Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!

That little hiatus ended up being a few days longer than I thought!

Honestly, I haven't really been sure what to use my writing energy for lately. This forty day project was awesome but isn't really something that I can see continuing forever. In addition, some of the other stuff I started on I've blocked on pretty bad. I don't feel motivated or have any brilliant new ideas.

So, I need a fresh new project to get me going. I'm currently debating about what that is going to be. I've thought about writing some pure fiction of the fantasy or sci-fi genres just for a breath of fresh air but I'm not sure yet. I'm not even certain that it would be all that interesting to read either. In the meantime, I think I'll continue to make erratic and eccentric posts here. I like the fresh start that this blog gives me over my old one and I think the overall direction is a lot more focused.

We'll see though! Thanks for watching! Do you have suggestions that you'd like to see me write about? Feel free to leave me a comment!

Day 40: The 40 Day Challenge

Note: Well I suppose it figures that right before writing the very last post we would have a lightning storm and I would have to get out the pencil and paper. Oh well, hopefully it will end soon so the post can go up in the morning, but it looks doubtful!

Update: Sorry the post had to go up late! But it's here now and I had it written, I promise!

Day forty! Hurray! It's the end, the finale, the ultimate... today ends the forty day blogging/writing challenge. And successfully, too!

I'm very happy to have made it to the very end and I will certainly take the occasion to celebrate. This isn't a post about celebration (though I thought about it) but don't think it's not important! Taking time to reflect and just enjoy ourselves after an accomplishment or period of time gives us the energy to keep going and make it to that next milestone.

Today, however, I turn the forty day challenge to you. Maybe you've read just a couple of posts or maybe you have read them all. It doesn't matter. The point is I want to challenge you to pick your own challenge and to stick with it for forty days! Pray about it and let God guide your decision. It can be a really life-changing experience!

As for me, I'm going to take a couple days off from writing to recharge my creative side of my brain and then I will pick it back up again. I'll make another post here if you'd like to continue following what I'm working on. I'm not sure what it will be yet! It could be more posts here or maybe something different. We'll see!

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you'll stick around. God bless!

Day 39: Reflections

Only one more day left.

It feels like it has been a long time since the idea to write for forty days clicked into my head. I'm not even sure I really put enough thought into it before I dove in. It just kinda happened.

It is truly tough to keep an every-single-day schedule. Sure, on most days it just falls into place at a specified time. But every once in a while a day will sneak up that does not just fall into place. I come in late, don't have anything to write about, want to go to bed, etc. But through the easy days and the hard days, I think it has been worth it.

If you stumbled over here and read through my forty days of posts or even just one or two, I want to say thank you. I know I have a tendency to ramble and I'm not the greatest editor in the world, but I hope I was able to give you something to think about.

For me, I've learned a lot about what it means to honor God with writing. He has blessed me by showing my how diverse and ultimately unfathomable the many dimensions of living a life following Him really are. I could continue writing one post every day until I die the oldest man to have ever lived and I still wouldn't have the full picture of every idea and thought that can come from taking up the cross.

Since we're reaching the end, I'd appreciate your feedback on my little project. Feel free to drop me a comment or a twitter message. Tomorrow I'll deliver my little "sign off" post on forty days of writing finished, but don't expect me to stop. If you've enjoyed the posts thus far, keep your eyes peeled.

It amazes me that God works all these things together, all the wheels and gizmos of this universe, carefully crafting each moment like mechanical clockwork wonder world of perfection. I have written these posts for a reason and you have read them for a reason too. Incredible, right?

And for one last time: see you tomorrow.

Day 38: Overwhelming Love

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8, NIV)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13, NIV)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Think about how often you use the word "love." Perhaps a little, perhaps a lot. Think about if you've used it today or yesterday. Maybe you've said "I love you" to a significant other or family member. Maybe you were merely remarking at the local McDonald's "Man, I love these fries." Maybe it was even in sarcasm, as in "Don't you just love it when your alarm clock fails to go off in the morning."

But God's love is something else. Throw all the different way we use love out the window; these definitions are not big enough.

God knows what love is all about love because he made it. He is love according to John. We didn't do jack to earn it, but God gives of his endless, overwhelming love anyways.

I think sometimes we need a reminder that God's love is completely out of this world. It's so easy to look around at all the examples of love we have here on earth; all the movies and the Casanovas. But God's love goes totally beyond all that. While we were still evil he went and died for us. We deserved death but loved us so much that he became human to rescue us and shows us what real, pure love looks like.

God's love is earth-shattering, mind-numbing, totally crazy, unthinkable, unimaginable, enormous, overwhelming - awesome.

Day 37: Second Wind

I have to admit, when I first started writing this forty day thing, I didn't give too much thought to how difficult it would be to stay on a daily schedule, ensuring enough content is written each and every day. On top of that, I am making an effort to not be repetitive.

Sometimes I like to get out in the morning and go running. I stretch a bit, put on my running shoes, and take off. For a while, its a nice, pleasant experience. I'm just now waking up, I get to stretch my legs out a little, and it's nice to be out in the sun. But before long the pleasant experience starts to fade. Suddenly the birds don't seem to be chirping anymore. I'm no longer looking around at my surroundings and taking it in. Now I'm focused on the pain coming from my legs. Now I'm focused on my shortness of breath.

But if your a runner, then you probably know what I'm talking about when I talk about a "second wind." If you just tough out those moments, eventually you get into a rhythm and you can just keep on running for a long time. The pain seems to fade away, and the breathing settles into a steady rhythm, keeping up with your pace.

I really wish that I could start off the race in that "second wind" mode but I'm no professional runner. I think many of the times that I decide to call it quits early out on a run, I'm quitting just short of reaching that all-important rhythm.

Here at day 37 at 4D Days, I think I'm just now starting to get into that "second wind" mode. For a while, it was a lot of fun to write the posts and come up with new content. My first few ideas were ones that I had been storing up for a while. It seemed I could write huge entries on a subject with little preparation or thought. But then it started getting harder to come up with new ideas for what to write. And then I started procrastinating when the topics weren't flowing as easily. I began to wish that I had the same ease as the beginning of my writing. I began to wish I was at the beginning of my race, not the middle.

I think I'm just now beginning to find that rhythm that gives you a second wind in writing. And really, it's interesting that I'm coming into that right towards the end of my challenge. It's a rhythm that could enable me to keep writing for a long time.

The "running the race" analogy isn't a new one, you know. Just because I get out every once in a while, doesn't make me original. Paul seemed to think it was a pretty good one for life:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24, NIV)

To get that prize, we're going to have to keep running when the pain comes and the air is getting short. We're going to have to find that rhythm, find that second wind past our struggles and our pains. God will provide, but we've gotta be willing to not give up.

So put on your most trusted pair of running shoes. You won't be done with this particular run for a long, long time.

See you tomorrow.

Day 36: Heaven

I'm coming that point in my life where I'm often faced with the reality that the people around me aren't always going to be around. I'm not talking about death; I'm merely talking about the parting of ways. As I start to see the end of the tunnel for my undergraduate degree, I realize that the people that I'm in contact with may head off in a separate direction, never to be seen on this plane of existence again. Of course, there will be the occasional chance encounter, but I'm pretty certain that I won't be able to keep up with everyone, there are just too many people out there.

Thankfully, some of these people I know I will see again. You see, it turns out that when Christ died for our sins, he has guaranteed us an eternal life with him someday.

Yes indeed, I'm talking about heaven.

There is quite a bit of speculation about what heaven is actually like. Depending on how you interpret scriptures, it could possibly be a lot of different things. I'm not going to debate these things, since I don't even think that I have an inkling of what it's going to be like.

But I do know this: God is ultimate, and he is love. And an eternity with him will be far more incredible than anything this life has to offer. The few joys and pleasures we experience now are merely shadows, mere flickerings of what is to come.

I'm not sure about you, but this is certainly motivating. It makes the problems I face now seem a lot less important and makes the temptations for power, success, and wealth a lot less powerful. It also motivates me to remember what I'm here for. If this life is only a spec of sand at the beginning of a never ending eternity, then oh how important it is to make sure that God's message is heard!

