Sittin on the porch

As I drive through my neighborhood, hahaha if you can call cows, fields and woods a neighborhood, I regularly see a man sitting on his front porch enjoying his retirement. I have talked to this man a time or two, so I know that is what he is doing. Most days you drive down the street he can be seen rocking the time away relaxing. Now, I am not trying to be too critical here. I tell you this just to make a point. We CHOOSE how we spend our time. We CHOOSE what we do with our lives. We CHOOSE what to invest in and WHOM to invest in. All of us have made some bad choices in our lives, and hopefully we have all made some good ones too. I made a conscious decision at one point in my life that I was not satisfied with where I was in my Bible knowledge. At that point I decided I was not satisfied with just believing what other men said, and that I needed to learn some things for myself. I have not stopped working towards this goal ever since. If you have never made this decision, I challenge you to step up to the plate. I am nowhere where I need to be, but I am glad that I started this process many years ago. I made a conscious decision many years ago that I did not want to live a boring Christian life. You might wonder what in the world this means. Here is what it means. Take some chances. Take some risks. Step out in faith. Don’t be scared to look stupid. Don’t be worried about what others will think. Do something. Don’t just sit on the porch! Don’t just waste your precious time relaxing. I hope you understand that HERE is where your opportunity to get some work done for God is. Here is where you can jump at the chance to accomplish something for the Lord. Here is where the Spirit leads you to accomplish great things for God. I understand that there is work to do in heavenly places also. But God has given you a choice now. That choice is to either sit on the porch and relax, or to lead an exciting Christian life. One that has experienced getting out of your comfort zone from time to time. My dad is 80 years old and still does things many 50-year-olds could not do. Rides his street bike every chance he gets. This is the attitude we need to put into our spiritual walk and work. The never quit attitude. The “I’m never retired” attitude. I am fully aware that most all preachers would look at my church after 7 years and say that I have failed miserably. I am fully aware that if I had labeled myself Baptist instead of Bible Believer that I would probably be looking for a bigger building by now. Terry McLean well said that success in measured in the doctrine taught and not the numbers in the pews. Trust me that I’m glad I took this advise to heart. Plenty of resistance has come from without and even from within. But the only other option is to sit on the porch. Sounds pretty boring to me.