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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Greetings!

I thought that I might begin my new blog by explaining where it's name comes from. I have been thinking and looking for a blog name that is accurate and full of depth. While the name for my previous blog (aggielandadventures) was fitting for the time, this blog will have a much longer time span- one seeing me through job changes, moving, etc for years to come.

Last week I was a counselor at a high school church camp called Leisure Ministries. This camp cuts the Bible into four sections: 1. Genesis through Joshua; 2. Judges through Malachi; 3. The Gospels; 4. Acts through Revelation and each year focuses on one section- seeking to make scripture truly come alive to the students. I went in high school and have to say that it's truly a moving and powerful week. This year the focus was on section 2- Judges through Malachi. Our main verse came from Deuteronmony 30:19:

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.


Out of that the motto, "Choose Life" was derived. As we continued to break down that simple two word phrase for the campers, I realized how complex and multifaceted that calling is. I think that choosing life is a lesson and a challenge for believers everyday of our lives. So, I chose the name "chooselife3019" to constantly remind myself life and death is set before me everyday and that I am called to choose life.

The John Waller song quoted on the page title, "The Blessing" is a reminder to me in other terms of this daily challenge. The idea of choosing to be a blessing for life is a challenging one and one that shows that a single human's impact is larger than him or herself.

I'm setting out on a new phase of my life. While I was in graduate school I continually felt as though my life was simply in a holding pattern. It seemed that my other friends' lives had continued on after college while mine was stuck in this strange limbo eerily similar to the hell described by C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce. While the calling to go to graduate school, and to go to A&M was very clear to me when I had to decide, my purpose for being there seemed much cloudier upon arrival. It was truly a time of exile in my life (I may post the testimony I gave about it camp while we were in exile). I realize now that that time of exile and loneliness had a purpose. And that perhaps my response to it being exile was not the correct response. I didn't always choose life.

As I head out on a new life and full-fledged adulthood, I know that always when we choose life, God hands blessings. But I know that sometimes those blessings come in packages we would never expect. My hope for myself as I continue down the journey of life, is that I would always remember that "every blessing and curse is a choice now" (John Waller). That I would remember that God is always giving us choices between life and death in every part of every day- not to test us, but to draw us closer and into a more fulfilling walk with Him. Always when we choose life we are given blessings- sometimes those blessings are joyous and sometimes they are sorrowful (a different type and depth of sorrow that comes from willfully choosing death).

All that to say this blog will be about the journey that choosing life is and will lead me down. I pray that we all may see blessings from it!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Sarah - Thanks for linking to me from your blog. Enjoy your posting - I bet Waco's hot right now.

Michael Kelley

Soundtrack of My Life


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