And then there's the whole time thing. Will we experience time the same way? Will there be a flow of time at all? Who knows! I certainly can't wait to find out though. The only thing I know for sure is that it is going to rock. I hope to see you there - remind me of this post so we can have a good laugh together.

Just a few days left! See you tomorrow.

Day 35: Creativity

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, KJV)

There is no doubt that God is creative. A simple look at the human body makes that certain. Take an even deeper look and it just gets more amazing. The human brain by itself is a wonder that, by itself, is still not completely understood (we're working on it though).

Now look elsewhere. Look at the canyons, the valleys, all the creatures you can possibly imagine. Let's not forget that the limits of our imagination were designed by God too. That it is quite a thought, right?

We are made in God's image. Therefore, we, as human beings, are creative. Obviously we can never be as creative as God, since we can never truly come up with anything original. But as we walk in our father's footsteps we can learn to be creative too. I think there is a lot of value in the creations of the Christian community. Music, writings, art: using our creativity can be a powerful way to convey the message we are here to convey.

So be creative!

See you tomorrow.

Day 34: Honor

I had this interesting thought today. It struck me as I listened to someone else much older than I pray before lunch. The wording and the phrasing she used had a great deal of awe, reverence, and honor for the Father.

After thinking about it for a bit, it seemed perfectly natural. God, the supreme king of all creation, deserves all the honor we could possibly give him. In an attempt to be (to use a buzz word) relevant perhaps the younger generation has lost this element. By trying to make God fit into our plans, cultures, attitudes, and the like, we lose sight of how glorious, magnicient, and awesomely powerful God really is. We can't make God fit into our creations; we fit into his.

I'm not saying that we should go around using words like "Thee" and "Thy" and "Thou" all the time but I think there is power in the words we use. Perhaps there is a reason that one of the most quoted versions of the Lord's prayer comes from King James:

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. (Luke 11:2, KJV)

Let's give God the honor he truly deserves.

I do believe in being down to earth with people when it comes to loving everyone and sharing our God with others. But I think that in our attempt to make God "popular" it can be easy to go a little extreme. Let us not forget who God really is.

See you tomorrow (hopefully not technical difficulties this time!)

Day 33: Habits

Unfortuantely, as I write this, my internet is down and I'm not sure if I'll be able to post this by 6:00 AM since I'm going to sleep soon! I promise I didn't forget, sorry for the delay!

UPDATE: 2:00 AM and still no internet. Yep, looks like it'll have to be posted tomorrow.

UPDATE 2: I forgot to upload this post today since I was out of internet last night and wasn't in the habit of doing so. Sorry for the additional lateness!

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Well, it is now Day 33. Today, according to many standards I have qualified for a potential writing habit. That means that it is now simply my normal daily course of action to write a bit of something (and for me, this occurs almmost always in evening, with some exceptions).

Now that I have qualified, according to some specifications of how long it takes to make a habit, we are looking at the last few posts on the blog! I'm excited that I've made it this far and I think I might actually make it to the end! I've started thinking about what I'm going to do after those forty days are up, and I'm not totally sure. I want to keep writing, but I'm not sure if that means more posts over here at 4D Days or something else.

But this is certainly I habit I've wanted to make a reality for a long time. I want to thank you for your support as we come into this final stretch. Just knowing that there are a handful of people out there reading means I'm motivated to ensure that the post goes up each day and that I have accountability for if it did not.

Obviously I have a few obstacles to overcome to make writing every day (well, at least five or six days a week, maybe not seven) a habit. Once 40 days are up, that will be the true test. If I keep writing, then perhaps I've actually achieved habit status, if I don't then I haven't.

Good habits are actually pretty tough things to get going. It's often not easy or fun at times to build the habits that can make us the kind of people we want to be. I can't tell you how many times I've sat across from someone in a bible study group and had them admit that they haven't been reading their Bible as much as they'd like (which means it's not a habit!). And I can't tell you how many times I've been that person too. The same thing can be true of other things too like prayer.

But this little forty day experiment has certainly made me more aware of the power of accountability. Just knowing that someone will know if I come through on my post has given me the drive when I didn't want to write anymore. This principle can be applied to any kind of habit you want to develop, just need one person who is willing to check up. And the internet can make this pretty easy too!

See you tomorrow. Just a few days left!

Day 32: Favorite Verses

I dunno why we do it, but it seems like we as Christians like to latch on particular verses of the Bible. Perhaps it is a particular phrasing that moves us, or a certain time and place for that verse to speak into your life, but if you ask someone for their favorite verse, and they've been a Christian for a little while, they probably have one, two, or pages full of them.

Here are a few of mine:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2, NIV)

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18, NIV)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phillipians 4:8, NIV)

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (John 1:5, NIV)

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV)

Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:45-46, NIV)

Yes, the last one sticks out since it may not make sense without the context it is in, but rest assured, it is one of my favorites. Elijah, with the power of God upon him, basically takes off on a super human feat of running a significant distance, beating Ahab who is in a chariot. Awesome.

What are your favorite verses?

Day 31: Interests

It's pretty neat how God has made us all individuals. We each have our own passions, interests, personality quirks and the like.

One funny thing that the Bible seems to talk very little about is what our interests have to do with the kingdom of God. For example, I like to play video games, perhaps you do not. I enjoy hiking and I like to get sweaty out on a trail with a nice view, while others may be more interested in playing basketball. I like to read certain blogs and chat on instant messengers; others may enjoy reading a particular newspaper or chatting on the phone.

My question is this: where do our interests fit in to being a child of God?

I don't really have an answer. I think part of our interests might be a key to figuring out the place God has called us to in our life, but not all of them. Perhaps God has put some things in our lives simply for our enjoyment. I don't want to try to sell us short of what God has created and put into our lives and brains. But I think it is something worth thinking about. It seems like a lot of the time, I don't even consider how my interests play a part in my role as a Christ follower, and I simply follow them because I enjoy it.

Consider your own interests. Have you thanked God for them? Do they shed light on God's purpose for your life? If they do, how?

Obviously, there has to be balance. Interests can become obsessions. But remember that God loves us and has put us in all kinds of situations for a reason.

See you tomorrow

Day 30: Writing

Yesterday, I chatted with you a bit about literature (reading). Today I'm going to talk a small bit about writing.

I enjoy writing.

I'm not really sure if you've figured that one out by now or not. I'm not slogging through forty days of writing on a blog just because I think it is good for me or something like that. I actually enjoy taking the time to put down my thoughts in the written word, and particularly, I like doing it with a keyboard since it lets my thoughts flow much faster from brain to medium.

And when I write, particularly if I am writing about some aspect of life, it always seems to go back to God. Really, it's hard to avoid it. What could possibly be more important than the all-powerful, all-loving, ruler of of the universe?

But regardless, I thought you might enjoy a little piece from one of my other writing pieces I'm working on right now. If you've read Letters to Malcom by C.S. Lewis then you've got a head start, you'll get the idea immediately. The piece is a collection of fictional letters to a good friend who now lives across the country. The setting is in the present. I figured I'd share almost an entire letter with you, since the content of this particular one has been on my mind lately. I'll let you draw your own interpretations.

(Note: This has largely not been edited so it is subject to change in the final draft)



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Dear Jacob,

Your advice is always some simple and yet so difficult. It is the paradox of Christianity. It is quite a difficult thing, as we must give up everything. And yet, it is so simple and comforting, we must merely give up everything - hand it all over. And with our giving up, we also give up our stresses and worries.

My question now becomes: what are we now holding on to that we have yet to surrender? Perhaps this question never goes away. How can we sing a song like "I Surrender All" and still go back to our lives in slavery to success. It has been such a long time since I have heard that song. Have we become more honest or merely less willing to surrender? Yes, I'm sure the real answer has something to do with the evolving nature of worship in the church, but it is an important question.

Are we unwilling to surrender?

We now stand at in front of yet another paradox. If we will only release that which we cling tightly to, we will discover we have had no need for our obsessions to begin with. I'd like to remind you of the times we have taken a fast from various pieces of the world. There was once a time when I hardly went a day without watching television (it was always my background noise). Then came the time of fasting in which I decided to stop watching for a period of time. At the end of that period I discovered how unnecessary it was! You have experienced this yourself.

