May 6, 2008

self titled--anywhere. anything.

   Recently, I came to the conclusion that Joy of Epiphany was not a title that I really wanted to double as my mission and vision statement for my life.  Yeah, it’s neat to learn new things, but that aspect is missing a few key elements that are found in Matthew 28:  go, make disciples, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  My blog needed a new identity.  And, now it has one—“anywhere.  anything.” 
   The concept really sums up where my heart is.  I am at a point in my life, and I pray that remains true until my dying day, that I will go anywhere Christ needs me and do anything that He asks.  It’s a simple concept that my mind can fathom, for right now at least.  If you cut out all the details, because God knows the details, I don’t, and He will reveal them to me at the appropriate time—regardless of my desire to know His plan for me—it makes following him simpler to grasp.  I simply listen to Him, remain open and flexible, and obey when He calls me somewhere for something.  It’s when I try to make my own arrangements to fall in line with what I want God to want me to do that things get messy and tangled. 
   As a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a friend, a coworker, a cousin, and whatever else I could possibly be, I want to make one thing clear, if I have not already:  I will go wherever Christ calls me and do whatever He wants me to do.  I want everyone to know that one simple fact.  That IS my heart’s desire.  When people think of me, I want to be known for that, that I live for Christ, that I seek to bring Him glory with my life and, even death. 
    I recently heard a very empowering testimony from a missionary.  My heart was stirred, my passions were revisited, and I left incredibly moved.  In sharing, he said one of many things that has stuck with me and continues to resonate with my soul.  He said, “God is not boring, we are boring.”  And he continued, “I had made God small all of my life, and I had decided that I was not going to make Him small anymore.  My life had been changed and would be changed forevermore.  There was no way that I could go back to living the way that I had when I had recently seen God do impossible things.”
    Right now, for however long, God has me in Northwest Arkansas.  I am seeking a teaching position, ministering to kids at church and Potter’s House, and working and ministering to friends at the Marketplace Grill.  I am seeing God move all around me and I am content. However, if God calls me to pick up my stuff and move to another location in the US, or even…ahem…the world, I will do it without hesitation.  That's where I stand.  
        
        I do not follow money. 
 
Not a job. 
          
  Not anyone. 
                  
        Not anything. 
                       
        I follow Christ alone! 


“The chief end of man is to glorify God”


jmh