Please make sure to subscribe. Maybe if you do, the authors would post more. I know I would (or at least I'd have intentions to post more).
I then took a look at some of my past posts and one caught my eye. I began to read it. Feel free to read it yourself if you haven't already: Good Grades.
After reading that post I was surprised, and almost shocked. I will tell you why in moment. If any of you know me closely, you know what kind of a thrill ride that my life has taken me on in the last year and a half. Some of it brought onto myself, some brought on by others, and some I think might just be God doing what He does. If you don't know me, that's okay. Just understand that my path has been crazy, and I am still trying to work things out.
As I got down to the last two paragraphs there were some things that began to occur to me. Some of the things that have happened recently gained a little bit of meaning. Mind you, it didn't bring me a whole lot of clarity, but it did bring a little bit of understanding.
The words that I had written down in December of 2011 suddenly came back to me. They were words that suddenly came up and hit me in the face. At first thought, I wondered if it was even me who typed those words on a page. But as I thought and read, I was reminded of when and where I was when those words were slated.
It was Christmas season. I was working diligently on directing my first Christmas production without a guide to go by. Because of this I found myself praying a little bit more than I had in the past. In fact, I had gotten into a morning routine that included prayer and Bible reading. You might think that this should be normal for a certified minister, but I was guilty of procrastination. It used to be that I would put off my reading until I had a quiet time. Well, that rarely happened.
Getting back on track:
I was very diligent about my new routine. I would get up, make coffee, read, and then pray. I made this my habit for the next several months. However, there came a time when life changed. It seemed like everything I had and everything that I had worked on was snatched from my grasp. It was as though someone was telling me that I couldn't have THAT life anymore. It wasn't for me and I had to figure out something else.
So I went on with life, trying to keep my head high. I fell away from my routine of prayer and reading. I even eventually stopped going to church. This was mainly because I work on Sundays, but aside from that I almost didn't care. It wasn't up until recently, when I moved to Las Vegas, that my work schedule allowed me to attend church. I'm thankful for the schedule that I have and I'm thankful that I have found a church to call home.
As far as my spiritual life goes, I'm working on getting back on the right track, but I'm far from being where I need to be. Thank God for timely reminders. Thank God that He can remind us of words that we spoke, even years before:
How many "Christians" believe that God should reward them for good behavior? I used to be one of those people that thought that just doing good things and loving God was going to be enough. But why should we get rewards for being good citizens? Just because we go to church once a week, or sing in the choir, or help in the nursery doesn't mean we are doing what God wants for us. Before you get upset, remember that I am speaking to myself as well. I want to be more than just a good Christian. It's hard, but that's what I want. Someday I would like to hear the Lord say, "Good job, Brent. You did more for me than what everyone else expected." Not because I want to be better than everyone else, but because I want to fulfill the calling on my life.
I woke up with a thought in my head, and wrote it down (I think I can write a song about this). As I was praying this morning, I told God that "my purpose is to declare that You are Lord." It's more than just existing. What's your purpose?It was like a cold glass of water thrown in my face. It was almost as if God had issued a reminder and then continued on to issue a challenge. It was if He was saying, "Prove it, Brent."
So here I am again, asking myself what my purpose is. But now I ask myself an even tougher question: What are you going to do about it?
