Hi guys.
I am still somewhat sick from that shrimp episode (at least that’s what I believe it is). I still have not eaten three meals in a day and although I am kinda glad this is helping me cut of what excess fat I have on my body, it’s not good for me healthwise. My Thursday meal today consisted of a grilled cheese sandwich, steamed potatoes and seasoned cauliflower. I wolfed down the sandwich, discounted the potatoes and stopped cold at the sight of my cauliflower. Then I took a look over at these Georgian (the country, not the state) guards who were wolfing down the stuff and laughing really hard at stuff I couldn’t understand, of course. I don’t know why but right after looking at the Georgians downing that stuff like candy, I couldn’t eat my cauliflower.
As I walked back to the shop with a co-worker, he was telling me what he does back home when not fulfilling military obligations. I tried to pay attention to him but my mind was on two things. One of them being the fact that I was kinda disappointed for some reason that I could not eat the cauliflower. Hmm, I thought, maybe it just needed cheese sauce. After that thought my day brightened and I was no longer disappointed about cauliflower.
Can you tell that when I am sick I get weird?
Anyway let’s move on. Has anyone out there ever seen the show LOST? What a great show. Action packed and the plot continually develops new twists and turns that no one ever expects. I don’t watch much TV, but I try to catch LOST whenever I can. A friend of mine from work here let me borrow Season 1 (don’t worry Mom, I still need it in that care package because I will watch the episodes over and over) and I watch two episodes or so a day. Of course that doesn’t conflict with my Bible reading, so it’s all good.
Speaking of Bible reading, this morning I was reading part of Acts 6 because a friend had cross-referenced a verse in there from a chapter in 1 Corinthians I had been reading. So I read the first few verses of Acts 6 in addition to the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians, and lo and behold I found what I think is my new favorite verse in the Bible. Acts 6:4…it says “we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.” I stopped and thought, wait a minute, isn’t that what every Christian should do? I thought deeper and the reality hit me that if we as Christians cannot continually pray and fellowship with our Lord, and dedicate ourselves to His Word, His cause, His purpose — we don’t deserve to call ourselves true followers of Christ. I thought even deeper and I realized I hated calling myself a Christian, based on the world’s terms. The world basically classifies a Christian as one who simply believes in Jesus and follows a general rule of practice of a religion. That’s just what I want to avoid though. I want to not just believe in Jesus, but live with Him in my heart and share Him with others. I don’t want to follow rules of religion. I hate religion. Religion kills our spiritual man, but the words and precepts outlined in the Word bring life. That’s what I want. I want to be a true Christian, one who lives, breathes and glorifies Jesus Christ.
In my prayer shortly after that devotion I prayed that God would give me the strength to sacrifice what I hold dear and give it all to Him for His glory. Tough prayer but I know Jesus is calling me deeper and into a more personal relationship with Him constantly, and I needed to respond.
It’s especially crucial that I continue to go deeper with Jesus, because I don’t have my friends, the church, my family, etc. to rely on day by day for guidance. No one is there for me physically. All they can do is pray. Which is fine, because that helps. But no amount of people’s prayers can influence my personal decision to serve Christ and have a deeper walk with Him. That’s where it is tough…I have to choose to wake up daily and put on the mind of Christ, as Paul spoke.
I could go on and on but I think you get the gist of my devotion this morning. It was powerful and God really revealed a lot to me. It’s so amazing that we learn the most about Jesus when we ask Him to truly reveal His word to us as we read it. The Bible is not just another book, it is LIFE. Praise God!!!
Wow, I haven’t been super spiritual like that in awhile, but it felt good to share that. I guess it also confirms to you all that I’m still doing really well spiritually in spite of recent tribulations. Keep the prayers up for me and know I am doing the same for you.
Anyway, I am off right now to listen to more Mylo and extensively update other parts of this site. Oh yeah, you might want to check the “Improving FirestormLIVE” page above to see what all I am doing to this place to make it better in 2006.
For now, chow.