Today I find one thing that I have not yet totally surrendered is my future. This ties directly into my previous letters, but is more far reaching than you might realize. As God slowly begins to paint the perfect picture of my life, I become impatient and grab the paintbrush from his hand. After I have discovered what a mess I have made of his work, I hand the paintbrush back with a "Sorry, Lord. I guess I just wanted you to paint faster." Unsurprisingly the end result is that God's will becomes even more difficult to discern and his painting takes even longer, as God now must paint over my mistakes (and perhaps even work with them) before he can begin again from where he left off. But oh, how amazing God's grace is! What a masterful painter! Let us once again mention Romans 8:28 (what a powerful verse!). With his almighty skill, he turns my smudgy mistakes into a beautiful work of artistic redemption.

I have long known that the happiest moments of my life have come when I am unconcerned about what moment should come next. But in the moment, I often forget where the source of true joy is, and attempt to grab at happiness' succulent fruit by my own power (and of course, this never works out in the end).
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See you tomorrow.

Day 29: Literature

I'm going to take an easy day today and discuss literature.

I'm a big fan of the written word in its many forms: fantasy, non-fiction, spiritual, secular, classic, instructive, journalistic, diary-esque, blogs, technical, etc. God has used the written word, not just in the Bible, to speak to me and to make huge impacts in my way of thinking and my daily life. Particularly through some works of C.S. Lewis like Mere Christianity, the fundamental ways I think about God have changed and evolved. But even beyond works of a spiritual nature, a little reading can go a long way to building a solid knowledge base and making one a fully educated person.

Here are some of my favorite books:

• Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
• The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
• The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
• Letters to Malcom - C.S. Lewis
  
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
• Through Painted Deserts - Donald Miller
• Crime and Punishmnet - Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The Gambler - Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Persuasion - Jane Austen
• Emma - Jane Austen
  
• 1984 - George Orwell
  
• Messy Spirituality - Mike Yaconelli
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

That is only a sampling, with some emphasis on the front of the list since I put the authors that immediately came to mind with repeated works there. In addition to these I do a lot of reading on websites, including the blog Stuff Christians Like and occasionally I'll get hooked into popular books like the Harry Potter series. Though I admit, I cheated there; I watched the first five movies then read books five through seven (loved Deathly Hallows).

Perhaps my biggest inspiration for my own writings and Christian philosophy comes from the works of C.S. Lewis. It always seems that his writings shape my worldview in some way, and his work Letters to Malcom is the inspiration from a similar untitled project of my own based on fictional written letters. C.S. Lewis is also my inspiration for my interest in time thanks to his chapter called "Time and Beyond Time" in Mere Christianity. And Fyodor Dostoevsky taught me that not everything worth saying can be said easily or simply as I attempted to claw my way all the way to the end of Crime and Punishment (which is totally worth it).

But all that aside, I love to chat about books, both classics and modern and the knowledge and wisdom they can impart, both mentally and spiritually.

What are your favorite authors? What are your favorite books? What has inspired you?

I promise I won't call you out ;-) I'm just curious. Let's talk literature.

See you tomorrow.

Day 28: The Unknown Part 2

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)

Today we continue our little chat from Day 24 about the unknowns in our life. Because we all know that life is full of uncertainties, and we need a way to deal with that.

Thanks Phillip for your comment. I feel like I've been through many of those exact unknowns before or am in the middle of them currently and have many more to come. But don't worry about the last one ;-) Whatever happens I'll never be totally out of reach (unless I die or something, let's hope this isn't the case).

Let's review. Get ready for an overload; here are some of the uncertainties that I am facing currently in my life, maybe you can relate:
- Career? I love so many things, it's hard to pick just one. Mathematics, Science, Literature, Technology, Theology, Psychology...
- Summer? I have free time on my hands, and I'm quick to waste it in between the plans I do have.
- Graduate School? I love education but should I continue it? What kind of degree? Where?
- Relationships? Should I be dating right now? When is a good time?
- Ministry? I feel called to do something more than just sit in an office and work a desk job for the rest of my life. What does this mean practically? Does this mean going into ministry or something else?
- Witness? What does it mean to live out the great commission as a college student about to graduate? Is my attempt to spread the love of God really what it should be?
- Free time? I have a lot of interests and a lot of things that I could be doing with my free time: writing, reading, hiking, playing video games, hanging out with friends... What is the best use of my time? How does being interesting in something like reading a book, hiking a trail, or playing a video game factor in to the kingdom of God?

Hopefully I didn't scare you off with all of that, but you I can assure you that I feel very, very uncertain about my future right now. All of my questions can get pretty insurmountable at times, especially when I try to tackle it all on my own. I am often paralyzed by indecision and uncertainty as I try to figure out where I should be going after graduating from college.

I desperately want to know what the future holds. I want to know which way to go so I can prepare for that, I want to know what God would have me do right now and I want to know so I don't make a mistake. But it seems God doesn't always let us know ahead of time what's up. Let's revisit one of my favorite verses.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NIV)

It is times like these that I don't feel very much like God is working all things to my ultimate good, but I do love him, and I have been called... so he must be. Sometimes I wish I could tattoo this verse into my brain; the truth here is that powerful. Yes, I am always making mistakes, but God is still working out everything for my ultimate good. Perhaps one of the reasons he leaves me with so much uncertainty is so that I will learn to trust him. Even in the Bible, the stories are often stories of dramatic uncertainty and God comes through for his people in the end.

Whatever uncertainty we face, we are in God's hands, and that is a wonderful, comforting thought.

See you tomorrow

Day 27: Procrastination, Subtitle to be Written Later

Hello my name is David, and I am a procrastinator.

I can see the people in the circle now, smiling politely and replying "Hi, David." It seems I wondered into a meeting of Procrastinators Anonymous.

You see, there are two reasons I'm writing this post past 2:00 AM (It is now 2:10 AM actually, though I know this post will get scheduled for 6:00, sorry of the confusion). The first reason is that I like to stay up late, and I would likely be up this late regardless of whether or not I have finished my writing yet. The other reason is that I procrastinated on my writing today. But fear not loyal readers, for this is not the first time that I have procrastinated on my writing, and I have come through so far ;-)

I fear that procrastination is one of those obstacles that we have pretty much ignored as a modern day problem to the Christian walk (like gluttony, ever hear a sermon on that?). But it can certainly get in the way.

Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:21-22, NIV)

Now obviously this passage could have a variety of interpretations, and there is a lot of culture involved here behind the scenes we don't see, but here's one potential thought. Jesus calls this disciple to come follow him but he decides he will do it later, he has other things to do first. He procrastinates on the call of Christ.

I do this kind of thing all the time. And my reasons are a lot weaker than this disciple! I see what I need to be doing, but I just simply push it back, and back, and back...

Maybe your a procrastinator like me, maybe not. But Christ has called us to live in the present, since we don't know what the future holds for us. Procrastination helps no one but only serves to make ourselves feel better for the moment. This is one principle that I need to be reminded of more often and one I need to work on practically and pray for God's power to overcome.

So I'd like to say I won't procrastinate any more on writing my daily post, but I can't guarantee it. I'll try though. Imagine, instead of forty days of writing, if I did forty days of zero procrastination. I can't even fathom how I would go about that. It'll have to start a few days at a time.

See you tomorrow.

Day 26: Taken Back

I'm going out on a limb and doing the whole "compare the Bible and God to a movie" thing. Yea I know, it has been done before. Regardless, today's movie is Taken so if you haven't seen it, then you better skip this post. Here there be spoilers.
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So I watched the movie Taken today. It apparently hasn't been out on DVD for too long and my family had it on a rental, so I checked it out.

I thought the movie looked pretty cool, but it wasn't one of those movies that just made me drool at the mouth or anything. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good action movie. I know that people out there aren't exactly giving movies like Transporter 2 a golden globe, but hey, I like the occasional action-packed, plot-out-the-window movie.

