2019 Lenten Devotional 6

I initiated a conversation earlier this week by asking the following question: of all the avenues of how one can love God, which is your strongest avenue, and which is your weakest?

From Mark 12:30, NKJV:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

According to the text, there are four avenues of loving God: heart, soul, mind, and strength. The corresponding verses in the Gospel of Matthew (22:37) and the Gospel of Luke (10:27) corroborate this. With further reflection, I might be able to articulate each avenue and what loving God in that way looks like. For now, I will share that the way I'm able to practice loving God the best is experiential, which means heart and soul. I do talk to God quite a bit. (Shutting up so I can listen to Him tell me things is another story.) I also can connect with Him through worship music, and through being outside when it's nice. Seeing God in creation -- the spring buds on the trees, the birds in the air, beautiful forest scenes, fall colors, etc -- is an easy way to do just that.

Where I am weakest in loving Him is through my mind. I mentioned in a previous post that I dislike reading. My suspicion is that this will always be a challenge. Ironically, when I do sit and read the Bible, I usually get something out of it. That much is clear to me. I do see (and "hear") God speaking when I read His word. The point though about reading is that it benefits one's mind. When one reads, one's mind grows. One learns new things or rediscovers things one once knew. As much as God wants our hearts and souls for Himself, He also likes to meet us intellectually. (He also sometimes likes to challenge us intellectually!) Maybe someday in a future post I'll expound on my history with intellection and the twists and turns, but for now I'll simply say that I broke off from this particular avenue in my life as a young adult. I discovered that so many people intellectualize their way through life to the point that it's all they do when it comes to processing or making sense of events that happen, and that I was one of them. I eventually reached a point where I was determined to break off that chain. That said, I'm beginning to also learn that living a life with zero intellection is also not a good thing. (Drat!!)

In the same aforementioned conversation, I mentioned that blogging (as I am doing right now this very minute) is helping me learn to love God with my mind, as well as re-learning how to intellectualize in a healthy manner. In particular, these Lenten devotionals this year I think are helping me in this more than any other previous year that I did the such. I am sad that we are already more than halfway through Lent, but I am also thinking about how I want to shift the focus on this blog topically once we pass Resurrection Sunday (April 21st this year).

Today I will close by repeating the same question with which I opened this post: of all the avenues of how one can love God (heart, soul, mind, strength), which is your strongest avenue, and which is your weakest?

2019 Lenten Devotional 5

For this Lenten devotional, I am going to do something different. The packet of devotionals that I picked up at my church (Vineyard) the Sunday before Ash Wednesday included about ten different devotional options. One of them is about nature, and seeing God in nature. Today's post will kinda-sorta do that. It's a bit complicated to explain at the moment why I included the "kinda-sorta" modifier, but I hope that that will sort itself out as you keep reading.

About 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan lies a sleepy town called Dobbs Ferry. It sits right on the Hudson River, surrounded by many suburbs in what is considered a wealthy corner of suburban New York City. Dobbs Ferry itself is not necessarily rich, but it is a rather charming town nonetheless.

Here are a couple photos from the riverfront park my girlfriend and I walked to one afternoon:

On the surface, the river appears peaceful. And, it very well may have been at the time that I snapped these photos. But I am told that this region regularly experiences howling wind, year-round. It is also said that there are demonic forces behind it. I've gotten to hear it for myself, and it almost sounds like someone is yelling, once it gets up to speed. I've even heard the windows rattling at my girlfriend's home while on Skype with her. So I believe it is possible.

On this day, however, it was mostly peaceful, save for about 10 minutes right around the time I had gone out on a pier to snap a picture of the New Tappan Zee Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (see photo #3) when I saw the waves on the river pick up. It wasn't a whole lot of wind, but the waves, at one moment completely peaceful, suddenly became agitated, as if some horrendous alien sea monster had awakened from its deep-sea hideaway and was making fast for the surface. It was enough for me to see how this wind could strike at any time; all of a sudden, from a dead stop, this wind could pick up and howl at a high wind speed, as if truly possessed.

