Welcome to my scary new blog!

I have been thinking about starting this blog for quite some time, years in fact.  Writing a blog is a free and easy outlet for me to work through my own ideas and share myself with others.  Though I desire to to inspire through writing, I confess that in this very act of self-expression I will most likely help myself more than anyone else.

I can't give a good reason why I waited so long to do this. But I can
provide a very bad reason: I was scared.

This makes no sense to me.  I have been writing professionally in some form for well over a decade. I have been freely sharing my thoughts since I started speaking. (Those who know me even a little can attest to the fact that I never suffer from a shortage of words.) And if anything, I am too comfortable with the internet and social networking. Words don't scare me, and neither does media.

And yet my fear makes perfect sense in light of human history, because it is new and different (for me, at least).  Change can terrify even the best and most brave among us.  Why else would we feel that pang of nervousness when we start a new school or a new job?  Why else would we put off healthy yet unfamiliar habits that we are absolutely certain will make our lives better (like exercise, Bible study, blogging...)?  Why else do parents often have such difficulty the very first time they leave a young child in the hands of other loving friends and family or capable professionals, people who often have far more child-rearing experience and understanding than they do?  And furthermore, why do the children often cry the first time the parents leave them?

I am not convinced that fear has as much to do with the unknown as the uncomfortable. It does not take a prophetess to foresee the most important things: when we go to school, we will learn; when we go to work, we will get paid; leaving our children in good hands at the right times will help (not hurt) their development. And for heaven's sake, doing things God's way, no matter how different from what we are used to doing, will ALWAYS leave us better off. (I'm preaching to myself here.)

Doing (or allowing) new things requires us to give up some of our control, or rather our illusion of control.  This can be particularly difficult in areas where we have felt abandoned or disappointed in the past.  It can also bring freedom as we give God permission to do what only God can do well (run our lives), thus taking the pressure off ourselves.

In reality, bowing to our fears of the uncomfortable often leaves us in a more dangerous, precarious state.  I love that illustration about how to cook a frog, by starting with the warm water and then turning up the heat a little at a time. Eventually the frog boils to death and doesn't know it.  My understanding is that if one places a frog in water that is too hot or too cold to start, the frog will jump right out.  So basically, it is easiest to kill a frog with comfort. (I apologize to those of you who eat frog legs, if this has ruined the experience for you.) 

Similarly, in Revelation 3, God addresses the church in Laodicea, a very well off congregation of people who had become equally "comfortable" in their faith.  Through the prophet John, Jesus said this: "So, Because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16)"  To get graphic, the original biblical Greek word for spit, ἐμέσαι (emesai), actually means vomit.  We are talking total rejection here, because in their comfort they completely strayed from God's will for their life.
Let's face it people.  We are all crazy frogs!  I would venture to guess that there is some area in each of our lives where part of us would rather "die" in the comfort of the known then to respond to the beckoning fire of the The Holy Spirit and live.  The wisest and bravest of us seek to do God's will in all things anyhow.  And yet we all still have our areas of struggle, which is why that daily surrender of our wills is so important.

I'm not just talking about our eternal destiny, which is secured if we  "declare with [our] mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in [our] heart that God raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:9, NIV)"  But why just settle for the "fire insurance" (i.e. escaping the flames of Hell) when God has meant our lives to mean so much more?

In this sense, fear of doing anything within the realm of God's will is like a thief, the great lie from the fires of Hell.  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy," but in Christ came "...that [we] may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)" I really don't like the uncomfortable, but I so deeply desire the fullest life.

So welcome to my scary new blog!  I hope that it will challenge you in some of the ways that it challenges me.  Please consider me "on the hook" to live out the things about which I write, and please don't be afraid to challenge my thoughts.  I welcome a good, respectful conversation about our differences. Let's learn together, grow together, and sharpen each other as God's grace grows within us.