down on paper, to convey different ideas. The winter has usually been a time of inspiration partly due to its length and the wet, cold days. I have written about Life and Death, Pain and Tragedy, Love and Laughter and Joy and Contentment. As we all go through things and the unrest in the world increases, it seems that there is always something to write about. Writing has been therapeutic to me as I have tried to get thoughts down on paper that many others may relate to. Like the Psalms, many times I started writing from a jaded viewpoint, only to have Him whisper peace into my soul. A darker mindset that led to a “what are you going to do about it” ending. He restoreth my soul!
With the average post being close to a thousand words and having written more than just blog posts, including letters to family and friends, I have probably used closed to 70,000 words or more. All of this in order to challenge us as believers, to challenge me as a Stumbling, Fumbling, Follower of The Way, to become more than we are and to be transformed into all that we can be. You would think that I would be exhausted, but the ideas just keep coming. He shows me new things, new insights into the problems and challenges of everyday life. This is fun for me and I am so glad to have friends that take the time to read and think about what is being said. I am very thankful that the words have a place to go and sincerely appreciate each of you for taking some of your valuable time to read them. I have oftentimes been encouraged by your feedback and the fact that what I have said made sense to, and has helped someone else. I am not always right in how I convey messages and many times the sarcasm is glaring back at me. I am not always sensitive to the unaware or the innocent. I have trouble loving the “church” in its current state, for I see the problems and know that we can be so much more. But I also know that the change has to start within me and never forget the mirror that I hold to help me remember to point the finger at myself first. As much as He loves us all, I am deeply aware that He loves me and wants to change my stinky attitudes. I have an abiding sense of His Love and Peace in my heart, but the unrest I feel is from my attempts to pull away and rant a little.
I struggle with believing that I am saying anything new. As they say, it’s all been said before. But until we experience certain things in life, they are still foreign to us. The human experience may ultimately be the same for us all, and it may take a lifetime to get there. But I know that Life with Him is much better than the life I tried to live without Him. So as I sit here, thinking of the next thing to say-- sit here thinking of the next thought to convey; I am reminded that I have about a thousand words and so I must choose wisely.
I would say that I am a great sinner, but that I have an even greater Savior. I have been to some of the darkest places that a mind could go, but the Light of the World was with me there. I have felt some of the deepest hurts and disappointments that a man could feel in this life, but the Father’s Loving Arms were there. I have made a mess of me and have had to start over so many times that I have lost count, but He has taken me back and reassured me of His Mercy and Grace. I have shown him my scars and He has shown me His. He has healed the wounded places and I have stuck my hand in His. As I have heard the rooster crow, I have felt the pain of denying Him. I have ran from the sinners that He has sent me to share Him with. I have rolled the dice as He hung there for me. I have walked away from the Only Love that could ever save me. I have thrown off the cloak that He gave to me and ran out the back door to see all that I could see. I have experienced as much as I could, went farther than I thought His arms could reach. He has followed me into places that I should have never been, and He has carried me out when I was broken and battered.
He has proven His love for me time and time again. I didn’t know what Love was until I met Him. He has helped me to leave the past behind and move forward in His Grace. He has helped me to Trust Him in situations when it was humanly impossible to do so. Times where it made absolutely no sense to jump, He told me to. He has parted the waters and I have ran through on dry ground, all the while still scared that I was going to drown. I have run to the desert and thrown myself pity parties, and He has asked me what I was doing there. He has been the Friend to me, when I have had none. The loneliest times in my life were some of the best times because of Him. His promises to me have been too wonderful. His loving-kindness has been greater than I could imagine. His forgiveness knows no limitations. His Grace poured out over me has overwhelmed me. When I could not stand on His promises, He has helped me to hang on to them. Clinging from the edge sometimes, He has pulled me up, dusted me off and walked with me. At times, He has carried me because I was too weary to go on. He is the solid rock that I had been looking for all of my life. Judging what I held in my hand, I slipped it into my pocket, not knowing its true worth. Now that I have pulled it out again and discovered the many layers, I know its value and by it how much that I am Loved and Valued.
A thousand words is a lot. A thousand words is not enough. But I hope that by them, you can tell the difference He has made for me. I hope that you too have discovered all that Jesus can be in your life as well.