Taken is a pretty wild ride once it gets going. It has just a bit of build up at the beginning and then it's action packed till the end. Here's the premise: A father who was once a top agent (spy) for the government has retired and moved closer to where his ex-wife and her husband live to be closer to her daughter of seventeen years. On a trip away from the country, the daughter is kidnapped by a crime organization which specializes in trafficking women while she is on the phone with her dad. He tells the kidnappers, who pick up the phone, that they better release his daughter or else he's coming after them. They, of course, don't, and he's given an approximately 96 hour window to get his daughter back or lose her forever in a maze of trafficking movement all over the world.

The daddio (who is played by Liam Neeson) hops on a plane and lands in Paris in full wrath. He has no mercy for the kidnappers and does whatever it takes to get his daughter back. He chases down the orignal kidnappers, infiltrates brothels, and escapes capture while quickly going from the bottom ranks to the top of the criminal organization, following every little lead he can get. And he leaves a trail of destruction behind him.

I hope you don't think that is saccreligious if I compare God to the dad in this movie. I'll admit that there are some incongrueties; our God is merciful, the dad here is not, etc. But, I think I too often think of God as a passive entity, the sort of old-man-in-a-rocking-chair-God sort of mentality that I think is easy to fall into. When we look at the God of the Bible, he is also a God of wrath and action. He did whatever it would take to rescue his people (once the Israelites, now us) and get them back. The coming of Jesus was nothing short of an invasion of an enemy occupied world with a God ready to take his people back.

So if you haven't seen Taken, I recommend it. It has a lot of action and a lot of violence, but I give it two thumbs up for an audience that is old enough. I don't know if you'll see the same themes I did, but it certainly reminded me that God is not passive, but the active and living God of the universe.

See you tomorrow.

Day 25: Blur

I've had an epically long day and I'm feeling pretty tired writing this, so I'll keep it short.
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You ever have those days where you go through the whole day, look back on it, and think, "Man! I wasn't even really paying attention all day long." Sometimes I have those moments. I realize that the past x number of hours were really just a blur where I was mechanically doing some activity or the like. This isn't always a bad thing, it's particularly nice if said activity was boring or dreadful. But, sometimes I feel like I just blur my way through the enjoyable and pleasantries of daily life too.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't happen 24/7, but I do occasionally catch myself with these thoughts.

God gives us such an incredible purpose for our life, it's amazing that I can go through such long periods simply mechanically going through the motions of doing this or that. It's like someone saved my life by taking a bullet for me and instead of living every day with renewed purpose, vigor, and energy, I find myself living some days like nothing exceptional ever happened.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Being a part of the body of Christ means that every little thing, every daily piece of life has significance in our Lord. It's important to remember that we live, work, and play by his power alone and every moment is a gift.

See ya tomorrow.

Day 24: The Unknown

Sorry this got posted late! It seems I had it scheduled for tomorrow on accident. It was ready to go this morning though, I promise!
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I am currently in the middle of a lot of "unknowns" in my life. I don't know what I should do after graduation, what kind of career to pursue, what kind of graduate education I should seek, what to do with my spare time over the summer, how much to be involved at my church when I know I'm leaving soon, whether or not God is calling me to ministry, how to pay for the extra education, what I should spend my time writing about, etc.

So I thought I would ask a question to you, my loyal, quiet readers.

What kind of unknowns are you experiencing in your own life right now? When was a time when you experienced living in the unknown and God came through?

Hopefully it'll make you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts in my comments section, but at least take some time and think about it. I'll come back and spend some extra time on the thought soon.

See you tomorrow.

Day 23: Children

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's day of rest. I know I did!
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And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:3-5, NIV)

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:13-15, NIV)

I'm currently in the process of becoming a volunteer in the children's ministry at my church. There is a lot of red tape to go through in today's unforgiving world, and I can't blame them. There are background checks, reference forms, and training. But I think it's worth it.

I love interacting with little children. They are the most accepting, loving people in the whole world. All they want is someone to love them and play with them; they aren't blinded by prejudices, judgmental, or tied down to being 'mature.' They love to play and laugh and are simply who they are, not trying to be something they are not.

Children are also needy. We call them 'children' for a reason, they are dependent on their caregivers to provide for them. They do not work for their own food and money and they need someone to teach them the "whys" and the "hows" of life and the world around them.

It is clear from scripture that God loves children. He asks us to look after the orphans and the widows. And when the disciples try to prevent the children from coming to see Jesus, he disciplines them and insists on seeing the children and blessing them. And then he gives his disciples a perplexing command. In order to receive the kingdom of heaven, you must become like a child. Pretty strange, right?

I think Jesus is speaking to the beautiful simplicity of what being a Christ follower is all about. We don't have to be spectacular paradigms of morality, "mature" people of righteousness, we must merely be as a child: humble, loving, accepting, and even needy.

I suppose it is easy to forget that we are not, and cannot be, self sufficient for our daily lives as Christ followers. We need the power, direction, and support of God to get us through our temptations, struggles, and decisions every day. Our natural inclination is not to do this, and it is only by the grace of God that we are able to follow His direction at all.

So let's step off the pedestal for a moment and try to be a little more like children in our faith. We have a lot of "whys?" and God has the answers and he will reveal them in time. But for now, we know that God loves us and will provide for us and that is enough for me to get through.

See you tomorrow.

Day 22: Rest

Rest.

Day 21: A Deep Breath

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gensis 1:1, NIV)

Welcome to the age of technology.

We've got lots of fun gadgets, toys, and communication techs and I love them all. Just take a look:

• cell phones
• laptop computers
• radio
  
• internet
• handheld computers
• pagers
• television

And a multitude of others. Consider all the technologies we are surrounded by! We are constantly able to be at work and play.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2, NIV)

And an incredible variety of transportation options too! You can hop in a car and go practically anywhere that you can get to via land. And if that's not enough, hop on a plane and fly anywhere in the world.

People are communicating at the speed of light all over the world at this very moment. You can hold a video chat in America with someone in Japan in a matter of seconds. Businesses can now be run without a home office as people develop online businesses and shop online for their goods.

But why aren't people satisfied with all this?

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3, NIV)

I get pretty antsy these days if I've forgotten my cell phone. I feel like I've been disconnected from the rest of the world. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to live before such things.

But... it's not always a great thing to be connected. Sometimes I forget to just... breathe a little.

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27-28, NIV)

I understand what it's like to book your days full of stuff to do. But even on those days when I have nothing planned, I still end up finding a way to stuff my day. The internet alone has more stuff to see than entire lives of men could possibly process.

But, I don't think we were created to live this way. If God himself took a day to rest on creation, and created and blessed this day for us to rest, I think that speaks to our need for rest. And I'm not just talking about "oh yea, I had that day off from work/school," I'm talking about real rest. The kind of time where you have scheduled to do nothing.

I'm guilty of taking what should be my rest time and filling it up. I'm not going to say you should never work on a Sunday or shouldn't work or anything like that, but remember the human need to rest. It was instilled in us from the very opening of the world. Turn the cell phone off and unplug the computer or TV if you have to.

Tomorrow we're going to apply the principle of rest. Coincidentally, it is the sabbath, and it will be very, very short ;-)

Day 20: The Halfway Mark

Halfway there! Wow, it has been a great twenty days. And I haven't missed one yet!

As awesome as it has been, it's getting tough to keep the content up. Writing once every few days made it easy to write a post since I had ideas floating around in my brain, but since I'm writing every day, it's not so easy! Still, I am enjoying the focused opportunity to write with this creative outlet.

Still, today, I celebrate getting halfway there.

Halfway marks can be significant times to reflect, celebrate, and plan for that next half. Going into something, I rarely understand to the full extent what is going to be involved, but by the time I get halfway there, I can usually predict what the next half is going to look like. Halfway marks can also be times of burnout.

When I should be saying: "I'm halfway there!"

Sometimes I say: "I'm only halfway there?!"

I wonder what went through Jesus' mind when he came to his halfway mark of his time here on earth. I wonder what went through his mind when he came to the halfway mark of his active ministry. Did he celebrate? Was it a serious time? Was it even a significant thought? I don't know.

Thanks for making it through the first half with me. See you in the last half.



Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24, NIV)

Day 19: 4D - The Fourth Dimension

Obligatory Caution: This blog posts contains metaphysics, physics, literature, and Christian thought all wrapped in one. Head explosion may occur.

OK so let's get it straight, "4D Days" is a pretty silly name for a blog. No one would actually call forty days "4D days" even those goofy internet speak people like me.

But there is one thing about "4D" which fascinates me, and that is the fourth dimension. Now I understand that the first three dimensions make plenty of sense: width, height, and length. But when we start adding dimensions, things get more complicated and it gets a lot harder to understand. I understand that most physicists and the like regard the fourth dimension as something separate from time, but it's a lot easier for me to just ignore these people and go with the popular conception. Not to mention, I read it in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells so it must be true, right?

So let's talk about time a little bit. I love talking about time because it is one of those things that we must live with day to day but can get so abstract and mind-blowing.

For starters, a lot of people don't realize how relative time is. When we consider the fact that time actually flows differently for two objects moving at different speeds, my head starts to swim a little bit. Think about the classic twin problem. We take two twins on earth and send one off in a rocket. Let's say this rocket moves at .99 times c where c is the speed of light. We'll send the twin off to the nearest start or something and then have the rocket return. When it returns, the twin on the rocket and the twin on earth will actually be a different age! I'll leave it at that abstraction. If your interested in relativity and such, feel free to google it. I did a search myself after describing that and found this wikipedia article on the twin problem called "The Twin Paradox." Go check it out.

Now let us add God into the picture. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He created time. So where does God fit in with all this stuff?

Well if God created time, then he is above and beyond the concept of time. He does not experience time as we do, though he obviously chooses to act inside of time from our biblical examples.

This is one of the reasons why I think the whole "predestination vs. freewill" arguments tend to be pretty useless. If you add in the fact that God is above and beyond time, then you might see the truth in both sides. Predestined? Sure, God sees all moments of time at once. Freewill? Of course, God created us to have the capability to decide and we live moment to moment, unlike God.

Our fourth dimensional mind problems also speak to the magnitude of God's power. What an unfathomable being to have created the very idea of living one moment after another!

Of course, we are more or less stuck in what I call "domino mode." We experience life one moment after another at a more or less linear speed, one after another. This is analogous to a series of dominoes, where each moment of our lives is the next domino in the sequence. We can do nothing to stop the dominoes, the first was pushed at our conception, and the last will fall at our death. The universe too has its own domino chain which was pushed at the moment of creation.

When we remember our God is above the whole domino chain, sees all, and can manipulate and color each domino how he wishes, what an encouraging thought we have! This idea has a lot of power to shape the way we view our struggles and triumphs, our highs and lows, our whole lives! With this amazing, unfathomable God at our side, using us for his purposes, how loved we must be!

Hope that didn't break your brain too much. I love to think on and speculate the physical and theological ramifications of time. And we haven't even moved into the higher dimensions yet =)

See ya tomorrow.

Day 18: Mysterious Ways 2

Well, no one ever went back and answered my question from Day 12. It's a shame too, since I was looking forward to seeing some of the answers. When God decides to surprise us, it always seems to make for an interesting story.

Here was/were the question(s):

When has God surprised you? Where has God shown up when you weren't expecting it?


For me, it seems that at the times when I feel God is furthest away, he is actually right there alongside me, working things out to his purposes. The problem is, it doesn't feel like this is the case at the time, and it is only clear on reflection on those times. I think it really comes down to a trust thing in the end. If God always let us know what was up and what is coming our way, it would eliminate some of the need to just trust that he has got everything under control.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8, NIV)

God certainly doesn't do things the way I do things. He doesn't do things the way I expect him to do things either. Here's some hypothetical examples which parallel what I feel sometimes actually happens:

• I pray for patience... I get stuck in traffic
• I pray for wisdom... I have to make a hard choice
• I pray for stronger faith... I become wracked with doubt

Perhaps you've got your own experiences like what I'm talking about here. A couple years ago I said a prayer for more patience. I'm not sure why this particular prayer sticks out in my head, I'm sure I've prayed for all sorts of things like it before, but it does. Since praying that prayer, it seems I have been thrust into situations which require huge amounts of patience, lots of waiting, more harder decisions without a word from God, longer waits till I understand what he wants me to do. And the problem: I wasn't any more patient than I was before! I've said it before, I'll say it again, it seems God is not in the business of magically poofing his children into spitting images of him. Instead, to grow us, we are put into situations which will strengthen us. And these situations are not always pleasant.

God really showed up in an unexpected way when it came time for me to pick a college. I'm not even sure I was really all that interested in making the decision or seeking God's guidance at the time, but I know my family had been in prayer about it at the very least. I had it narrowed down to two colleges, a local one, and Georgia Tech. I was leaning toward going to the local college but God intervened. When I went to visit the college and have an overnight tour/stay, it ended up being one of the weirdest, most uncomfortable experiences of my life. The guy I was staying with pretty much gave me a room number and took off, leaving me with some other guys who weren't really interested in the idea that I was staying with them at all. And their apartment was pretty much the nastiest home I've ever seen. After that, I was questioned relentlessly by some professor about both my religion and why I would want to major in Computer Science in a liberal arts program. The whole thing was ridiculous, but I did learn some life lessons from it. It made my decision, I was going to Georgia Tech. I can look back now and say that there can be no other reason I made it there but by the grace of God. I have seen his hand move in my pursuit of new friends, experiences, and growth as a person there that wouldn't have happened back at home. But he certainly picked an interesting way to get me there.
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I'm going to move on, but I'd still like to hear your own stories. Feel free to leave a comment. It's great to hear how surprising and interesting our God is!

Day 17: Freewrite 3 (Sacrifical Star Trek)

Part three of the freewrite series continues today.

The following may be found here: more grammatical mistakes than usual, typos, jumps in thought, incoherence, and zanyness. You've been warned.
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Today's Additional Warning: I couldn't really think about any way to write this one without being spoilery, so if you haven't seen the Star Trek movie, spoilers are below.



I went to see Star Trek today (woo memorial day!) and thought it was a pretty awesome movie. I'm not even really that big a fan of the Star Trek universe (not that I hate it either, it's interesting) but the characters were charming and the action was intense. And it's got one of my favorite elements, time manipulation. I love a good plot with some time travel.

But the greatest scene, in my humble opinion, is in the very beginning. Kirk's dad demonstrates heroic bravery as he goes down the ship, saving hundreds of lives in the process. It is an extremely intense series of moments, and an incredible way to open up the movie.

The idea of sacrificing one's life for the greater good is not uncommon in movies and great stories. Great heroes often must do so to save others and vanquish evil. But Our Lord did it too. He chose death to save us.

Now I know if I had been in one of those ships that Kirk's dad sacrificed his life to save, I would've been eternally grateful for his heroic deed. But sometimes, I take Christ's death for granted. Instead of remembering it for what it really was, a heroic and perfect invasion of this earth and a triumph over evil, I regard it as just another story in the Bible, just like Star Trek is just a story. But this story isn't fiction. It actually happened and it even has a unique twist: Christ didn't stay dead. He's God after all, and he was raised from the dead and lives even today.
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Today's free write ended up being a lot more topical than I thought it would be =D

We might return to regular programming tomorrow. We'll see.

Day 16: Freewrite 2 (Unorthodox Church)

Day 2 of my freewrite mini-series! Enjoy.

The following may be found here: more grammatical mistakes than usual, typos, jumps in thought, incoherence, and zanyness. You've been warned.
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I have to admit that I haven't always been the biggest fan of going to church. When I was younger I was always sort of a loner in youth group. I suppose I can't really blame the other kids too much, I was pretty quiet. But on top of that, I didn't go to the same schools they did and so while they were building friendships during the week, I was up the creek. I tried going to the whole "Wednesday night youth group" thing for a few weeks, but that didn't really do it either. I admit that sometimes I just really didn't want to go to church on Sunday mornings.

Then this amazing thing happened, God did something big. I hadn't been praying about it or anything like that, but in early high school a good friend of mine invited me to come on a retreat with his youth group. I remember thinking that it sounded awful but somehow or another I was talked into it. I was totally nervous about the whole thing but I ended up having a great time. When the retreat came around the next year, I went back and took some more friends with me.

