HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS...

So a couple of nights ago I'm driving on the freeway. It's a cold night. It's snowing, and the road is slippery. I can feel it in the way my car is handling. I'm driving cautiously and staying focused. I'm on a dead straight section of the route...doing no more than 60mph...my foot is light on the accelerator...my hands steady on the wheel. It makes no difference whatsoever. My car develops a mind of it's own, begins to slide uncontrollably on the freeway, and in the end sends me spinning off the asphalt onto the median separating the lanes of traffic. And there I find myself...totally stuck...my vehicle unresponsive in conditions it was not engineered to be effective in. What follows is a 3 hour adventure getting towed out of there at no insignificant expense and eventually making it back home. So, I get to thinking...

How many times are my best intentions at living a honorable and moral life compromised by positioning myself in conditions or an atmosphere that are always going to be dangerous? If I keep counsel with the wicked...if I refuse to keep my eyes off vile things...if I maintain a practice of alienating myself from the transforming presence of God...then no attempt at subsequent integrity will provide me with any sustainable sense of progress or success. In fact...the dangers are invited and come with the territory. Perhaps my intentions and efforts at integrity would best be served when the overall climate of my life is surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. This means that I choose Him in the broad decisions that affect how I spend my time and who or what I allow myself to be influenced by, along with the ways I negotiate specific temptations as they arise.

Careful driving does little to safeguard my life when I willfully venture out in hazardous conditions.

JUST DO IT!

Isn't this what striving to do something significant or meaningful often feels like? We feel dwarfed by the immensity of the task even before we begin. We wallow in self-defeatism and procrastination while precious opportunities for growth and development slip through our fingers. There is a time for relaxation and leisure no doubt, but embracing the practice of habitually resting before we are tired is nothing short of laziness. Even times of leisure not intentionally and thoughtfully engaged in can degrade into a mere "killing of time"...a nice way of defining what really amounts to the robbing of life.

This is a state which we should resist...and this resistance is especially hard when the fight is new and the soldier is untested by the rigors of battle. Sometimes the most difficult part of the journey toward excellence and purpose is the psychological barrier we face before a single ounce of energy is spent on the activity or craft itself. That moment when the urge to postpone just once more is so attractive. This is the problem of inertia...a resistance to a change of course or action. Don't be deceived. Rewards aplenty await us on the other side of work and diligence. (Proverbs 14:23)

What is God calling you to do...both this moment and with your future? Open that Bible? Write that card of encouragement? Learn that instrument? Read that book? Make that call? Take that run? Just do it!

SUCH A HONOR...

Not too long ago I was watching TV. It was a talk show where some young, talented and aspiring actress was being interviewed. She was being asked to comment about the recent news that she had been approached by Playboy to do a full spread (excuse the pun) in one of their upcoming issues. She mentioned that she hadn't yet reached a decision about the invitation, but that regardless of her choice, it was just such a honor to be approached by this Pornography Mogul to pose nude for them. Such a honor...

I casual flip through prime-time television these days will reveal anything from a bunch of young people occupying a house...vying for the opportunity to win the acceptance of a bisexual exotic dancer and soft core porn model...to the daily ins and outs of life in the Playboy mansion...to documentaries and interviews with hard core porn stars. What a greased pole we've embraced (excuse that pun too). Our society's downward spiral into immorality and self-indulgence seems to show no signs of abating any time soon. And in the process, impressionable minds of young and old alike, desperate for something or someone to affix their passions to, lose or forfeit their God given identity and worth in exchange for superficiality and deceptive promises of happiness and excitement. Such a honor...

Either we will anchor souls to the unshakable, immutable goodness of God, or we are doomed to drift aimlessly in an ocean of vice and venom...ultimately to be capsized and drowned by the storm of sin, self and sickness. We would all do well to relearn and reclaim the meaning and implications of words like honor. God help us all.

CONNECTING...

Happy New Year everybody! OK...so traditionally, I'm not into the whole new year's resolution thing. However, I do sense a need in my life to inject focus, intent, effort, discipline, passion and stewardship into a number of areas that for so long have been neglected and ignored. Procrastination and laziness aren't exactly the mothers of a sense of self worth, achievement and purpose. I also sense, as I have for some time now, that genuine sustained progress in any of these areas will be more of a testament to the grace of God at work in my life than my own diligence and self-discipline. So, perhaps the most important thing I can do is commit to aligning my heart with God's will for me, and draw close to His heart for me as best I can...to allow Him (as incredible a concept as that is) to infuse into the gifts He's committed to me, His energy...His creativity...His self-control. Oh...that I may see the image of who He's created me to be increasingly revealed as the Master sculptor ever gently, yet persistently, chips from the rough block of Grant all the selfish and destructive things that cloak my true identity. That I may truly find myself in the mystery of losing myself in Him. By His grace...songwriting, writing, musicianship, health, godly stewardship, teaching, self-control...here I come!

Dear Lord...for the glory of your Name and your Will, grant me the wits to discern it...the grace to accept it...and the strength to pursue it. I'm in dire need of connecting with You. You are, and always will be...my Way.