While in the park, however, my girlfriend and I came across a placard, situated along the waterfront. It explained how the Hudson River, in this area, takes its time to flow into the ocean, situated at the south end of New York City, with Brooklyn on one side and Staten Island on the other. What that means is sometimes the water flows towards the ocean, and sometimes the water flows backward. Something about the mixture of the soil beneath the river, the currents, the depth, the soil around the river, and so on, that leads it to not just simply flow on straight down toward the ocean. I don't know if this is a common thing with rivers, like in flatter areas when they have their deltas, where the water just kinda hangs around, flowing whichever way. It just occurred to me: there is something to be said for freshwater hitting saltwater. Rivers are freshwater. Oceans are saltwater. Maybe that's it.

I did also notice that right in this area, and really all the way down, both sides of the Hudson River have high-elevation landmasses, relative to the river. Across the way from Dobbs Ferry, on the west side of the river, is a downright cliff. And even on the east side, the town slopes down quite a bit in the last half-mile to a mile before the river. I do know that oftentimes having a large river in a canyon that is also anticipating the impending conflict of freshwater meeting saltwater, it will take what begins as a small wind and turn it into a monster.

So, the question: where is God exactly in this picture? I don't know. Sometimes it's better for me to leave you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions. I will say I believe that God is not in the wind. The Bible does refer to God as, among other things, the God of peace. [Romans 15:13 (NKJV) Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit; Romans 16:20 (NKJV) And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.] Therefore, I believe that even if He isn't necessarily in this particular stillness at this particular moment, He does give us peace and rest when we choose to stay close to Him.

We do, however, have an enemy, one who hates God and everything He stands for. (You might have picked up on it in the second Biblical verse I shared last paragraph.) If I could say one thing about that, it would be this: Satan is not on your side. He is sure as heck not on mine. I believe that anything that is verifiably demonic means that he is ultimately behind it. Every evil that has ever happened in human history, large or small, no matter the human or spiritual conduit, ultimately traces back to him. The wind that howls in Dobbs Ferry sometimes will get to scary levels, howling loudly and causing windows to vibrate. While there does seem to be a scientific explanation for what happens, it doesn't necessarily explain away the demonic aspect of it. Like I say, the devil is not on our side, and if he wants to use science to deceive people and trick them into thinking that God isn't real, then he will. I will say though that science doesn't preclude us from seeing and knowing and experiencing God and His mercy and truth.

I'll leave you with that. In the midst of the stillness and the calamity, on rivers and hillsides and parks and beaches, in the midst of freshwater and saltwater, where do you see God, the living God of the Bible?

2019 Lenten Devotional 4

On the same day that I heard the sermon at my church on Matthew 16:21-26, my girlfriend also received a similarly challenging sermon at her church. When we talked that night, we compared notes and found that the two sermons together was even more of a doozy than each one by itself.

When I was visiting her the previous Sunday, the pastor at her church introduced the Lenten sermon series focusing on Jesus' last week leading up to His crucifixion, through the Gospel of Mark. The focus was on Mark 11:1-11, which basically summarizes the day that would eventually become Palm Sunday in the church liturgical calendar: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, went into the Temple, poked around for awhile, and then turned around and left.

[Disclosure: I never really noticed the content of verse 11 before: "So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples." (New Living Translation)]

His overturning of the tables didn't occur til the next day. The disciples were shocked that He did nothing that first day. All that pomp and circumstance of Him riding in on a donkey (from the east side of town, no less) on top of garments that people laid on the ground for Him and His donkey to walk over while heading into town... and He did nothing. No lecturing, no screaming, no big acts of Holy Spirit power... none of it. Naturally, His disciples were confused.

We pick up the story, on Monday, in Mark 11:12-19, NKJV:

The Fig Tree Withered

12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”

And His disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.

The line that the pastor at my girlfriend's church highlighted was when Jesus referred the room where the money-changers were conducting their business as the "den of thieves." It was pointed out that in the temple in Jerusalem, there was a side room that was set aside for the Gentiles, for it was not allowed for non-Jews to go into most parts of the temple. (Hence the line about "a house of prayer for all nations.") But what had happened was that the Jews had pushed out the Gentiles from the room that had been designated for them, so that they could sell things. And from the looks of it, it was as if it were not just any market, but the black market. Yes, in the temple.

Anyway, the context of Jesus' comment about the room having become a "den of thieves" comes from Jeremiah 7:1-15, NKJV:

Trusting in Lying Words

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’

5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.

