Post 101: Counting His Blessings

The day before Thanksgiving, I made my one hundredth blog post. Some days, time straps a rocket to your butt and sends you into space. Before you know it, you’re hovering above the earth in an unseen future.

For the past year and three months, I’ve been typing words that I hope have proved entertaining, enlightening, and, in many instances, properly evangelistic. I’ve celebrated a few anniversaries already (a year of posting, a year of rebirth), so I’ll keep this section short.

So, what’s on the agenda going into the next one hundred posts? The goal remains the same: talk about God, discuss my writing, share my interests, and reach out to people in need of Him and/or who are looking for a good read. I don’t know, generally speaking, what I’ll write until the day I begin writing. Yes, I’m a “pantser” – someone who lets himself and his material be taken wherever he or it is needed.

But when I look back at this blog and my life, I wonder how much of it is truly by the seat of my pants. Perhaps most (or all of it) has been predetermined in some form or fashion. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that I started blogging a mere month or so before I was born again. It certainly wasn’t chance or luck that what motivated me to start driving again was the Lord. What other aspects of my life can I trace to His foreknowledge, His plan for me?

Things I Feel Has Done For Me:

Kept me away from alcohol and drugs. I don’t drink or smoke and I owe that to Him and His will for me.
Prevented me from entering a life behind bars. At one point, I toed the line and could’ve entered jail. He was watching out for me even then.
Provided me with a loving family of well-meaning people. Look, we’re all sinners. None of us are good as God defines the word. But I’m fortunate that the vast majority of people that I’ve known as relations have been gentle, kind, funny, and warm folks.
Engineered in me a sense of distrust of “authority” always being the last word. Now, let me elaborate that what I’m saying is that, because of how He made me, I am not naturally of trusting of people just because they’re in a position over me. This means, for instance, I don’t take the idea of “scientific consensus” as an indicator of divine Truth. So I’m not talking about being rebellious, but simply the innate sense that just because a person has power does not mean they’re more intelligent or correct.
There was a day where I drove in an unfamiliar area, got lost, and ended up stuck in the mud. Much like He rescued from a wilderness of ignorance to sin, I believe He saved me from all manner of misfortune by helping me to get the car out even in the pitch blackness.

There’s so much of my life that can only have been foreordained by Him to get me where I am today and to keep me on His path. That’s not to say I don’t have a will, because I do, but I’m not so certain these days that my choices have the branching outcomes I once believed. Frankly, I doubt I could count the ways in which He has been the refuge and rock of my life since before I even knew Him.

“Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.” (Psalm 139:16-18 HCSB)

As the days go on, as I make these posts, more and more I realize His vast influence. He is indeed limitless. I don’t know if even Scripture truly captures His magnificence, His awesome prowess, or His presence. I doubt any of us really knows until we get to Him, however far that is for each individual in the future. Some see Him sooner, a few quick breaths before His light. Others live long and difficult lives, worrisome of their various prospects, until they can confidently (I pray) stroll up to their Maker and hear Him say:

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matthew 25:21 KJV)

Every day, I can’t help but wonder about the depths of His love for us. What must it be like, as the Psalmist says, to know us even before we are born? How profound is He who existed before and outside of time as we know it? His richness must be so all-consuming that I dare say our descriptions of Him barely scratch the surface of what He says He is.

May we plunge ever onward into the seas of His mercy and the ocean of His grace. Thanks be to Him and peace be to you. God bless and have a good weekend.