First of all, allow me to introduce myself! Hi, I'm Will. I'm 44, I live in Little Mountain, SC with my beautiful bride Debora for over 20 years. I was born and raised in South Carolina, and I am a true South Carolinian insofar as I love our state, I love it for it's low-country meandering coastal waters and shores. I love the frenetic cityscape of Columbia, our state capital that buzzes with optimism and industry, and I love the upstate and foothills and the piedmont revealing the gorgeous blue granite mountains that cut high up through the drifting mists that hang 40 miles north of Greenville towards Charlotte. But I love it for its most endearing qualities; the kindness of its people, their willingness to show charity and to help others up who need a hand. They wave at each other when they pass each other while travelling down these old chip-sealed farm to market roads that sparkle like diamonds in the warm gold glow of the sun that hangs low, and tickles the tops of the ears of corn and sunflower and millet in fields due west. The Flag of the United States of America waves proudly at the pole out in front of our historic provincial post office and over our pastoral town. In fact a quick survey through main street will reveal multiple American flags waving proudly that stand up for courage, the pledge of allegiance, freedom, for unity, for compassion and for taking pride in being the best you that you can be. Yeah, that's where I'm from. You might be from a different town, and maybe you feel the same way, but, in the end I'm only attempting to paint on the canvas of your mind in just a few broad bold strokes to give you a little backdrop to me and where I'm from.
I am a lover of music and as such it is in my blood. I have been playing guitar since I was ten and writing poetry and song long before then. I have an affinity for the moon and the stars and the planets because they have been ordered so well by our Creator that man has been able to chart their positions across the night time sky with clock-work precision, they are truly remarkable and such a brilliant testimony to our great God and King Yahweh, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I have a love of my savior Jesus Christ/Yahshua Messiah and for His word-because Yahshua/Jesus tells in the Gospel of John chapter 6 verse 63 that the words He speaks are Spirit and Life, and therefore I want my life to hid in His. When I was younger I thought I wanted fame, but as this vessel ages I have begun a far more important journey and that is learning how to be honest with myself and continually having the willingness to examine my life when exposed to the light of Messiah. I realize that sounds exemplary, but believe me, I am so very flawed if you knew you might be reluctant to be so kind. Neither is this an opportunistic moment for me to feign humility and modesty to win other people's affection. I'm really trying to relearn how to live my life submitted to Christ, because in my religious experience, so much of what I've been exposed to are people who speak with volumes of knowledge and yet their lives hardly reflect the character of Messiah because they, like me, are very flawed too.
And this is really what I long to touch on in this first official blog post which I think I've aptly titled "Can we be real?" It's never just one thing that brings you to a touchstone or place of discovery or that moment of elucidation is it? For better or worse, we typically either stumble and crash due to a series of self-inflicted ill-advised choices that lead us to destruction, or, we rise to a higher standard of character more in tune with our Creator, usually the result of continued prayer and introspection and obedience to Messiah. I say all this because we have a tendency, I have a tendency, to go through life failing to invest in those critical moments that can make sense of why we make poor decisions. Today I was blown away when God once again allowed me to be amazed at how short I fall; and that's not a bad thing! Seriously, I don't mean to say we should beat ourselves up and be hyper-critical of ourselves. God knows there are souls in this world who struggle everyday with beating themselves up internally. I am not speaking to those people right now. I'm speaking to the people who have a tendency to put on a brave face most days, gloss over much of the day with a brief prayer during their morning commute, heartfelt as it is, and again at bedtime with another brief albeit heartfelt prayer.
I love the devotional by Sir Oswald Chambers called My Utmost for His Highest and have read it off and on every year for about the last 25 years or so.
I am a lover of music and as such it is in my blood. I have been playing guitar since I was ten and writing poetry and song long before then. I have an affinity for the moon and the stars and the planets because they have been ordered so well by our Creator that man has been able to chart their positions across the night time sky with clock-work precision, they are truly remarkable and such a brilliant testimony to our great God and King Yahweh, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I have a love of my savior Jesus Christ/Yahshua Messiah and for His word-because Yahshua/Jesus tells in the Gospel of John chapter 6 verse 63 that the words He speaks are Spirit and Life, and therefore I want my life to hid in His. When I was younger I thought I wanted fame, but as this vessel ages I have begun a far more important journey and that is learning how to be honest with myself and continually having the willingness to examine my life when exposed to the light of Messiah. I realize that sounds exemplary, but believe me, I am so very flawed if you knew you might be reluctant to be so kind. Neither is this an opportunistic moment for me to feign humility and modesty to win other people's affection. I'm really trying to relearn how to live my life submitted to Christ, because in my religious experience, so much of what I've been exposed to are people who speak with volumes of knowledge and yet their lives hardly reflect the character of Messiah because they, like me, are very flawed too.
