Thank you so much for all the kind birthday wishes! I've been blessed with a lot of great years, but 47 was one of the greatest. It was a year of slaying giants... of taking down anything that attempts to limit my fruitfulness for God's glory or keep me from my full potential in Christ. The sling that God gave me to hurl the stones at each giant was made up of 3 main ingredients - increased wisdom, increased discipline, and increased fight. Those 3 ingredients opened the door to a greater level of consistency and potency in every area of my life - better rest, better sleep, embracing the Sabbath, more consistency of eating healthy, drinking more water, an unstoppable daily routine, limiting my work hours, literally making myself stop working, spending more quality time with friends & family, living more in the moment, wiser management of money & resources, confrontation of any habit or thought that is counterproductive, attacking strongholds, being more intentional, and the list goes on, but the most important improvement was increasing my prayer life from good to great. Every step I took resulted from the directions God gave me during our time together in prayer. Every wise step originated from a wise word from God. Then each step, each battle, each fight became a journey with God to my personal promise land. It wasn't a self reliant endeavor. It was birthed in prayer and powered by God's presence. And that was the whole point. The essence of life isn't what we do for God, it's what we do with God. It's the difference between being a Martha or a Mary... someone who is distracted by all the service for God that they stay in the kitchen verses letting the dishes and meal preparation take a back seat to spending time with the guest of honor - Jesus - sitting at His feet listening to His teaching. Understanding that so much of life is just smoke and mirrors that easily distracts us from the One Thing that matters - a close abiding relationship with God. Nothing else matters as much as that. And nothing else compares to the surprising greatness of truly knowing Christ Jesus. Life is this ultimate road trip with God where both of us should be riding in a Jeep off the beaten path with the windows down and the tunes cranking while the breeze hugs every part of your body, and all you can think is, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, with anyone else, doing anything else! I'm fully alive right now in this moment and sharing it with my Best Friend!" That is what life was created to be. But all the smoke and mirrors and distractions too often lures away from the ultimate road trip over to an empty rat race full of road rage. But Jesus is simply waiting to jump in the Jeep for the ultimate road trip. It can be the greatest adventure! You may think He is going to take you on this safe uneventful trail, but He will point you down every curvy dangerous road and each road will lead to a place where a personal giant is blocking your path. It's the roads we so often try to avoid, but Jesus ain't afraid. At each giant in the road you stop the Jeep and Jesus coaches you through slaying your giant... what each giants weakness is and how to slay him. Then you jump back in the Jeep, crank up the tunes, and head down the next dangerous road while reminiscing about the victory you just experienced as well as all the other awesome past victories. Building memories, and moments, and special times between you and your Best Friend. Slaying giants along the way. That's what 47 was for me. And I'm still in the Jeep excited about my next unexpected and dangerous road... itching for and craving my next fight. With every giant slayed the journey only gets sweeter. I'm thrilled about 48 and the dangerous roads ahead. I'm not afraid. I love to fight! I could die today or tomorrow or 3 weeks from now and I could care less because the eternal road trip will be even better, but as long as I'm here I'm going to be spending my days road tripping with Jesus and slaying giants and feeling the breeze hugging my soul =)