I believe it was the third retreat of this sort when I finally stopped running from the call to fully submit my life to Christ. I had felt this call for a long time at the various "come forward" events, sermons, and the like but had been resisting. The retreat changed my life.

It was also from this series of retreats that I found a church home that I belonged at. Somewhere in the middle of all this I started driving (turned 16) and decided I would start going to my friend's church instead of the one I had been going to. Even though I had become much less quiet and was beginning to learn to be social with other people, my old youth group had become an alien place of little warmth. At my new church I found people who were always interested in what was going on in my life and friendly faces and smiles (with breakfast!).

Perhaps one of the reasons it was so friendly was because of how small it was. I mean this was a really tiny church. We're talking twenty to thirty people on any given Sunday. I began to enjoy going to church (though the drive was pretty long).

I've been thinking about church a lot lately because I've once again found a church that makes me enjoy getting up on Sunday morning to go. I've been going there for over a year now but I suppose I just now realized how I actually look forward to being at church on Sunday. I love the church so much that I'm starting to volunteer with the little kid's ministry at the early service by being a small group leader (a.k.a. playing with kids).

However, my church may not be what one would consider typical. There's no steeple, the sanctuary looks more like an auditorium, and a rocking band leads worship. Perhaps these kinds of churches are becoming more typical, but this was not the kind of church I grew up in. It isn't the kind of church that the 20-30 people church was either.

Here's another example of being untypical. Right now we've just finished up a sermon series called "Staying in Love" which is about exactly what it sounds like. So, since we're in a series on romance, the service opened today with the "top five 80s love song music videos." This included videos like Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran." Pretty strange right? But the best was the number one video. The number one video picked was Journey's "Seperate Ways." And instead of simply showing a clip from the video, they turned off the audio and the band played the song. And I mean the lead singer had a fake mullet, sounded just like Steve Perry, and the whole band shredded like Journey had just hit the scene. It was insanely awesome.

I'm still not entirely sure what Journey has to do with staying in love, but it was an epic church moment. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who might get upset about all this, but fooey on them. Why can't church be awesome? Why does it have to subscribe to some formula that is boring and completely shuts out anything interesting from the outside world?

Church is becoming more unorthodox and I think that this is (in general) a good thing. Christ did not come to die so that a new church based on legalism could be born. Christ set us free for freedom.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

It's totally weird how God works such huge turnarounds in lives that embrace his call. I never thought I would see the day where I would get up in the morning and think of church as a joy instead of an obligation, but I've lived to see it. God never ceases to surprise me. It always seems that he sets it up so that the very things I say "I'll never do that" are the very things he calls me to do later on. Maybe he's just got an extremely cool sense of humor?

Freedom is a wonderful thing. I think I forget more often than not that being a Christ follower is supposed to be a freeing experience and not one where you memorize a set of rules and then set to work being a perfect person for the rest of your life. God's invasion of this world is so much bigger than that, so far beyond it, it's not even close to being about rules any more.

And I think that is a good note to end on :)

See you tomorrow.

Day 15: Freewrite 1 (Snipers and You)

This begins day one of my mini-series of freewrites. It'll go a couple days at least.

The following may be found here: more grammatical mistakes than usual, typos, jumps in thought, incoherence, and zanyness. You've been warned.
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Just in case you didn't know, I do occasionally write a day's post ahead of time. While each post is completed at least the day before it goes up, I sometimes write a couple days ahead because I know I won't be able to write that day (like if I'm out of town or something). Today is one of those days. I realize that makes this a sort of untraditional "forty days" of sorts but that is just the way the cookies crumbles. Since this is a blog challenge one of the things I want to do is make sure a post goes up each day. I chose this as a priority over ensuring that I write a single post each day. And thankfully, no legalism required!

But all that is really beside the point, I just figured you might want to know. Didn't want you think I was cheating you out of something.

Bah, there I go, going back and editing my sentences. Free writing is a really difficult thing for me to do. Of course, some editing must be done, but I realize I do way too much of it, even when I'm trying my hardest not to. I think it has to do with my desire for acceptance. This is one of those huge traps that I often fall into in my life. I do things for the sake of earning people's respect and acceptance and no other reason all too often. Instead of merely living for God because of my great love for him and my greatfulness for what he has done, I find myself struggling along, doing Christiany things because some people will think more highly of me as a result. Free writing helps me a little in this regard because I can write stuff like that and now I can't go back and erase it.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32, NIV)

But the truth sets us free, so it's good to talk about our struggles. For me, not only does knowing the truth set me free, but stating it also.

Recently I've been playing a game called Team Fortress 2 for the PC. You might have heard of it if your a gamer, but I don't blame you if you haven't. Anyways, it's one of those first person shooter games but this one is cartoony and wacky and a lot of fun. They released a patch which updated the Sniper and the Spy characters (two of my favorites) so I've been playing to check out the new stuff. I enjoy the thrill of friendly competition as we battle to capture the flag, capture points, or simply eliminate the other team.

But the sniper holds a special place. I really enjoy the feeling of sitting there with my scope set on some other player who (for all I know) could be half the world away from me. When you get the perfect shot, they never see it coming. But of course, it's just a video game, so on their next life, they're coming after me.

The only problem is, I've never really been that good at being the sniper. I always run into these players who make me look like a total newbie. They can shoot anything at any distance even if your running at full speed and zig zagging. Me, I have trouble shooting targets that move even a little bit. But still I enjoy stepping into the shoes of the sniper and getting the occasional lucky break. Sometimes I even fool myself into thinking I'm pretty good at this game.

When it comes to God, I think I treat my relationship with him too often like a game of the same sort. I see people who are really good at the whole God thing, they seem to have it all put together and are really on fire for Him. I like to step into their shoes occasionally and try to be one of the Christian legends, and sure I fool myself (and sometimes others) for a period of time, but in the end I end up acting somehow not like a Christian legend and I just end up frustrated.

Thank goodness for the grace of God. Thanks to this grace, I don't have to be a rock star of the Bible to be a child of God. He has chosen to use me, my weaknesses and all. If we could compare it to sniping in team fortress it'd be like this. I'm a terrible sniper for God's army but he still wants me in there, trying my best. He doesn't want me acting like I'm the best player ever because he knows my real skill level. He just wants my heart for the role.

Man, I had no idea I would be comparing playing a sniper in a video game to being a child of God when I woke up this morning. I'm sure I've crossed one of those heathen thresholds at this point.

To be honest, sometimes I think about video games and the time I spend on those and wonder if it's really an OK thing to do. While I don't spent every single moment of my spare time on them like I used to, I wonder how this or that game is improving my relationship with God. But then, I can extrapolate this to all kinds of things I fill my spare time with. Random websites, watching TV, reading books I love, you name it. I'm almost certain that God does not think these things are bad in and of themselves, but I don't fully understand how our hobbies relate to our calling as followers of Christ either.

I was chatting with a friend of mine that I met through one of the games I play online earlier with these thoughts running through my head when he invited me to join up with his group of gaming friends. Their group is a rather large group of online gamers dedicated to excellence in a variety of games. Now I realize I'm losing you if you don't play online games at all, but bear with me. I chose not to immediately join up with this group (this isn't the point) because I think it would suck away my time, but the idea of socializing with other people over a game on the internet seems like it could actually have some straight-up biblical kingdom building qualities. It made me remember that God is working all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28) and that includes our hobbies.

I'm always interested in the idea of using new technology and communication structures to build God's kingdom. The church I go to "gets" the whole web 2.0, social network thing, and I think that is an excellent thing. I'm all for causing a God-invasion of the internet, wouldn't that be awesome? The only problem is I'm not sure where to start. If you've got more ideas than writing a few sentence on a blog every few days, then feel free to send 'em my way.
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Whew! That wasn't so bad. More freewriting tomorrow.

Day 14: Two Week Notice

Today I've made it two weeks of straight posting! I never thought I'd see the day.

