2024 Bali to Tokyo -March 31st Happy Easter!

He is risen!

It was a year ago today (plus approximately 16hr for time difference) that I was baptized and recommitted my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Doing this doesn't mean that a person is perfect, has reached acceptance in anyone's eyes by living a certain way or even that life will be any easier. What it does mean is that I acknowledge my heavenly Father and that I will be forever changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit my life. Our lives are full of challenges, trials and even suffering at times. Without God to help make sense of it all, where does this leave us? Lost. I believe that we are created with a desire to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father just as we are designed to live in community with our earthly families and friends. We are not designed to be alone. When we isolate ourselves from our Creator, we distance ourselves from that which gives us meaning, purpose and true unconditional acceptance & love. That feeling of emptiness or the unquenchable thirst for more... That's what I'm talking about. If we don't fill it with God, other things fill the gap. The "other" thinks that we fill or lives with often take us further and further away from true comfort and leave us feeling more isolated than ever.

My journey this last year has led me to understand more than ever that living a Christian life is a decision every day, sometimes every minute. We decide whether or not to extend help to a stranger, love to the unlovable, forgiveness to the unaccountable. Did I go to church this Sunday? How about my Bible study? Was I faithful in my prayers this week? Let's dig deeper and analyze my thought life! Was I gracious in my thoughts of others? Did I secretly judge the woman that was in line at the grocery store buying food that was obviously killing her? Did I smile at the person on the street corner begging for assistance or hide my face in shame and maybe a little judgement? These little decisions each and every day pave the way to a more fuller relationship with God.... Or further away. I have a better understanding of this life, at least the way God designed me to navigate it. Through the lens of love and a lot of grace. I am meant to at least try each day to live more fully in His light. To love more deeply by His great example. To treat every person I meet as my neighbor and to treat my neighbor as a child of Jesus... Because he is! 

I know that because I simply acknowledge Him and accept his sacrifice, I am saved! As I travel through countries that believe in thousands of gods that take these people further and further away from relationship with the one true God, I am thankful and feel blessed to have received his message in a way that I was able to hear. I realize that most people think that doing good and being good is enough. But are we really doing and being good enough of our day to balance the times that we are not. If each thought weighs as much as the deed it considers, what now? If each sin, small or large, weigh the same, what now? If we come to straighten ourselves out late in life, how would we ever have enough time to balance the scales? I have come to understand that we could never, no matter how hard we tried, ever earn our way to the kingdom of heaven. It is simply a gift that we can choose to accept or walk away from. If we accept it, we also get to bring heaven to earth as we live each day by cloaking ourselves in His love. He brings meaning to the suffering. He makes sense of the chaos, he gives direction to the lost. 

If Heaven were attainable with our own efforts, would it ever be enough to contain God? I don't think so! God is truly the only one that could attone for each and every one of us... And still have more to give. He is infinite. He is immeasurable, he is beyond understanding ... And I am ok with that! I will spend the rest of my life doing my best to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

To love intentionally. 

To forgive myself and others with Grace.

To consider all humanity my neighbor and to truly love my neighbor. 

And to above all, praise God!

He is my Father and I give him all the glory forever and ever, Amen!