Another Year Of Life

For those of you that are keeping up with the blog...the last Transition post is coming...soon! Just thought it may be appropriate to do a blog about my birthday and some thoughts that went through my mind today.

Today found me right in the middle of planning one of our biggest outreaches of the year...our Community Christmas Breakfast. It's scheduled for December 23rd at 9:30am. For the last few days the phone has been ringing like crazy since the announcement went out. For those of you that know me, you know that I'm not an expert at planning. So needless to say...this has been a stretch for me haha! But it's been great and very fulfilling. God has put a desire in my heart to reach my neighborhood and surrounding areas for him. What excites me most about this year's outreach is that it's a part of God's strategic plan to rebuild the neighborhood. This isn't a random, unconnected event. If it was, I would probably go crazy.

I turned 31 today. When you're hovering around the 30 mark, you tend to start looking at your life and examining whether you're on track with your previous visions of success. "Am I doing what I've always wanted to do?" For me, it's music. I love making music, doing concerts, etc. So as I was in my office today receiving calls for free food boxes and toys...or when I was unloading toys and food from our car...or when I was singing with a few friends at our neighborhood association's Christmas party (so they could in turn donate money, toys and can goods toward our outreach), I had to ask myself, "What does this have to do with music?"

Some people never get to the place where they truly give up their dreams to chase after God's vision of success for their lives. Even fewer comply with revelation once they get it. They become "disobedient to the heavenly vision". Maybe they think they should make a solid career for themselves so that they can be in a wise position to take such a "leap of faith". And even fewer people get to the place where they follow Christ when it doesn't make sense...and get the privilege to see God Himself connect the pieces of the puzzle to form a picture so delicately and intricately woven, so shockingly beautiful, so...crazy that only God could get the glory. I'm in the "trusting-Him-when-it-doesn't-make-complete-sense" part. But the more that I connect with the heart of God, the better I can see the picture. It's blurry. But maybe that's a good thing. Because my mind is blown even in the blurred vision of what God is putting together.

One thing I can say about this recent adventure of faith: age doesn't matter right now. Every day given to me is another day on the journey. I know what God has spoken to me. I know it will come to pass. My hope is in a promise and not in a perceived expiration date. In fact God has already been to my future and back. Sometimes it's hard to trust Him when I see so many people around me not "making it". But...whatever. I'm not them. God knows my heart. He knows how I feel about music and ministry. I have a feeling that my faith is not done being shaken up. But I know there's light at the end of the tunnel. Or who knows? I could be clinically insane! Either way, I made this blog so that you could watch the journey :) Thanks for reading, Jarrell