Day 1: Here's to living in a glass house.

Hey there. In case you stumbled on this blog for some unknown reason or by an act of God, I'm Joel. I have a beautiful wife, two awesome sons that are approaching 2 years old (twins), and a tendency to make grand plans in moments of clarity only to let them crumble or rust away to nothing as the days, weeks, and months go by.

So, here I am, blogging for the first time, in the hope that sharing this blog with my friends and family will help me hold myself accountable to those most recent 'grand plans'.

The short story is this: I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian since I was 13 years old. I know a good amount about what it means to be a Christian, who God is, who Jesus is, and what I'm supposed to be doing here on Earth. I also know that I know pretty much nothing about who God is, who Jesus is, and what I'm supposed to be doing here on Earth. Does that seem a bit contradictory? Yeah, I think so too.

Let me give you an example:

I know that I'm here on Earth to reach out to my fellow man, to do my best to love people as God loves them, and to spend time building a relationship with God through prayer, worship, and learning from the Word of God, aka the Christian Bible.

I don't know just exactly what life and/or vocation God would have me live in, so that I with my unique set of strengths, weaknesses, and character traits, will be able to reach out to the people around me with the greatest effectiveness.

I don't know as much about the Word of God, or God Himself for that matter as you might expect someone who has been a Christian for almost 20 years to know.

I've known pretty much from the beginning of my faith that God wants to get to know me on an intimate, personal... best-friend level and that He wants me to know him to the same degree. I have had seasons of life, usually lasting three months or less at a time, when I've had the will power and presence of mind to spend some time *every day* reading my Bible, praying about it, talking with God about my life and the people around me, etc. I've had seasons of life, usually lasting 6 months...sometimes a year or more, during which I've spent almost no time reading my Bible, praying to God about anything, and really even thinking much about the people around me.

So this is what I'd call a "Fail". If you're a gamer, you'll get that. If you're not... Here's an example of a Fail.


And here is an example of my Fail history when it comes to giving my time and thoughts to God...



Alright, so, here is my effort to keep myself accountable to stop the fail-cycle. From now on I am going to spend some time each day reading and praying in the Word of God and blogging about it here.

By no means do expect most people to have any interest in following along as I set out on this endeavor, but if you would like to join me, feel free.

Thanks for reading,

Joel