His Grace Is Sufficient

It's been over 2 weeks since I've updated this blog :(  I've been caught in the routine of class, work, church and sleep.  Really, my life hasn't been very noteworthy of late.  I've had no drastic spiritual revelations that make me run to the nearest hilltop to shout out.  Mainly, I've been just grinding it out one-on-one with God.  I've been faced with my own depravity, and just craving His grace.  Also, I've been walking/jogging/running every weekday for the past few weeks.  Today I ran a total of 1800yds, which is a little over a mile.  The farthest I have run without stopping was 660yds yesterday.  I started off walking, then upped the intensity.  I seriously could not have done this on my own.  God led me to ask UGA's Strength and Conditioning Coach for help, and he's been a huge help.  Seriously, one of the reasons I have hated myself is that I did not continue with the diet/exercise program I started as a freshman in 2004.  If I could go back and do it all over again, I would do my best to stick with it.  Seriously, I could be a super stud right now :(  Once again, I'm confronted with my own depravity, but there is grace.  I've kept with the exercise for weeks, and I'm committed to it.  The diet is harder since I developed terrible eating habits at an early age.  Once again, there is grace.  Slowly but surely I am improving.  Satan would rather me just sit on the sidelines.  I went through and re-read some of my journal entries, and I said something along the lines of "I've always been a sideline manager, but God wants me to be a lineman." LoL.  His strength is perfected in my weakness.  I want to remain humble, and learn humility, but I don't want that humility to become self-loathing.  I'm glad I'm running because I have to completely beg God for that next breath, that next step.  I have to do it for something higher than myself, or else I'd just quit.  I have quit in the past.  So, physically, I'm on the right track.  It's a slow process for me though.  Everyone has an opinion about the best way to lose weight and get in shape, but ultimately I have to do what's comfortable to me.

I learned what God meant when He said "if you present your offering to the Lord, but remember that you hold a grudge against another person, leave your offering and go make peace with that person."  I had to do that yesterday.  Once again, I'm glad there is grace.  I felt a lot better, and my buddy and I were able to go to the Tate Center last night and have Gospel conversations with two guys.  One was Hindu, and the other was raised Christian, but is of the mindset now that there are many paths to salvation.  Ultimately, there is one God who created everything.  Man rebelled against God and earned eternal separation from Him by doing so.  God sent His only Son Jesus to bridge the gap again so that we could have fellowship with Him.  We can't do anything to earn salvation.  People try to climb Mt. Olympus to see the gods, but my God humbled Himself and came for me because He loves me.  He's not an impersonal deity.  I could write more on the subject, but I don't want to write a book just yet.  There are a lot of topics I want to address:  Heaven & Hell, Abortion, Election, Eternal Salvation, Baptism, Communion, etc. but this blog isn't about me climbing on a soapbox and preaching.  It's about what God's doing in my life. 

I read a passage in 2 Chronicles 18 yesterday where 400 or so prophets told Ahab, king of Israel, that it was okay for him to go to war...basically, they were yes-men...but one prophet spoke truth from the Lord about the king's imminent destruction.  That prophet (Micaiah) was imprisoned pending the king's safe arrival from the battle.  Micaiah told him "if you return unharmed, then the Lord has not spoken through me."  Ahab and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, teamed up against Syria for this particular battle.  Ahab disguised himself, but told Jehoshaphat to wear his kingly robes.  Ahab hoped to remain inconspicuous while offering Jehoshaphat up as a prime target.  Indeed, the Syrians focused their attack on the king, but when they realized it wasn't Ahab they backed off.  And then one random Syrian fired a random arrow from his bow, and it struck the disguised Ahab in a weak spot in his armor.  By the end of the day he was dead.  God does not play around.  I want to be like Micaiah.  I want to boldly proclaim the Truth even when people command me to lie.  I want to be able to say, "As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” (2 Chron. 18:13)  It's funny how I just randomly opened my Bible to that page yesterday, and decided to read.  It's what I needed to hear.  I am imperfect.  Indeed, I am a wretch.  My credentials are unimpressive, but God can still use me.  I just want to be humbly bold.  Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?  With God, all things are possible.

For the Kingdom,
Stuart