AND?
What are you doing now? What doors is GOD opening for you (not self opened doors like a blog… anyone can have a blog?)
Examples…. how has God changed you in those 17 years?
No really… I am interested. (rebuildingruins commenting here.)
Thirteen years ago, on my birthday and one month before meeting Honey, I sat down at my table with a legal pad, pen and Bible. I drew a line down the middle of a page, from the top to its bottom.
My plan was to write all of my accomplishments on one side of the page, and my failures on the other. Sort of a balance sheet for my first half-century of life.
After fifteen or twenty minutes, I quit. I saw no accomplishments for the dreams the Lord had given me as a young Christian. None. I only saw my failures and false starts.
What a birthday bummer!
So, I checked out the Bible and other books, hoping to discover men who accomplished things for the Lord after their 50th birthday.
Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb and Job were late bloomers extraordinaire. All were over eighty when they finally kicked it into gear. And what about Simeon and Anna? Then, there was the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. And also, Smith Wigglesworth and Grandma Moses.
You see, the Lord does not ignore late blooming geezers like me.
Maybe all of my accomplishments for the last seventeen years – at best – can be summed up in my blogging. And of course, you’re right, anyone can blog which can be ascertained by the 163,702 different WordPress Blogs.
But I have not finished the race, yet; and I’m still out on the course, chugging along.
So, what has the Lord changed in me over the last seventeen years? I now have endurance, oodles of it.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (James 1:2-3)
Larry Who 
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Right,right~ God is not finished with me either. When he is I to will shine,because he is going to bring out what He is and has put in me. Always enjoy your post. Numbers 6:24~26
Just for the record, and in case you stop by in the future, I did do some teaching/preaching/ministering in churches, in home fellowships, on street corners, on college campuses, in bars and wherever from 1991 to 1996. None to speak of since then. And also, Honey and I did not walk out of the traditional church system until late in the year 2000. Just some details for those that are interested.
Larry, no cause to be defensive… your being challenged here…
I’m not talking accomplishments… I’m talking deep down stuff… and I’d hoped you’d gotten that…
…guess not.
You don’t need a spiritual resume… and I’m just praying you know exactly what I mean here… you just need a spiritual heritage.
ronni,
I can understand where you would think that I was defensive in this article. Maybe I was.
But for the most part, I write stories, which is sort of the way Jesus taught via His parables. With my writing, I (generally) use me, a dead person or a fictional person to center the story on. Why? Who wants a lawsuit, right?
In the 300 – 400 word story, I try to have one major teaching point that I want to get across. Why? Because people do not read long articles, they barely take the time to scan them.
And also, I like to connect articles by springboarding off a comment to my next article. So that people check out my last article, too. Thus, I used your comment.
I am still learning my craft. It’s still a work in progress. But if you comment on my blog, your words are a part of the public domain, and thus usable… unless you tell me different.
As the Godfather said, “It ain’t personal, it’s just business.”
The Turn Around
Of a
Lonely Sinner
I was a sinner man, a backslider, one of Satan’s warriors. For a long time, I was doing bad things to my temple and I could not get past a certain hump or barrier.
I would almost get through by digging my way out, but it kept filling back up with dirt. Fast as I give God the praise, just as soon as I would open my mouth to shout. Shout to say I made it over to other side I am done. I am pull back down into the pit, the devil is laughing at me saying “No! No! No!” I have won.
I have fallen so many times that I thought God had gave up on me. I could not come back to Him. I was wrong, that is what the devil wants you and me to think. God love me no matter what. I am His child for however long. He wants me to have what is rightfully mine and to be in the kingdom with Him, by His side.
Proverbs 24:18 say a righteous man falls seven times and he rises again. God will forgive you that many times for your sins. Man is not a bad person because he has fallen so many times. He does not have to stay there in that mess and whine. The Lord gave His life so that we may live. In one of those times, you get up and realize it is your turn to give, give Him the Praise.
In Isaiah 44:25, God forgives and forgets your transgressions, tosses them into the sea of forgetfulness, never to be heard again. We worry about what others think of us, when we should only worry what God think of us. We should be praising and worshiping Him for everything, the good, and the bad all-day and everyday.
A saint is just a sinner who fell down and I fell down many times, got up, and bounced back. It was a long road, to do what is right.
I have to stay on the battlefield for the Lord and fight.
Until He calls me home, to sit by His side at the throne, I know I am never alone.
Copyright 2006 MLJ Recovery