Inaugural Blog

You are reading the very first sentence of my blog and on this 365 day journey. I have given it its name because I sent a letter to someone today and they replied how good it made them feel. And in reading those words it reminded me about the sheer POWER of words. Let me restate that. This person thought about what I wrote—and it changed the way they felt. (If you missed the depth of that sentence it will make sense later). So it is my prayer that this blog reminds you not only of what words can do—but to remember that no matter what has happened to you in life, no matter how bad your life has been or what cards you may have been dealt; this day can be the very first day of the rest of your life.

Welcome to my inaugural blog.

I decided to focus my first blog on truth. Most notably what is truth? It is said that truth is simply the state of being in harmony with facts. As a side bar I wish someone could tell these politicians that but I digress. What we find in the search for truth (and often we hear the phrase “ultimate truth” but there is no such thing. In fact that is an oxymoron) is that we must deal with public norms which may not harmonize with being truthful. So when you are trying to sync truth with societal norms; while it takes a village to raise a child, what happens when the village is nuts?

See—we look at tradition in our search for truth. But just because it's traditional to do something, it does not make it truthful. It was a tradition to be slaves. A tradition to not educate women. Today regrettably it’s tradition to get a divorce when times are hard or to have a baby out of wed lock. Tradition is another word for habit. But one of the things that has always been a cancer in our society is the fact that our habits are sometimes wrong.

Time is a way some people are often able to judge truth. Because it has always worked they deem it as truthful. Unfortunately the devil will use time against you because he will put your past in your face and you will then determine that it is your truth. This is what happens when your destiny is disrupted by your history. The devil will make you think you are running out of time. That's how strong a determinant time is when you are trying to establish truth. Don't believe me? Allow me to cast a light on two women. Mary and Martha. Sometimes God will take his sweet time, just as Jesus did with these ladies. But we sever a God that is not regulated by time and can in fact stop time as he did for Joshua.

You see when Jesus showed up Mary said thanks but no thanks because… he’s dead. But God was not looking at the watch; he was looking at what's next. Think about your last defeat in life. Did it occur because you were looking at the watch—or were you able to focus on what's next? Today you can’t watch a sports program or even stand next to a water cooler without someone mentioning Tim Tebow. Having watched him in High School, College and Pros I can tell you what his secret to success is. Based on his spiritual beliefs he is able to focus like a laser beam not on the watch (the scoreboard) but on what's next (winning). See in life the greatest miracles come when the eviction notice is on the door. When the doctor says “you only have 3 weeks to live.” When your husband screams it’s over. When we are out of time based on the watch—is when it’s Gods time to refocus us on what's next in our lives.

But not only do we base truth on the watch, we also derive truth on what we feel. So we operate based on E.Q and not I.Q. While we are familiar with the I.Q. we far too often make decisions based on E.Q. or emotional intelligence. But sometimes intelligence based on emotions can lead us astray. Think about it. We will walk out of a church disappointed because we did not “feel” anything after church because we have intrinsically linked “truth” to what we “feel.” But this form of thinking is at best—misguided. That's why the song says when “I THINK not FEEL the goodness of Jesus.” When you THINK about Jesus you are on the road to finding truth. See the feelings are subjective. That's why I was propted to blog because a person “thought” about what I read and it made them feel good. Why? Because if there was not thought and just feelings it would be regulated based on what they were going through—in the moment they read the letter. We have feeling churches that shout for an hour and you walk out sweaty—but intellectually empty. Do you think Jesus ever left anyone intellectually unmoved? Unchallenged? Did they leave the Sermon on the Mound sweaty—and intellectually unchallenged or where they most likely thinking on those words long after their echoes left the air?

Why is this important? Because an unchallenged heart on Sunday—will never get you through a trail on Wednesday.

Now tomorrow I will write a little more on this topic so please stay tuned but in the meantime if you take nothing from this blog take this. Always in every situation, seek truth, not emotions. Seek truth not what has happened to you in the past. Seek truth and God will bring you answers.

Now that you are reading the last sentence of my blog I pray you will join my blog and thus be follow me as I follow Christ.