The bottom line of this passage can be found in verse 4, which I will share via the Message (the below is Jeremiah 7:3-7):

Say, 'Listen all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship God. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, has this to say to you:
Clean up your act -- the way you live, the things you do -- so I can make my home with you in this place. Don't for a minute believe the lies being spoken here -- "This is God's Temple, God's Temple, God's Temple!" Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors, only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people on this very site and no longer destroying your souls by using this Temple as a front for other gods -- only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Temple.

Two other passages to support Jesus' anger at the money-changers and dove-sellers:
Micah 6:6-8, NKJV

6 With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Amos 6:5-6, NKJV
5 

Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

I am presently aware of the danger of this post, like the last, appearing merely a Bible passage dump. Sometimes this is what I do in my devotionals, oftentimes to over-compensate for the fact that I don't set aside time most days, let alone every day, to read the Bible and marinate my mind in it. If you have managed to make it this far in my post, I salute you. And if you haven't already figured it out, I am not a pastor, nor do I have any real aspirations of becoming one, at least not through formal training.

However, I am a big believer that if one responds to a personal growth challenge, whether from God or from others in their community, or even of oneself, you grow. Having been on the healing journey I've been on for many years now, I can say that, with the resources that are available (and there are resources available), there is no excuse for not pursuing personal healing and personal growth. That of course includes myself.

So my hope that both you and I will take away from this sermon and this blog post is this: it is not enough to merely go to church, kinda-sorta accept Jesus, move up in life personally, hit your dreams and goals, and then mail it in the rest of the way. And that, I think, is the bottom line of the pastor that preached the above sermon. I think Jesus was ticked off at the Pharisees, because, above everyone else, they were supposed to "get it": they knew the Law, they studied the Law, and they even followed the Law. But they didn't give a [bleep] about other people. They rejected Jesus' challenge to grow. Many Christians in this so-called "great country" are also guilty of the same behavior. And sometimes, I have been guilty of being one of them. The hard truths and opinions I have shared the last couple paragraphs, you can bet that I also struggle daily with following through on them, myself. (And if I'm really honest, some days, I just flat-out don't.)

As I believe I have mentioned in a previous post this year, Lent is for us. It's a great season set aside for us to really look in the mirror and be honest about what we see. Are we doing God's will? Are we resisting God's will? Or are we mailing it in? I hope that I can communicate that I too am working on walking this out, alongside you.

2019 Lenten Devotional 3

I've fallen off track regarding my Lenten devotionals and being connected in scripture daily. In the last week, life has kicked my butt. But on Sunday I listened to one of the most powerful sermons I think I have ever heard in my life. On this I will post today.

The passage: Matthew 16:21-26, New King James Version

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Take Up the Cross and Follow Him

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

The teaching pastor Sunday highlighted Matthew 14:24-26 specifically with the Message translation:

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"

There is so much to digest, and with my goal of keeping my posts short and to the point, I will attempt to balance content with brevity. I'll first begin by mentioning that I find something lacking with the Message translation. My impression is that the Message attempts to focus on context and the larger picture of any passage (it's also why, as a translation, they pretty much never set verses apart; every section is grouped together, a few verses at a time, as if it were now one verse). I get why they do that. However, I feel like something gets lost. It's why I gravitate toward older, more traditional translations, and often will quote the same passage in multiple translations, to get a fuller understanding of the text, both literal and contextual. In my opinion, both matter.

However, I am choosing to include the Message in this post because the content in this translation directly dovetails a major point that Sunday's teaching pastor highlighted that really spoke to me in a way that I've never really heard it before. The point of Jesus' talk in Matthew 16 is that there's more to life than just understanding and accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, of [me] and of the world. It's also about handing over control of my life to Him, to do as He pleases. In this, I believe God also convicted me: while I have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, I have not given over control to Him.

Jesus says: "If you're coming with Me, you have to let Me lead." Sometimes, right through difficulty and suffering. "You have to trust Me in this; you have to let Me drive." I have to trust that the same Jesus who says, "I love you, I will never leave you or ditch you halfway through" also says "Follow me, and I promise you I will show you how to get through to the other side." It is up to us to choose; God will not force us. But He reminds us of the importance of making this choice to completely let Jesus lead.

