NOTE (1/12/18): We’re all learning and growing.  Some of the stuff I’ve written in these old posts may no longer be exactly what I believe or think, or at least may not be articulated the way I’d do it nowadays.  I preserve them in an attempt it to be transparent about my journey, and in the hopes that readers may still glean some insight from the core ideas found here.  Thanks for journeying with me!

I have indeed arrived back in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and am enjoying family time as well as pondering what my next few months will look like.  After listening to Dennis Bontrager and Danny Silk talk so much about having dreams and vision for your life, it’s become a lot more difficult for me to twiddle my fingers and hope God does something while I do nothing.  When I was younger, I used to think that basically God’s will for my life was to read my Bible, pray, and go do churchy stuff.  Well, nowadays I still do all of the above, but after spending a year learning in California I have started to understand the great truth that God actually gave us a brain so that we can use it.  Striking!  God actually wants to partner with us so that together we can bring His kingdom to Earth.

I found a quote in my mom’s Bible the other day: “the place where God calls us is where our deep gladness and the world’s great hunger meet” (Frederich Buechner). This is certainly not to discount that God may call us to do something that at the time might seem less than enjoyable (Might I mention Mary facing the prospect of having a baby out of wedlock, to be seasonally appropriate).  But as Psalm 37:4 states: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  God really does want you to be happy with what you do.  I mean, you can only give what you receive, right?  Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.  So if you feel like a Scrooge all the time, guess what people are getting from you?

The magi (wise men) had vision.  “Find the King of the Jews and worship him”.  They traveled – for months, probably – to have an encounter with the living God.  Now, He’s right here with us.  And He lives inside of those who have asked him in.  Can we still be as passionate as those guys were about the God who was then miles away, but now is at our fingertips?

Jesus knew what he was born to do.  After the magi left the baby Jesus, the boy grew up, conquered the grave, and destroyed the works of the devil.  Pretty epic.  But what about you?  Do you know what were you born to do?  Actually, our job description isn’t that much different – Jesus told us to do likewise: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and “Love as I have loved” (John 13:34).  That’s a good starting point in getting a vision for your life, and if you’re not sure of the next step I’m pretty sure God would like offer you some advice.  And don’t be afraid if you don’t have everything together.  You know what?  If you’ve got a passion for God, people need what you have. It wrecks me to see friends I grew up with losing focus on the Lord and what the purpose of life really is.  I ask what else could I have done?  And what can I do now?  The truth is, even if our theology isn’t all perfect, we gotta do something to share Jesus.  I doubt that whoever shared the gospel with my ancestors had all their theological ducks all in a row, but I’m pretty stoked that they at least SHARED the gospel. It’s a starting point, anyways, and talking about Jesus is a generally lot better option than most of the other stuff that people are wasting their time with.  Fall in love with Jesus, and then freely give what you’ve received.  It will work out good.

I want to encourage you all during the holidays, but not with the traditional “Just remember why we have Christmas”.  Actually, if you look into how the Christmas holidays really came about, you might be surprised to learn how little most of it had to do with Jesus originally – between the English getting drunk while singing from door to door, the Celts feasting on December 25 to celebrate winter solstice, and Romans partying it up to pagan gods.  Not that I care – look into it yourself if you’d like.  I love Christmas and every opportunity we have to talk about the Lord – but we gotta understand something different than Jesus just being “the reason for the season”.  He’s actually is the reason for your life. He is the one who gave us purpose and destiny, and made a way so we could have what God has always wanted – friendship with Himself.

I was thinking about writing a Christmas letter to everyone just cuz it would be enjoyable…but this is close enough.  Just keep in mind this season as we remember how Jesus was born, to honor it by remembering why you were born.  You’ve been called to conquer and love just like Jesus did.  And with Jesus in you, you can be the one to represent the peace on earth and goodwill to people that God truly desires, and that the people He longs for so badly need to hear today. Live it real.