So my phone has this cool voice-to-text feature that will, well, basically listen to your voice and type what you say. Usually, it's fairly accurate, but I guess today was an off day for my phone (or maybe for my voice), because when I tried to get it to type those words from The Battle Hymn of the Republic, this is what it came up with:
"in the beauty of the lilies chris is gonna cost to see, with a chlorine is the connections figures you and me. As he died to make mint whole week, lettuce leaf to make men free come a long time is marching on."
So, this semester, these next couple months, are going to be the start of something really great. For a really long time, maybe even my whole life, I haven't really done a whole lot with what I've been given. Now, I've been given a lot. I'm so richly blessed that if I ever start to complain about what I have and say that I don't have enough or anything like that, slap me and tell me to read my own words. And I mean that. Some people would say that I'm a good person, that I've done a lot, and that I've earned a lot. Either they don't know me and the life God's given me, or they don't have very high expectations at all. And I don't think I'm being harsh on myself, either. I've done lots of stuff, lots of good stuff, even, and you could argue that I've done more than some people. But I could have done more. So much more. But I've always just settled. I've been super excited lately about God using me to minister to other people, doing things that I never thought I would do. But even in those things, I haven't lived up to what I could, I haven't done everything I could do. Sometimes I do just enough to get by, sometimes I go a bit above the bar, but I don't push myself all the way to the max. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to have another day that finishes with "If I had done this," or "I should have finished this, too." Now, I know that change like that doesn't happen overnight, and I also know that I cannot accomplish under my own power alone. But, God is in the business of changing people, and now I want Him to change me. And I've got to put myself into this. I've got to commit to it. I've got to just buckle down and do it. I'll have to lose some sleep, sacrifice some leisure time, even some time with friends. There's one guy I can look up to who does just what I've been talking about. I think he's pretty impressive, and it's simply because he does what he can do. Whatever situation he's in, he does the most he can with what he has, and then he looks on to what's next and how he can prepare to tackle that just as well. That's what I want to be like. And now, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to commit to preparing myself, to becoming less dependent. My life is God's, I just want to follow His plan for my life, but instead of just floating around in His ocean, I'll be going with direction. I've got the direction, I know where I'm going. I don't know God's whole plan for my life, in fact, I don't even know what's going to happen next week, but I know where He's got me pointed right now, so I'm going to go that direction, pushing on, until I reach my destination or God turns me a new direction. Things will be different. A warrior doesn't just go into battle and fight one or two people before going back and taking a break! He charges onto the battlefield and fights until the battle is won or he gives himself up for the fight! I want to be a warrior like that! I'm going to charge into the fight, starting now. I kind of know how to fight, but God will still have to help me keep on. And I know I'm not perfect, but our example in life is Jesus. He's perfect, and we're supposed to strive to be like Him. I don't know how the next months will turn out, but I'm pretty excited, though I'm also nervous, because I know it won't be easy. But easy never makes you stronger, so, bring it.
