I belong to Jesus and everything I do belongs to Him.  My purpose is never to lift myself up but to proclaim Him and let all the world know that Jesus saves.  It is with that thought in mind that I want to write about how blessed I am to have just celebrated another birthday.

God has been very good to me.  He saw fit to save me at a young age.  I remember the revival service and the invitation that was offered and even though I was only six years old I knew that I was lost and wanted Jesus to come in to my heart.  I didn’t understand very much about Christianity or the church and I certainly had no idea what God had in store for my life but I knew I wanted Jesus and He wanted me.  And that was enough.

As an energetic boy who loved to play outside and roam the neighborhood, Christian growth and development was about as far from my mind as calculus or learning about the stock market.  But my parents kept me in church and in Sunday School and made sure I was active in the youth group when the time came.  Even then I am sure that I was more interested in socializing and members of the opposite sex than I was in learning about God but I also know that what was being taught and shown to me by teachers, pastors and youth leaders was beginning to sink in.  God had a purpose for my life and I was saved for a reason.  I just didn’t know what that reason was yet.

Through college and young adulthood I could feel God start to speak to me about what He wanted for my life and for many years I resisted.  I began attending the church that my wife had grown up in and felt loved and accepted there and even agreed to begin singing in the choir and teaching a Sunday School class.  But it wasn’t until 2013 that I really surrendered to the Lord and His purpose for my life.  I remember His call very clearly as I got on my knees that day: “You will write and speak my truth”.  And that is the purpose for this blog and more importantly, God’s purpose for me in building His church.

I think about how many years God allowed me to lay fallow.  The seeds were planted and I was saved and little by little His word was sinking in and beginning to make me into what He wanted me to be.  God used my life experiences and the people around me even when I wasn’t taking Him seriously to prepare me for this time.  It still amazes me when I consider all that He has done for me and I am truly blessed to by His child.

So as I celebrate this birthday with my family and friends I realize that it is not about me.  This birthday is a celebration of God’s work in a sinful man and God’s grace and redeeming power in the life of one who is not worthy.

“Thank you, Lord, that you have allowed me another year to work for you.  May my next year be more profitable for your kingdom than this year was and may I proclaim you with my life for all of my days to come.  Amen.”