In the past couple of years, I have written a great number of blog posts and placed them on different blogging websites. Some of them have been short and sweet and others a little longer and probably exhausting to the ones have read them. I have spent many hours pondering what to say-- what to get down on paper, to convey different ideas. The winter has usually been a time of inspiration partly due to its length and the wet, cold days. I have written about Life and Death, Pain and Tragedy, Love and Laughter and Joy and Contentment. As we all go through things and the unrest in the world increases, it seems that there is always something to write about. Writing has been therapeutic to me as I have tried to get thoughts down on paper that many others may relate to. Like the Psalms, many times I started writing from a jaded viewpoint, only to have Him whisper peace into my soul. A darker mindset that led to a “what are you going to do about it” ending. He restoreth my soul!
With the average post being close to a thousand words and having written more than just blog posts, including letters to family and friends, I have probably used closed to 70,000 words or more. All of this in order to challenge us as believers, to challenge me as a Stumbling, Fumbling, Follower of The Way, to become more than we are and to be transformed into all that we can be. You would think that I would be exhausted, but the ideas just keep coming. He shows me new things, new insights into the problems and challenges of everyday life. This is fun for me and I am so glad to have friends that take the time to read and think about what is being said. I am very thankful that the words have a place to go and sincerely appreciate each of you for taking some of your valuable time to read them. I have oftentimes been encouraged by your feedback and the fact that what I have said made sense to, and has helped someone else. I am not always right in how I convey messages and many times the sarcasm is glaring back at me. I am not always sensitive to the unaware or the innocent. I have trouble loving the “church” in its current state, for I see the problems and know that we can be so much more. But I also know that the change has to start within me and never forget the mirror that I hold to help me remember to point the finger at myself first. As much as He loves us all, I am deeply aware that He loves me and wants to change my stinky attitudes. I have an abiding sense of His Love and Peace in my heart, but the unrest I feel is from my attempts to pull away and rant a little.
I struggle with believing that I am saying anything new. As they say, it’s all been said before. But until we experience certain things in life, they are still foreign to us. The human experience may ultimately be the same for us all, and it may take a lifetime to get there. But I know that Life with Him is much better than the life I tried to live without Him. So as I sit here, thinking of the next thing to say-- sit here thinking of the next thought to convey; I am reminded that I have about a thousand words and so I must choose wisely.
I would say that I am a great sinner, but that I have an even greater Savior. I have been to some of the darkest places that a mind could go, but the Light of the World was with me there. I have felt some of the deepest hurts and disappointments that a man could feel in this life, but the Father’s Loving Arms were there. I have made a mess of me and have had to start over so many times that I have lost count, but He has taken me back and reassured me of His Mercy and Grace. I have shown him my scars and He has shown me His. He has healed the wounded places and I have stuck my hand in His. As I have heard the rooster crow, I have felt the pain of denying Him. I have ran from the sinners that He has sent me to share Him with. I have rolled the dice as He hung there for me. I have walked away from the Only Love that could ever save me. I have thrown off the cloak that He gave to me and ran out the back door to see all that I could see. I have experienced as much as I could, went farther than I thought His arms could reach. He has followed me into places that I should have never been, and He has carried me out when I was broken and battered.
He has proven His love for me time and time again. I didn’t know what Love was until I met Him. He has helped me to leave the past behind and move forward in His Grace. He has helped me to Trust Him in situations when it was humanly impossible to do so. Times where it made absolutely no sense to jump, He told me to. He has parted the waters and I have ran through on dry ground, all the while still scared that I was going to drown. I have run to the desert and thrown myself pity parties, and He has asked me what I was doing there. He has been the Friend to me, when I have had none. The loneliest times in my life were some of the best times because of Him. His promises to me have been too wonderful. His loving-kindness has been greater than I could imagine. His forgiveness knows no limitations. His Grace poured out over me has overwhelmed me. When I could not stand on His promises, He has helped me to hang on to them. Clinging from the edge sometimes, He has pulled me up, dusted me off and walked with me. At times, He has carried me because I was too weary to go on. He is the solid rock that I had been looking for all of my life. Judging what I held in my hand, I slipped it into my pocket, not knowing its true worth. Now that I have pulled it out again and discovered the many layers, I know its value and by it how much that I am Loved and Valued.
A thousand words is a lot. A thousand words is not enough. But I hope that by them, you can tell the difference He has made for me. I hope that you too have discovered all that Jesus can be in your life as well.
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