In January, I believe God taught me an important lesson. Actually, I believe He has been trying to teach me for some years, but it wasn't until some things happened that something finally began to click. In my history I have a list of people by whom I have felt deeply hurt and betrayed. Moreover, on that list I have people who have done so and never apologized, sometimes not apologizing even when confronted. In January, I had another experience of this, and it became very clear to me that I was still trying to control the relationship: "if you don't apologize to me for what you've done to me, we're done," contrasted with: "if you freely apologize, I'll pretend it never happened and we will go on as before." The reality is, 1.) we will hurt one another, oftentimes inadvertently, sometimes intentionally; 2.) depending on the level of hurt, trust is not necessarily immediately rebuilt, sometimes never completely rebuilt. In other words, this is normal, and this is life, as sucky as it is. And the decision-making process I had come up with, as named above, really doesn't serve me very well (nor does it serve anyone else). The lesson God taught me was that to truly forgive someone, I needed to give up control of my relationship with that person.

The same is true, I have since found, for everything else. I still want and am in control of my life. Even though I grew up in the Episcopal church and knew about Jesus and many of the stories in the Bible; and even though I did eventually learn about having a personal relationship with Him through a Christian group in college (and decided I liked the idea); and even though I returned to the church via the Vineyard and have seen and lived out the fruits of my prayer then that my faith would stick unlike before; and even though I got baptized as an adult, publicly declared at my church (and on video, no less) that "Jesus is Lord" (that exact quote); and, even though I have seen God heal me and have received His healing time and time again... I am finding that I don't believe I have ever had a moment, as a real Adult, where I said: "OK, Jesus, I'll give you complete control over my life: every day, every moment, every decision, every circumstance, every thought, every act. No matter the path, no matter the circumstance, no matter the feelings I will have, no matter the fear. This life is Yours."

So, what gets in the way of me making this a unilateral decision? And, for you, the reader, what gets in the way of you also making this a unilateral decision?

2019 Lenten Devotional 2

In my ministry group meeting earlier this week, I participated in an exercise that included the following verse:

Proverbs 18:20-21, New Living Translation

20 Wise words satisfy like a good meal;
    the right words bring satisfaction.

21 The tongue can bring death or life;
    those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

I went back to the text the following morning in my King James Bible, and found a reference to Proverbs 11:14. Here is the verse (New King James Version this time):

14 Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

When I go through challenges (and I've got some current ones), I tend to want to isolate, especially if I have a circumstance that I brought on myself. But this particular verse speaks directly to that. Especially on my healing journey, having an inner circle is one of the most important things I've learned one needs to have.

Back to Proverbs 18:20-21. In all honesty, I'm finding I like the New Living Translation less and less, although this was the translation that was handed to me by the leader of the circle I was in. Meditating on the passage, the word "words" jumped out at me. Words matter. The right words matter. And, oftentimes, the right amount of words matter. One thing I've been focusing on in earnest over the last year or so now is practicing being precise, direct, and to the point when I speak. (And when I write.) I'm a storyteller, or to put it another way, a "painter." When I share about something, I want the listener to have the whole picture, the whole context, to properly understand the truth that I'm sharing. Which is fine in a lot of places. BUT... when I've also had a habit of avoiding sharing the truth, the point, I've only recently finally realized that I've given my listener a painting of everything else that is in the background, but not the truth itself. The painting lacks.

I will close by sharing the New King James translation of Proverbs 18:20-21. I do recognize that the King James Version has its fair criticism: archaic language, oftentimes English words chosen that do not quite reflect the original Hebrew or Greek (again, depending on translation), and lack of further explanations on its verses that other translations have provided. But I rather like it, and more specifically the New King James Version, because, as you'll see in the below passage, there is a greater revelation of the connection, the relationship, between the truths listed in the passage.

Proverbs 18:20-21 New King James Version (NKJV)

20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

2019 Lenten Devotional 1

One tradition I am intending to carry into the present from my previous blogging is the Lenten Devotional. Now, I am aware that it is not yet Ash Wednesday. But I still wanted to begin because yesterday's message at my church (I still go to the Evanston Vineyard) was powerful AND brought back to my mind and my spirit not only the importance, but also the beauty and sweetness of setting aside time for God.

Zechariah 1:1-6, New King James Version: A Call to Repentance

1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 “The Lordhas been very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the Lord.

5 “Your fathers, where are they?
And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 Yet surely My words and My statutes,
Which I commanded My servants the prophets,
Did they not overtake your fathers?

“So they returned and said:

‘Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us,
According to our ways and according to our deeds,
So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”

I have a confession to make: even at my current age, I still dislike reading. Moreover, I still dislike stopping whatever I'm doing, just to do nothing else BUT read. And I also have very little patience for (in my mind) feeling like I have to read something that I've read a billion times before (which is not true; but still...).

