See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (ESV – emphasis mine)

Man, that is powerful! Why will we be transformed to be like Christ? Because we will see him as he IS! In his majesty and glory and greatness and power! The thing about that is that the same is true of every person RIGHT NOW! If we were to see God for who he is, we would be instantly and truly transformed. And the more we seek after him – to know him better and more deeply, the more we will be transformed.

A Bible study leader last night referenced a similar passage in 1 Corinthians 3:18:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)

Again, transformation comes directly from seeing God! Breathtaking.

Unfortunately, there is a flip side to the absolute glory in this truth, and that is that upon entering into his presence, which according to the biblical record, everyone will at death, EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess Jesus as Lord. The devastatingly tragic part is that it will not be until then that those who did not follow him in this lifetime will recognize Jesus as Lord of all, but also that they chose to ignore that fact on Earth, making them enemies of the Omnipotent. That is sobering, scary even. And if you’re reading this and in that position, I beg of you to consider Jesus, the Savior.

In terms of pursuit, my relationship with God is just like my relationship with my wife. I don’t have to buy her flowers or give her a back rub today, but I do have to pursue her. It’s the same way with God – outlining a specific action that must be done in a specific time frame quickly heads down the path of legalism, but I must be pursuing Him in some way.

He said it much more eloquently, of course, but I had neither my laptop nor a recorder with me at Cracker Barrel. I hope I at least conveyed the idea without introducing anything wrong. What I took away from it is that a question I can ask at any given time is “how am I pursuing God right now?“ And that gets at the heart of the matter for me much more quickly than “did I read my chapter today?“

While I’ve never prided myself on my updating consistency here, I’ll admit that a year is a little excessive. Really, this year was a needed and welcome respite from blogging, at least in the “traditional” sense. Why, you ask? Well…

First, it was busy. It involved things like living in San Francisco, getting involved in a great church in the Bay Area, meeting and marrying the woman of my dreams, going on a 3-week trip mission trip to Africa, moving back to Boise from San Francisco, buying a house, living in Hawai’i for 2 months, and all the rest of the busyness of life. Overall, I have seen God’s goodness in the past year more abundantly than ever before – I have been so ridiculously blessed. He is amazing.

Second, Facebook. Facebook is really pretty great. A huge waste of time, yes, oftentimes, but also a great way to connect with people. So many are using it and it’s incredibly easy to send updates on what’s going on at work, in life, or on the Web in general. There is something efficient about a single community to see what’s going on with others and to let others know what’s going on with me.

Third, Facebook. Yes, again, but for a different reason. While I didn’t used to care about this, Facebook has the huge benefit of tightly-controlled privacy settings. I can limit exactly who I want to see what’s going on with me. It could be argued that this is a false sense of privacy, but really, I’m not going to spend my time paranoid about the person who would go to extreme lengths. For all intents and purposes, if I don’t want you to see what’s up with me on Facebook, you probably aren’t going to. And that differs from this site.

So that leaves a bit of a hanging question, I suppose. Will this blog continue?

And really, I don’t know. Perhaps it has served its purpose (a holdover until Facebook?); perhaps it has a bright future ahead; perhaps it’s a good place for a portfolio; perhaps it will soon be something else entirely. Since you are reading this, what are your thoughts on what it could/should be?

Here she is in all her cuteness:

Sleepy!

One Beautiful Family

Great Grandparents

Foods!

Man, God is so good.

I really wish I could be there with everyone, but am so thankful that God blessed Reece with good health and an uncomplicated birth.

Reece, I love you already and am so excited to meet/hold/kiss you!