The letter I!

I is for I

This morning I was lying in bed and thinking about this blog post for the letter I. Pondering on what from the bible I was going to write about that started with the letter I. Than it came to me…how often isn’t life all about I? Or should I say about me?

Maybe “I” is bothering me more because of book I recently started reading.. The book is True Religion: Taking pieces of heaven to places of hell on earth by Palmer Chinchen and it is really messing with me. For the most part, I think I live a serving life, a life for the Lord. However, am I really? Most of the serving I do is comfortable serving…making meals for someone, writing a letter of encouragement, organizing projects, etc. Some of the serving I do may require me to sacrifice a little bit on the financial end, but I haven’t ever gone to bed hungry, cold or wet. Now hang with me, after all I’m just pondering ….I guess I never really thought about how comfortable we have life. Not that we don’t have trials and challenges, but even our challenges are usually in comfort. Take for instance, my recent journey through cancer. How blessed I am that I was able to receive treatment…the chemotherapy drugs I needed were available…the radiation was available…I had surgery in a clean and sterile environment…I had medications available to counteract the horrible side effects. Sure the physical part of the journey was a real challenge, but at least I had the opportunity for treatment.

Here are a few highlights from True Religion:


p. 13: “I didn’t stop because I’m sure I would have had to give someone mouth-to-mouth resuscitation—and tonight I don’t feel like giving anyone mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”


p.14: I—we have the ability and resources to do so much. So much more than we do…In the places on earth where children have no shoes, families have no homes, people have no hope…


p. 19: We live in a self-indulgent culture. Much of life is arranged for the good of ourselves. So we accumulate, we chase leisure and pleasure, we self-promote, and we do all we can to point the world at me. But God lays out a different way of living that is better for His world and better for you. Give your life away to change this world for good.

I could share so many other highlights, but will leave them for you to discover when you read the book.

Now, I don’t believe that everyone is “called” to go to third world countries. I don’t believe that I need to sell everything and give it away. I do believe that I need to pray for constant awareness and direction. I do believe I need to be aware of how much “I” is in my day…

Addendum:  As usual, I find someone who is able to write what I was thinking...if your time permits, please check out Proverbs 31 devotion from today called Meeting Henry.