A New Era

I tend to experience life in phases or seasons.  I can look back over my lifetime and recognize God's hand in the ebbs and flows of different periods of time.  Grade school was different from High School.  College brought a whole new set of circumstances.  College graduation was colored more by my marriage, and that changed dramatically with the birth of our first child.  Jobs contributed to the demarcation lines as I changed companies, career paths, and finally went back to school - this time in Seminary.  Full-time vocational ministry marks the most recent "era" of my life - planting a new church, learning, and growing.


In my times of prayer, God has given me a strong sense that I am moving into a new "era" now. The changes this time are not driven by educational institutions, career changes, or stages in child-rearing.  No, this one is driven by a shift in direction.  You see, the past seven years have been spent starting a new church, learning how to minister to people, and painting a word-picture that reminds myself (and our church community) what it looks like to walk together with God.  Painting takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work.


Now, it's time to share the picture...to empower one more, if you will, to walk together with God.  My focus is shifting as the picture is clear enough to share.  Now, I get to enter an era of empowering people.  That is exciting times for me.


I think I've figured out this whole "blog" experience a little better.  Blogs are used for all kinds of things, but essentially they become a place for us to share what is important to us.  My problem is that I'm always a bit "scattered" and "structured" at the same time.  I guess I'm a typical guy because I tend to compartmentalize my thoughts.  It makes sense to me, but I realize it doesn't always make sense to the people around me.  That being said, I do believe God is calling me to share my journey in this way for anyone who may be interested.  Since I compartmentalize in my mind, I will be compartmentalizing in my blogs as well.  I actually have three separate blogs where I will be creating posts on three separate, yet connected, topics.  Here's my thought:


My Walk (mygardenwalk.blogspot.com) - This will be the place I post my personal walk together with God.  I expect you will see my ups and downs.  You'll see the places where I am unashamed and the places I'm ashamed.  It will be the place I am most transparent about my own victories, struggles, and growth.  If you are wanting to see a real person working through real life with a real God, this would be the place you want to follow.


The Path (enjoythegarden.blogspot.com) - This blog will be the place I talk about God's design - the ideal picture for you and for me.  This blog will show you what God has in mind for you and for me.  It will paint the "word picture" for you that I've been learning to paint over the past 7 to 10 years.  This will have personal stories to help you see the picture, but will be pointing you straight to God's picture for all of our lives...not just mine.


The Mess (sensefromthemess.blogspot.com) - This final blog will be the place I speak frankly about finding God in the mess all around us.  It's difficult to trust The Bible when there are so many questions that are being asked about it's validity.  It's difficult to understand the Bible when it seems so different from our lives today.  It's difficult to believe in Jesus, when all the Jesus-believers can't seem to get their act together and they all fight with one another.  It's difficult to trust God when there are so many religions and world-views to choose from.  This blog will be the place where I show you how you can make sense of all this mess, and begin to paint your own picture of what it is like to walk together with God.


Subscribing to any of these blogs will give you a perspective on how great it is to walk together with God.  There really is nothing else like it.  I realize that you may be interested in all three.  I have a final blog that will simply be a combination of all the feeds from the other three.  It will be automatically updated from the other three just to empower you in your journey.  You can subscribe to empoweronemore.blogspot.com to read all three.


I hope you find these posts easy to read, and useful for life.  I'm praying right now for you, that God will fill your mind and heart with His Spirit and will empower you for this great journey He has given us called life.  May He bless you and keep you.


On the path with you,
Pete