Iron Sharpening Iron - 1 Year!

To my beloved readers, consisting of family, friends, acquaintances, curious strangers from my country and around the world, and those who accidentally ended up on this page. To the seekers of Christ, to the secure in Him, and to those who reject Him, as well.

Today marks the 1-year birthday of this blog. It has been a real joy to be able to write to you and for the purpose of serving my God in the past year. In fact, it just almost never got started.

A lot has changed in 1 year. I told my family members just one or two years ago that "you just never know what is going to change in one year and what transformation God may do." The year previous to that statement was one of severe decline in my health. I was in a battle that we almost didn't win, as I came very close to death. As I've mentioned in a post or two, this is the source of my true testimony--the time in my life that I came to recognize my NEED of God, when He became first in my life for the first time, and where I came to realize with greater magnitude than previously imaginable the power of His true presence in the life of one who calls out to Him in sincerity, and the life and power in His Word, the Bible. Most of all, though I was baptized at 6 years old and kept many of the "rules" throughout childhood and early adulthood leading up to this year of trial, for the first time I came to realize my NEED of salvation through Jesus, a full dependence on Him, and the joy of intimate serving friendship with my Savior and God. I will never be the same, and I am so thankful.

Additionally, as my body has been restored and the next year of my life became one of exceedingly abundant blessing, I was tentative to share the things that I began to write. I felt overzealous, consciously pious or at least afraid of presenting myself that way. I felt that I was either completely underqualified to share any word of wisdom or instruction or inspiration rooted in God, or that I was overstepping my bounds and would certainly show myself a fool in a lack of real knowledge of God's principals if I shared the thoughts that have peppered my blog and the 92 posts since then. These were my fears. Do you see how the Evil One will take you to either side, not caring which way you are leaning, so long as he can get you to fall?

Soon, the conviction of the Holy Spirit was too much to bear. In reading Brother Andrew's book "Secret Believers," I was so moved by the thousands dying without knowing Christ each day that I felt I had to risk all the bad things in my worry, risk being exposed as an immature Christian, risk being thought of as overly-pious, and just write what I felt was true from both my years of casual Bible study and the current inspirations that seemed to strike daily. And so it began.

I am convicted at this moment that my blog is the simple writing of one common man. It is the commentary on life and Scripture from one man's perspective. And though I fall short of God's glory daily, I write as one that seeks His face. I seek Him first, by His grace, through His grace, and for His grace. "...apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Amen. Apart from Him we can do no good thing...yet with Him, we can do infinitely good things. My point is this: anything I've written or continue to write that is rooted in Christ and is good and meaningful in your life, whether it be for conviction, correction, instruction, encouragement, celebration, strengthening, revelation, inspiration, or anything else from God--it is just that--from God, only passing through these fingers as I type. And anything that deviates from God's perfection--that is my own personal human touch. Nevertheless, God uses us and our weak vessels, working through our imperfections in perfect ways. I pray that His grace abounds in your life. I pray that it abounds through this simple blog. I'm looking forward to what God brings next. You never know what the next year may bring. My life is a testimony to that. This blog is a testimony to that. I have a suspicion that you know it, too. I don't know what's next, but I'm excited to experience it hand-in-hand with our God, and I hope you are, too. May God's love and grace fill your heart this very day. Amen.