Live Differently

The Journey of Pursuing Jesus

[jhwalton18]

Elusive

I, like many of you I would imagine, am having a tough time describing how I feel at the moment. For the last 30ish days, our city, county, state and country have all been in flux because of the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first little bit, the only word that I could use to describe my feelings was the word “weird.” But the more that I began to use the word weird it made me feel like I was seven years old again trying to describe a stomachache to my family. The word just lacks the meaning that I mean to convey. 

I have been searching for a word to use. That search still comes up empty. This pandemic has even changed the way that some of us use words to relay emotions, thoughts, or feelings that we have. In fact, the way that I feel at the moment I don’t think can actually be labeled. And I think a lot of us are probably in the same boat. 

I read and watch the news and see that many are dying and hospitals can’t keep up with the needs but until very recently I had no knowledge of anyone close to me that has had anyone in their family struggling with the virus. And that person has since passed away. 

My kids are still working on school work that will not count toward their grades. My wife is providing school work for other people’s kids that will not count toward their grades. 

I am still in the office, but relearning my role as an Outreach Pastor when you really can’t be around people very often and it is hard to gain access into places that normally would be a breeze for me to get into. I see my city all at the same time bracing for the worst and in some small glimpses living as live hasn’t slowed down a bit. 

I have been home more. We have been home more. Dance, baseball and tennis are not a part of the current routine. Family movie nights, dinners on the deck and yard work projects are a part of the routine. Grocery shopping is even strange these days. 

In some ways, the pace has slowed considerably and I wish that we could in some ways keep it this way. Its hard in this time to not be introspective and at the very same time thinking nationally and globally trying to figure out how we can help. This pandemic has me thinking small and thinking global all at the same time. 

At the moment, the word to describe where my thoughts, actions and feelings are at is eluding me. I just know that it is unlike anything that I have ever experienced. 

[jhwalton18]

Developing Writing Habits

The phrase “It’s just like riding a bike,” drives me nuts for a couple of reasons. The first reason is purely practical...I don’t know how to ride a bike. The second reason is it takes most people a little while to figure out how to ride a bike.

Riding a bike seems easy. But it takes several attempts to get it just right. It takes pursuit and passion. It takes patience and toughness for some. It takes having that get back up type of attitude that you have to have to get it right. 

I feel like writing is the same way. It takes several attempts to get it just right. I have been writing my whole life. I have written content for school at all levels, for sermons, for messages, for social media, for other people’s work.

Writing also takes a relentless type of pursuit that many people just don’t seem to have. It takes a passion for the subject, the book, the thought, the story that is inside the writer to get out. 

It takes patience. It takes finding the right time of the day to find the time to think creatively. It takes life happening to you to be able to right well. To write stories that connect to people. To write something that someone else would actually attempt to read and enjoy. To apply to their lives. 

It takes passion. To write, you must have it in you. You must have a desire to get something from deep inside of you out for the expressed purpose of helping someone else. I have often thought that everyone has a story to share. But some have books to share. They have wisdom and passion about a particular topic that just needs to ooze onto the pages of a book. Those people are the people you love to have conversations with because they make you better. They help you learn. Their passion rubs off on you. They and their story...their words... are infectious. 

It takes toughness because it is tough to write. It is also tough to live well and the living is where the stories come from. Tough people are often healthy people and it is out of the healthy that all writing needs to flow. Getting the ideas of your heart out on to paper or into print out of your head is incredibly tough sometimes. That gritty nature of writing is the journey that makes it all worth it in the end. 

I am ready to show that get up and fight type of attitude that I know that I have. in me. I am ready for it to come out on the pages of my first book. I know that will happen because I know that I am all these things. I know that patience, passion, pursuit, toughness, and that get back up kind of attitude are all things that describe who I am. 

Maybe I can ride a bike. I think I understand the analogy a bit better now.  

[jhwalton18]

The Journey

I have decided to get back into writing again. It has always been a passion of mine and I need to find space and a platform to write again. 

I know also that sharing our stories can motivate others to do the same. When we have met Jesus and been transformed then we have no reason to not share. I am always reminded of the story of the Woman at the Well in John 4 when I begin to think or write about sharing stories. This woman came to the well to get water and left after spending time with Jesus without her water jar. When we truly encounter Jesus, it absolutely changes everything.

Take some time this week to reflect on the power of your life story and how it can impact others. The reflect, this Holy Week, on the life that really changed it all in Jesus.

Let’s live it differently