But lately I have heard God speak, through a few different people in my life, to get back to reading the Bible. After all, even though it's a thing that I have tricked myself into thinking I've read it a billion times over and whine internally at the thought of reading it a billion-and-a-first time, the reality is that the Bible is so big that I needn't worry at the thought of being bored by a section of text simply because I've read it recently. I can just go find a different passage of text, after all.

In the six months leading up to my baptism in December 2013 (a milestone I neglected to mention in my catching-up post), I received a lot of prophecy and encouragement and prayer. Afterward, it all stopped. For a year I was frustrated and at times angry about it, and heard nothing from God or anyone else until I showed up to a worship band rehearsal in February 2015 to find a Bible, left behind, sitting right there on the music stand designated to me. To the casual eye, it would appear that someone simply forgot their Bible. To me, it was a very clear message: "you need to get back to reading this."

Along with my historical gaps of not reading the Bible at all, let alone anything close to every day, my Lenten Devotional practices also went completely by the wayside the last 7 years. I had grown up an Episcopalian; of course we did Lent every year. During my Evanston years (1992-1996; 2000-2004), Lent primarily looked like refraining from saying or singing the word "Hallelujah", and instead singing worship music that called for quieter accompanying instruments (a small portable organ rather than the big pipe organ, for example). During my New York years (1996-2000), Lent looked like wearing black vestments instead of the usual radiant red ones, and especially during the GR-A years: no sugar, no ketchup (although that may have been year-round), and for us also to choose something additional on our own to give up for those 6 weeks.

Interestingly, it wasn't until my second (self-imposed) exile from church (ca. 2007-2010) that I began the blogging devotionals. And then once I stepped away from the blog, Lent kind of became something that happened around me, rather than something I even paid attention to, let alone participated in. ["For everything, there is a season..."]

The point of me going into all that backstory is this: in today's passage from Zechariah, as I was first writing it by hand into my journal, I did a practice called "Lectio Divina," which is simply meditating on the text and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal a word or a short phrase that really jumps out at me. That one word today is: RETURN. As in, "return to me," says the Lord of Hosts. As I meditated on this one word and then began to share the passage in this post, I felt God remind me of 1.) specifically how He was and is calling me to return; and 2.) to use today's blog post for me to self-reflect on my struggle in this particular way of returning to connecting with Him (and moreso, setting aside the time and the space in my mind and my spirit to do so).

My goal with my Lenten Devotionals in 2019 is to post at least once a week specific to this topic, with 6 (maybe 7) in total, and to use this blog as an appropriate vehicle to reflect and to once again grow spiritually. I may not reach this goal, but I'm going to try.

Blogging mission statement

After hedging and thinking and pondering, and more hedging, and thinking through this some more, I am finally ready to share my mission statement for "For Everything There Is A Season."

My goal in re-starting this blog is two-fold:

1.) to remember and re-learn how to write in a blog

2.) to use this blog as a stepping stone for another blog on a yet-to-be determined website that effectively monetizes their blogs and can be an effective way of earning a living (or at the very least a supplement to it).

What I intend to share about:

1.) Music

2.) Faith (specifically, bible-believing Christian faith)

3.) Some dreams/visions that I think could be important enough for the public to know

These three areas are the primary topics that I wish to write about on this blog, especially with an eye of writing the such in a more professional and polished way on my next blog. 

I may also share somewhat about:

1.) sports

2.) politics 

3.) certain memories that stand out

4.) photos, videos, and web links that are appropriate and tie in directly to the blog post topic 

When I do write about these things I intend for these to be secondary to the first three topics. 

What I do NOT intend to do with this blog:

1.) vent needlessly 

2.) share many personal details, those of myself or of others, or focus the post topic on myself too much 

3.) ramble on and on and on

4.) post a blog post with no discernible point or perspective 

5.) neglect the topics that I have listed as what I intend to share 

One last point about this mission statement: the above does not necessarily apply to posts from 2005 to 2013. I wrote the way I wrote then. In my picking and choosing which posts I will post from then vs what I will not, I chose to eschew some of the guidelines that I am setting forth for myself now, more to allow for you the reader to have landmarks of where I came from as a blogger. But that's it.

The summation of my new goals too is not to write too much. Shorter blog posts tend to do better.

There you have it.