Somewhere I had once heard that doing something for two weeks turns it into a habit. I was curious if this was true, so I did a Google search. The various sources couldn't seem to agree. There were some websites that said 21 days, others more like 28 days, and still some were 30+ days. I guess I still have a week or two to go before I qualify for a writing habit. I will be looking forward to that.

I admit that it has been pretty tough to come up with things to write about every day. There are a lot of things floating around in my head, but it's not always easy to turn these into a specified topic and write it with a full length entry. I've stuck to very generalized concepts instead of very specific ones because it is a forty day challenge, not a forty year one.

Nevertheless, I have a rough list of things left that I would like to write about, but I'm not entirely sure they are each and all good candidates for a post here. For one thing, I realize I'm not exactly the most qualified person to be expounding thoughts on God, Christianity, the Bible life, etc. but I at least hope that if you made it this far that some inkling of my thought helps you, inspires you, or challenges you in some way. I wasn't originally going to write these forty posts for an audience; it was a challenge for myself and an attempt to get closer to God through writing.

Nevertheless, if your reading this, I'm glad you found it, and you are one of the few keeping me accountable with my writing each day. I want to say thanks for taking the time to come take a look at what I've got to say. I hope you don't think any of my entries are very preachy or unrealistic or anything of the sort. I'm merely trying to put some of the things that I have felt strongly, curious, or inspired about into written words.

I must admit though that I am falling into the trap of coating my writing a bit too much since I know there are people out there reading it that I know. So, with your indulgence, I'm going to cut loose a bit more so I can get back to making this not only a challenge, but an enjoyable part of my life.

One way I'm going to do that is I'm going to take a few days and do some free writing. That means I'm going to give myself some time, start at the beginning, and just write until I feel I've written enough or my time is up. These posts may be more incoherent, grammatically incorrect, and not flow very well, but they will hopefully be a bit more raw. That means they will also include more of the things that are going on in my life currently.

So if you want to peer inside the chaos that is my mind, you'll get at least a day or two to do so (and I may come back and do some more of it again later). There's still a lot about living for Christ that I haven't fully grasped and I have many more questions than I have answers. Maybe you'll find something interesting.

In the mean time, I hope you'll go take a look at Day 12: Mysterious Ways and make a comment on the question(s) I posed there. I really enjoy feedback and especially when that feedback is more like dialog. There aren't too many of you out there reading this so don't be victim of the bystander effect and think someone else is going to comment :P

Thanks for two weeks! 3.714 more weeks to go.

Day 13: Epic

Ever read Lord of the Rings? Seen the movies? How about Harry Potter? Have you read those books or seen those movies? The Chronicles of Narnia?

I love these (and other) stories because they are epic tales of good versus evil. Through brilliant characters and fantastic storytelling, they tell the story of somewhat ordinary people (if you can call a hobbit an ordinary person) thrust into extraordinary circumstances. They find themselves wrapped up in a huge conflict that has existed long before they arrive on the scene. And yet, they are instrumental in this fight against evil. Frodo must destroy the ring. Harry Potter must face Voldemort, the Pevensie children must do battle against the white witch, the list goes on.

Why do we love these stories? I'm sure the reasons we could list are endless. Tolkien was a brilliant storyteller with an engaging mind. J.K. Rowling crafts a tale that hooks you early on and won't put you down till the very end. C.S. Lewis parallels the real-life struggles and triumphs with a tale of both divinity and common heroism.

But, I think one of the reason we enjoy tales like this and others is that we long to be a part of these adventures, to be heroes - to be courageous, demonstrate valor, and do deeds of legend.

My reminder today is that we are all embroiled in an epic conflict that has been going on since long before we were born. We have been chosen to play out our part, to fight evil, and show the glory of Our Lord to everyone on this planet. God, for some reason, has chosen to use us to accomplish his purposes. We are called to a daily fight, and if we are not in combat, we may already be losing.

It reminds me of the armor of God:

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:11-12, NIV)

You can read a few verses past this one for more detail about preparing yourself for daily combat. Sometimes I think we've picked the wrong enemy for our fights, but that will be a post for another day. I hope this will encourage you and remind you that we are a part of a grand tale which started at the moment of creation. And unlike some of the heroes in the stories I talked about before, we know how this tale ends, in victory!

Day 12: Mysterious Ways

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8, NIV)
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More and more I realize how true this passage is. God doesn't do anythings like I do things. He often puts me on edge till the very last moment, testing my patience. Sometimes he seems to be silent, other times he comes through in a very unexpected or unusual way. And I'm often surprised by where God shows up. Random books, movies, experiences, people, God shows up even when I'm not looking for him.

I have a couple simple questions/thoughts for today.

When has God surprised you? Where has God shown up when you weren't expecting it?

Leave me a comment with your thoughts. We'll come back and look at these questions again in a few days.

Day 11: The Payout

Money, its a crime
share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say,
is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they're
giving none away.
~Money, Pink Floyd
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Ah, the classical lyrical poet, Pink Floyd. What amazing wisdom they speak. Think their the only source of wisdom on money? Think again.

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (Psalms 23:1, NIV)

Better is a little with righteousness
Than great income with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8, NASB)

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (1 Corinthians 16:2, NIV)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10, NIV)


These are just a few of the passages, including some heavy hitters. Money is all over the Bible. What to do with it, where it comes from, the dangers, the rewards, everything, it's all there.

Wealth is very ensnaring. For wealth, we will work day in and day out, sacrifice our time, and take risks. Money is the fuel that modern society moves on. "Gotta have money to make money" is a common saying. The government, businesses, and individuals move billions of dollars all over the place in the attempt to make more money.

But, what are we chasing? Why are we after more money anyway?

If your reading this, I want to challenge you a bit. Jesus has some pretty provocative things to say about what we do with our wealth. He challenges one young man (who is a very "good" man) to give up all his wealth, sell all his possessions. When he walks away, defeated, he immediately turns to his disciples and repeats this troubling statement:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23-24, NIV)

The disciples' reaction makes sense. I believe they are seeing money as a sign of God's blessing on the individual. They wonder if it is this hard for a blessed person to enter the kingdom of heaven, who can be saved? Jesus responds:

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26, NIV)

But, why would Jesus ask this man to sell his possessions? Wealth was the big obstacle between him and God. His priorities might have looked like this:

1. Stuff
2. God

I think this whole wealth issue needs some serious examination for those whose life has been devoted to Christ. I've found that it is really easy to simply follow the money instead of seeking out God's will. The gospel has called us to a higher authority. Any amount of money is totally insignificant when you consider how temporary it all is. We all have to die someday, and what happens to it then? Will God count our green? No, what matters is obedience.

I'm still working out what this all means in my own life, but I think there are some pretty interesting implications here. I'm concerned that some are sacrificing their whole lives, all their time, and bigger, better things in service of that ever-escaping dream of wealth.

Putting God first is going to look different for everyone. For some, it could be taking a lower-paying job in order to have more time to devote to family and God. For others, it might mean simply living within their means (seen the troubling statistics on debt lately?). Maybe it's just realizing we don't need that must-have item on the TV. But for all, God has called us to fight, not to simply go with the common flow.

That's not to say that having money, making money, and working hard are bad things (their not!). God has called us to be responsible, provide for our families, and build his kingdom. Money must merely become a tool and not an end in and of itself.

I'll leave you with final passage from the words of Jesus. I think it is self-explanatory.


No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:24, NIV)

See you tomorrow.

Day 10: Fasting Part 2 - The Inedible Variety

Yesterday, I talked a little about fasting as it is defined, abstaining from food or water for a period of time. Today I'm going to talk about fasting from other things.
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One of my very first experiences with fasting came my freshman year in college in my bible study group. We read through a book called A Call to Die by David Nasser. In the book, it gave us a forty day challenge to fast from something while we read through the book. We each picked something different. Among some of our choices were Facebook and instant messenger, I remember that much. My choice was cable television.

I had no idea at the time that this was going to be a challenging thing to do. If I had been wiser or more determined, I may have chosen video games instead since that was my real priority. However, I figured abstaining from television for forty days was going to be challenging enough. It ended up being a lot tougher than I originally thought. For one thing, I had to compromise a bit. I didn't realize at first that just because I chose to not watch TV, that I would still be around it and exposed to it quite often. With a roommate that watched TV, and restaurants and events with TVs on everywhere, I just had to ensure that I was actively making efforts to not watch instead of being legalistic and avoiding every place that had a TV on (which would've been a lot of places!).