And this is really what I long to touch on in this first official blog post which I think I've aptly titled "Can we be real?" It's never just one thing that brings you to a touchstone or place of discovery or that moment of elucidation is it? For better or worse, we typically either stumble and crash due to a series of self-inflicted ill-advised choices that lead us to destruction, or, we rise to a higher standard of character more in tune with our Creator, usually the result of continued prayer and introspection and obedience to Messiah. I say all this because we have a tendency, I have a tendency, to go through life failing to invest in those critical moments that can make sense of why we make poor decisions. Today I was blown away when God once again allowed me to be amazed at how short I fall; and that's not a bad thing! Seriously, I don't mean to say we should beat ourselves up and be hyper-critical of ourselves. God knows there are souls in this world who struggle everyday with beating themselves up internally. I am not speaking to those people right now. I'm speaking to the people who have a tendency to put on a brave face most days, gloss over much of the day with a brief prayer during their morning commute, heartfelt as it is, and again at bedtime with another brief albeit heartfelt prayer.
I love the devotional by Sir Oswald Chambers called My Utmost for His Highest and have read it off and on every year for about the last 25 years or so.
I make the effort to read it each day as it was designed to be a daily devotional, and on March 16th, the lead-off verse is 2 Corinthians 5:10 which says "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ..." Chambers goes on to explain the significance of learning to live under the scrutiny of Christ's pure light and how important it is for us to constantly remind ourselves of the judgment seat of Christ by choosing to walk in the knowledge of the holiness that He has given us. The problem is, in today's Christian culture too many seeker-friendly church leaders have successfully promoted a gracious God who winks at our sin because after all, Jesus has already paid it all, right? And yet, Jesus said to his followers that if we love Him, then we should follow His commandments. The contrast in the dominant contemporary Christian theology today with the truth of Scripture is so far removed from the truth that I think it should cause us to fall on our knees and repent! But again, this is not a tactic, I don't want to scare you, I'm just saying that we need to be more involved in our part of this relationship we've been given with our Creator. I have, you have, we have a much bigger role in this relationship than I believe many of us are willing to admit. Remember Uzziah, remember Nadab and Abihu, remember Miriam, remember Peter, Ananias? God has given us a path to a noble character, but He allows us to make choices that either reinforce our position in Him, or one that sides with the world of the secular.
So, where do we go from here? In conclusion, I've saved the 'oy vey' moment for the end. And this is it; God has repeatedly told us throughout Torah and all Scripture to confess our faults so that we can be healed, and He tells us specifically in Hebrews chapter 3, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His voice, Do Not Harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for forty years...for who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to who did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF" (Hebrews 3:7-9, 16-19). I just pulled back the cover and revealed that uncomfortable truth. Are you willing to stare it in the face? What was it that caused our fathers to fall in the wilderness? Disobedience, yes... but their disobedience was a symptom of the root of their problem.... it was their unbelief! So when we gloss over our poor choices, when we make excuses for our sin, we're using slight of hand to deceive ourselves. And isn't that what His word says? "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called Today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). When we become hardened, and we fall, it's not our disobedience that's to blame, it's our unbelief. Can we just park here for a moment and meditate on the seriousness of that reality? It humbles me to come to the place where I have to admit that my rebellion is not triggered so much by my disobedience as it is my unbelief. This is why I'm asking all of us to stop, just stop, and to recognize our part and that God is trying to get our attention...while it is called today. Pray, confess, repent, turn, make the choice to trust God at His word and obey Him. That is my goal for today, and my prayer is that it will be yours too. God's blessings upon you until the next time! Shalom.
So, where do we go from here? In conclusion, I've saved the 'oy vey' moment for the end. And this is it; God has repeatedly told us throughout Torah and all Scripture to confess our faults so that we can be healed, and He tells us specifically in Hebrews chapter 3, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His voice, Do Not Harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for forty years...for who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to who did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF" (Hebrews 3:7-9, 16-19). I just pulled back the cover and revealed that uncomfortable truth. Are you willing to stare it in the face? What was it that caused our fathers to fall in the wilderness? Disobedience, yes... but their disobedience was a symptom of the root of their problem.... it was their unbelief! So when we gloss over our poor choices, when we make excuses for our sin, we're using slight of hand to deceive ourselves. And isn't that what His word says? "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called Today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). When we become hardened, and we fall, it's not our disobedience that's to blame, it's our unbelief. Can we just park here for a moment and meditate on the seriousness of that reality? It humbles me to come to the place where I have to admit that my rebellion is not triggered so much by my disobedience as it is my unbelief. This is why I'm asking all of us to stop, just stop, and to recognize our part and that God is trying to get our attention...while it is called today. Pray, confess, repent, turn, make the choice to trust God at His word and obey Him. That is my goal for today, and my prayer is that it will be yours too. God's blessings upon you until the next time! Shalom.
RSS Feed
