What I know for sure

Less than yesterday.

When we moved to the country 24 years ago we were pleased to learn that the place came with an extended family. The 100 acres around us was inhabited by wonderful christian people who immediately adopted our eldest daughter as one of their own. I think they adopted my wife and I because we were a part of her package deal. Most of the neighbors over 40 had been born in our home when it was their grandparents place. The patriarch of this extended family was Pastor Ray.

Ray was a farmer, He had planted and grown churches and schools for close to 50 years. When I met him he was focused on growing grandchildren and almonds. I was experienced enough to know that I no longer <em>knew it all</em> but still pretty certain that I would know it someday soon. So, it was a challenge to meet Roy each day and hear his greeting, “What do you know for sure?” It was a friendly and unnerving how-do-you-do. I usually responded with a wildly amusing comment but I soon began to examine my accumulated knowledge, experience, and faith. What do I know for sure? It came down to a daily ritual where he would ask the question and I would respond by singing “Jesus Loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so”

I know less “for sure” than I did at one time, but I have been thinking a little too deeply about a number of things for a long time. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Well, I can tell you that the over-examined life can be tiresome as well. The things I know have their roots in Biblical truth and it has been my pursuit to understand the pragmatic application of that truth. To appropriate His power to understand, communicate, and live out that truth.

This may be a travel guide for the road to maturity. The ultimate destination of any serious follower of Jesus is to be the person He had in mind when He first thought of you. That is my goal; to be the man He thought of when He knit me in my mother’s womb (Jer 1:5). I want to be like Him and I have been on that journey, with limited progress, for over thirty years. Now, I am not writing this because I have a delusion of having arrived or even reached the borderlands of Jesus-likeness. I am writing because I <em>am</em> a serious follower of Jesus, and if you are reading this you probably are as well. It would be great if we could travel unimpeded by trials, at least those we bring upon ourselves. Often we find ourselves making slow progress or even stuck at the roadside. Perhaps we can share information regarding the travel conditions on the road ahead and avoid being stranded. You could certainly find a wiser travel guide, but I am the one taking the time to write it down.

So, I am inviting you to join me in a conversation about our journey. I aspire to write, and I do pen a number of articles and training materials; but I have allowed these relational topics I care deeply about to wait. So, this is an attempt to put myself in a position of accountability to write more consistently about these things.

As stated above, the topics will mainly focus on the obstacles to growth and change in individuals and in relationships. Truth is discovered every day as mankind expands the ability to see and understand the place in which we live. One thing I know for sure is that the <em>discovered</em> truth is best used in the context of the revealed truth of Biblical principle. Im inviting you to guide the direction of my writing by your comments, questions, contrary opinions, and yeahbuts.