Land Ahead!
Our journey through the deep waters of Christian orthodoxy has finally come to an end. As we sailed across a restless ocean, we’ve witnessed things that we would never have imagined. Our notions have been challenged. Our mettle has been tested. We’ve witnessed incredible vistas and plumbed unfathomable depths. We’ve come face-to-face with the shadows of distraction, returning once again to the calm waters of certainty and hope.
With salt in our brow, we drop anchor off the coast of a new land that awaits…
This is the 20th post since we first set sail. If you’re still reading First Things, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your willingness to listen to what’s been put on my heart. Thank you for sticking with it even when my words were difficult to understand, didn’t not meet your expectations, or were maybe even a little hard to swallow. I also very much appreciate your comments which (while rare) always bring me joy knowing that I’ve encouraged you in your journey.
Please know that we’re here for each other.
Something I didn’t expect along the way was the number of page views that this blog continues to receive from countries far outside of the U.S. To date, members of 23 countries have visited First Things. While many have been from English-speaking countries such as Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, it’s also received a surprising number of hits from countries such as Portugal, Ecuador, China, and India. Whoever you are, I pray you’ve been blessed by the content. Please drop a comment the next time you stop by. I’d love to hear from you!
From the beginning, I was hoping this blog would feature ideas that were fresh, valuable, and rare to the Christian conversation. I wanted it to be something that would not so much cause us to rethink Christianity but to bring us back to what it was always intended to be. Writing this stuff down has forced me to organize my thoughts to better understand better what I believe. I felt it was important to share them first to know me better as a person before we continued. (What we believe makes us who we are.) I pray that what you’ve read reflects the Lord’s heart. All glory goes to the Everlasting.
While expanding our aperture of Christ and His Kingdom I hope I’ve offered some very practical tools as we continue our pursuit of Him together. What these posts contain is not mere theory. They’ve been tested through the practical experiences of my own life. Unlike so much of theology which clashes violently against the ideas of competing camps, First Things harmoniously complement one another while supporting the grand biblical narrative. They’re the only practices I’ve found to have ever ‘worked’ in my Christian walk. These 20 posts represent the most complete and uncontaminated expression of the gospel that I can offer. I invite you to return to them regularly.
Enough said.
From here we’ll move forward. This post marks a turning point where we shift the focus from illuminating foundational ideas and practices to walking them out in real life. Here is where the rubber meets the road. It’s one thing to noodle ideas from the comfort and safety of our own minds. But it’s quite a different thing to put on Christ. To walk the world in His feet, see the world through His eyes, and engage the world in His love and authority. It’s only in the friction of the ‘ordinary’ that we can be fully formed.
To this end, future posts will offer content that reminds us of who we are and stirs us to engagement. Rather than posting shallow content to feed a consumer mentality, I intend to engage our readers with thoughtful and refreshing ideas. These ideas will be served in a variety of formats to challenge our perspectives and to keep things interesting. Some ideas will be instructive and insightful. Others will be practical and encouraging. Some will be deep and thoroughly reasoned while others will be short and pithy. Our thinking will be challenged. We’ll discuss our role in culture and our heritage in history while continually pointing to Christ as our Source. I’ll also want to spend some time being transparent as I chronicle my own faith journey in the hope that you might share your own stories with us.
What this will all look like, I’m not exactly sure. For now it seems like a pretty tall order. We’ll just let the Lord lead and see where He takes us.
Broadly speaking, I expect the average post will be much shorter (but hopefully more frequent) that what I’ve shared to date. They’ll be less formal, more accessible, and maybe at times a bit more humorous. I’ve been holding in a lot of humor (though it likely won’t translate well into Mandarin–or English for that matter). Because posts be shorter and less ‘heady’, I hope you’ll feel more inclined to comment. Of course, the common thread that will run throughout every post will be to expound upon and make practical the central concepts and practices of First Things.
My prayer is that we might become a people occupied with the mystery amid the distractions of the ordinary. But until then…
We’ve dropped anchor.
We’ll burn the ships.
We’ve only but to head ashore
and claim the land before us.
As a post-script, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to “tap the breaks” on serious writing for a few of months. I’m doing this for several reasons.
First, I’ll be honest…writing this stuff hasn’t been easy. In fact, it was exhausting. Looking back and adding up all the pages, there’s enough material to fill a decent-sized book–a book I never thought I’d write. I’m hoping a short break will help clear my mind and re-tool my thinking.
Second, as I read back on the previous posts I can see where some things were written in a way that could be misunderstood. Since these posts are so integral to the rest of the blog, I wanted to take some time to go back and edit them slightly and provide some additional content that might offer better clarity.
Third, I feel as though I’m being drawn into a season of greater dedication and focus on the Lord. Since I’ve always found it difficult to spiritually walk and chew gum at the same time, I’m going to redirect my efforts toward that pursuit. For me this will include going back and re-reading the things I’ve posted and dedicate my effort to ensure those ideas and practices are thoroughly built into my own life. (There’s nothing worse than a hypocrite.) I certainly invite you to join me. (To build good practices, not to be a hypocrite).
While I do intend to keep the blog rolling, the first several posts may be sporadic. I’d appreciate your grace as I work through this transition.
Thanks for your understanding!