Eventually, I just got used to not watching. I wouldn't turn it on when I got back to my room, and I found other things to do. It wasn't till the end of those forty days that I realized what had happened. Television had simply lost its place as a priority. It no longer was exciting or interesting or even just something to do if I had spare time. By being away from it for forty days, I had somehow subconsciously come to the conclusion that it actually wasn't as great as I was making it, it was just a habit.

Now obviously your mileage will vary, but I've had a lot of amazing realizations about my life when I take forty days to reprioritize with a fast. Such a fast can be used to break strongholds of importance that have taken the place of God in our lives. And the free time you get from giving up something can be spent for other things. If you have a hard time remembering to read the Bible or finding time to do so, maybe that time could be used for that, for example.

The key to the fast is remembering its purpose. If I take forty days and remove myself from one thing only to replace it with something else which is not God-related then I have accomplished very little.

So let's say that you want to give this whole "4D Days" thing a shot and want to try a forty day fast from something inedible (no doctor's consultation required!). How do you figure out what might be a good pick? Try the following:

1. Pray. Ask God that he will show you what is an obstacle to his relationship with you.
2. Imagine what you can't live without for forty days. Now think again. Can you really not live without it?
   
3. Ask yourself, "What am I spending a lot of time doing that isn't really nescessary?"
4. Find an accountability partner who would be willing to make a suggestion and perhaps keep you accountable if it will be a difficult thing for you.

And remember, it doesn't nescessarily have to be extreme. The point is to refocus. Even if it means just giving up ten minutes in bed in the morning to spend reading the Bible or praying, it can make a difference. Even starting with just a few days (nothing magic about forty!) can open the door to new breakthroughs.
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Tomorrow I'll talk a bit about money. Feel free to go back to Day 8's post, read my question, and make a comment on the subject. I might use your comment in the post.

Day 9: Fasting Part 1 - Food

I'm going to be talking about fasting for a couple days. In the meantime, feel free to add any thoughts you have about my question from Monday (Day 8: Quick Cash). I'll follow up with another post on money soon.
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While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:2-3)

Fasting is a spiritual disciple that we see throughout the Bible. Fasting is abstaining from food (and sometimes drink) for a period of time. This is typically done for either traditional or spiritual purpose, and is not unique to Christianity alone. Sometimes fasts are from specific types of food instead of just abstaining from particular foods, like taking a period of time to not eat meats which is common during Lent, for example.

If there was a spiritual disciple which might have been swept under the rug in Americanized Christianity, I'd say it's fasting. We certainly like to eat, and the idea of skipping a meal or several meals gets mixed reactions. Instead of developing an attitude to fast when it is appropriate, it has become somewhat of a "spiritually trendy" thing to do instead of something practical.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:16-18, NIV)

But obviously, a discipline which is to be done in secret is not really a trendy thing to do. Fasting is not meant to bring glory to ourselves, and I'm afraid this is the big temptation when fasting. The temptation is to say "Look what I'm doing for God!"

In the Bible, we see a lot of fasting is done in preparation. Even Jesus fasted (for forty days!) as he prepared for his ministry. Putting aside food for a time can help serve as a reminder of what we are here for (not for food!) and surrender extra time to spend in reflection and prayer. It is a discipline which develops the habit of not relying on the things of this earth, but on God alone.

Now here's my disclaimer for healthy purposes: fasting from food for forty days is kind of a big deal. If your going to fast for an extended period of time, I recommend checking it out with a doctor first (and maybe start smaller!).

Fasting continues tomorrow.

Day 8: Quick Cash

This is a short post. We'll resume regular length tomorrow.
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I have a simple question for today.

What is the point of money?

Go ahead and leave me a comment with your thoughts. Consider if your answer changes after you read the following two passages. Take some time to read the surrounding passages if you've got time, I don't want you to be misled by an incorrect context.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10, NIV)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23-24)

The issue of money is pretty loaded and there is a lot of talk about it in the Bible. It's clearly an important one and an everyday issue. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

See you tomorrow!

Day 7: Romance

This one is in honor of my good friend who is getting married this very day! I always said that when one of my close friends from back in high school got married, that would be the day that I would begin to feel old. That day has come.

I hope you don't think I'm too sappy with this one. Congratulations man!
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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Love is a pretty simple word to say. It gets a lot of use in everyday contexts. I love hotdogs, certain TV shows, my friends, and books by C.S. lewis, but not all in the same way. But, I'm going to skip most of that and dig into romantic love.

Warning: Here be dragons.

Falling in love is a pretty dangerous thing, right? Nobody likes a broken heart. But God did it when he created mankind. And guess what? We went and broke his heart. He paid the ultimate sacrifice to mend that relationship. I think we can spare a few words for romance.

The scripture that deals with God-fearing relationships between man and woman are pretty tough to navigate. A lot of it has to do with marriage and the relationship between a husband and wife. What can we say for those who want a relationship centered on Christ?

There are a lot of "guidebooks" out there on romantic relationships, particularly when it comes to finding that special someone. Perhaps you've read I Kissed Dating Goodbye or Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris or maybe Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot or even Boundaries in Dating by Cloud and Townsend (I don't recommend that last one if you don't like long, dry and boring books). Perhaps you've read some others, but they've all got their "tried and true" methods and advice. Some are just stories (and I like these the best) about what worked for them.

There are a lot of viewpoints, but as with all things we do, if we keep our focus on God and ask for his wisdom, he will provide.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31, NIV)

I think the major trap when pursuing that elusive, God-fearing romance with another person is to take the focus off God and put it on that other person. Obviously, avoiding this trap is a lot easier to chat about than to do. It takes a lot of prayer on the part of both people and a willingness to do God's will, whatever that looks like. A relationship centered on God should be a testament to the gift he has given us and it may not look typical and that's okay.

Whole books, blogs, and talks are devoted to the subject of romance by people far more qualified than I. But I believe real love is possible and you can find someone to spend the rest of your life with. Yes, it can be tough work, and yes there are a lot of unhealthy shortcuts which do more harm than good, but when God brings two people together and they commit to love each other and walk hand in hand doing his work, they can move mountains.

<3

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Tomorrow will be a short one because of all this wedding stuff! Look forward to it.

Day 6: Hilarious Gospel

Laughter is the best medicine.
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Being a follower of Christ Jesus is a pretty serious deal. It is not merely a one-time decision and that's the end of it. It is a commitment which has the power to change your life; turn it upside down.

Thankfully, that doesn't mean that we have to walk around with grave faces all day long.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17, NIV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

You see the common theme here? The Holy Spirit brings joy. Doesn't sound very dull, does it?

I have a feeling that when Jesus walked the earth, he did a lot of laughing with his disciples and the people he surrounded himself with. Don't get me wrong, I'm going out on a limb here, I don't have the scriptural evidence. However, we are made in the image of God and he created humor. I can think of few things that cure a bad day more than hearty laughter with some good friends.

I think that we miss out on a lot of opportunities to show, be, and receive God's love when we take our messages, bible studies, and gatherings and turn them into business meetings. If God was running a business, I think it would look a lot more like some place like Google or even one of those kids fun zones instead of a stiff corporate office with suits and ties.

When I imagine the love of God, I don't imagine a row of people sitting in a pew dressed nicely and not really talking to each other. Instead, I imagine something that looks a lot more like a bar with a lot of laughter and a lot of good friends gathered close around a table enjoying some food and good company. I hope you don't think I'm being sacrilegious. I think the love God shows us in the scriptures is a lot more raucous than we might imagine by default.

Don't be afraid to keep things lighthearted, especially if your sitting across from me in a small group.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
(Ecclesiastes 3:1,4)

There is a time for everything and that includes time to laugh and time to dance. I'm not discounting that there are times for the serious too, a time for sorrow, and a time to grit your teeth. But don't forget that God brings the joy in some seriously large helpings.

See you tomorrow.