Back to Basics

"I know all the things you do. 

I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. 

I know you don't tolerate evil people. 

You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. 

You have discovered they are liars. 

You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. 

But I have this complaint against you. 

You don't love me or each other as you did at first! 

Look how far you have fallen from your first love! 

Turn back to me again and work as you did at first."

I have recently taken these words from Revelation 2:2-5 to heart. While there may be a stretch in some of these words (hard work/patient endurence) application to myself, I believe they do apply as to the best of my ability in recent times. I haven't been tolerant of evil people, but I have tolerated evil compromise in my own life - my own heart and actions.

The diagnosis. I don't love as I first loved. I don't have the first love I had when I truly encountered Jesus. It can be easy for the trials of life to take your eyes of Jesus, as when Peter looked from the Saviour to the waves as he walked on the water.

The prescription. If I have left my first love, I have to rediscover it. I will take a repeat journey to the steps I took during the honeymoon period. Yet I am different now to what I was like then - hardened, seasoned, less innocent. I need to factor this into the treatment. I will use the tools that first led me to a love of Christ, some of which I know to be inferior to other material out there, but which, in their simplicity, have a capacity to blow upon the smouldering embers of my once raging fire. Books such as "The Purpose Driven Life," "Steps to Christ," "Wild at Heart," "Waking the Dead," "Desire of Ages," and others which captured my heart and head with the ideas of Who God is and who I am and what my role is in the tapestry of life. At the same time, I will add new and more mature reading to my list. I hope to actually stick to reading "My Utmost for His Highest," and above all, I will re-read through Scripture with a new objective. To understand more fully the character of God, rather than for my usual polemic purposes.

The prognosis. I know that this is the cure. I just have to not lose heart. I need to get back to the wilderness - to the way of the wild heart. Only then can I be sure of my bearing in my other projects in life. Only then can I have the divine impress upon my character and charter.

What better time than the beginning of the vernal season, with its ensuing springtide of birth and reincarnation in nature to synchronise my own emerging renaissance from the harsh winter of formalism and apathy.

I will begin with the most basic, "breast-milk" book I have ever read in my journey - "The Purpose Driven Life" 40-day devotional. I will be couple this with "Steps to Christ", a more maturely written starter book. I will accompany this with the first four books of the New Testament in my revised ordering - Mark, Matthew, Luke and Acts. I will re-read these others until I have finished PDL. I will be updating this blog with postcards of my nostalgic journey to recapture the infatuation of my spiritual youth.

Beginning to take shape

Well, I've managed to add some pages to my blog and it's shaping up to what I hoped it might become. I also joined twitter... Might be a while before I start up my own website, but I obtained some software to start toying with... however, it will be slow going. The website will really become a more formal place for me to begin launching my projects from, so for now this blog is sufficient.

I was speaking to my best friend last night over all-you-can-eat pizza. In another show of how much we think alike, he told me he was thinking of starting a blog to sort out his own thoughts. It was great to share our ideas and he mentioned the possibilities for a blog to popularise certain projects. I see the potential in that. I think I found a use for twitter :-) I can use twitter and facebook to attract people to this blog who might be interested in the projects I am working on.

About the pizza. I managed to down 17 large pieces of deep pan (really thick, not fake thick) pizza last night. My previous personal best was 14, and the restaurant record was 15. I feel very triumphal... and like I won't have to eat for a month ;-)

Anyways, have a look at the pages up the top where you'll find out an overall self-portrait in "Who Am I?" (I may have even used 1000 words... that = a picture, right?), and some more specific details in "About Me". "With Girded Sword" will be essentially a statement of how I see the current state of the world, the church and what I see needs to be done, and how I will be setting about to do my part, and what I see others can do, also. With Girded Sword is also the name of my company which covers all my Christian and health related projects. I have a couple of tabs up there to begin adding to regarding current projects which are in a early developmental stage, including my Bible project and the screenplay for the David trilogy.

If these pages interest you, please check back regularly. I hope to expand them rapidly over the next couple of weeks, and then will steadily update them with thoughts that appear on the blog and considerations gleaned from the comments of you, my readers.

I think I need to come up with a cool, catchy signing off phrase for my posts... hmmm... I'll mull this over today. For now, let's go with a classic...

Statement of intent...

Ok, so I'm going to try giving this blogging thing a go. I've been putting off blogging, creating a website and tweeting for some time, and it probably wont be long until I succumb to the latter two of these as well.

The only way I can conceive of starting off my blogging life is to begin with a mission statement of sorts. I don't know or care who will be reading my blogs, if anyone. While I recognise it can be dangerous to put too much of a personal nature on the internet, I feel like the primary purpose of me having such a blog is to have a place to sort out my thoughts. So I will attempt to maintain a balance between revelation of where I'm at personally, while granting anonymity to other party's who will be referenced in my blogs. 

Another reason for this blog will be to sort out my ideas for projects I am working on or hope to work on. If people read this blog, then that's ok too. I'd be happy to get feedback on those endeavours.

This is a short post, but I feel like it gives me something to refer to as guidelines for my future additions as well as something for others to see my purposes behind this foray into the vast sea of opinions, amateur biographies and verbal dribble that is the internet blogging phenomenon...