Extemporaneous Ramblings

Sola Christos!!! It is always that, in every situation.

In words of our Lord “I am the way”. In Greek, what He says is often not apparent in the usual translations. The Greek uses a very strong imperative. Picture, for a moment, standing on the table yelling “I, and only I, am the way, the only way“. Not that our Lord would stand on the table and yell, but it is a useful way to convey the imperative so we get the flavour of the statement’s strength.

Harkening back to Job in Unexpected pathways, our place is a humble one, glorifying Jesus as we sit or walk in His shadow. His imperative statement makes it clear that in His shadow is the correct place for us.

Now, does being humble position, glorifying Him, mean that we are not active nor accomplishing things as we live in the world? Is it spending evey minute in quiet, still adoration? Not at all. It implies action, directed by and drawing our strength through our closeness to Him. Acting, but at the same time resting in looking to Him, as we walk in the world.

This is part of why the saints are ‘other worldly’. The combination of demeanors that we are describing is not of this world. It is in this world, but of the Lord, since we only move under His authority when we are in His shadow.

To pro-actively move in the shadow of the Creator of the universe. It is hard to imagine Grace beyond that. Praise be His name.

Juggling together successfully (collaboration) assumes that the base skills are in place, and at a usable level for both participants. In the Christian life, Scripture says that our interaction should be an outworking of our active relationship with the Lord. In our interactions, one must be assumed that we have that relationship in place in at least a rudimentary but proactive sense. Certainly we are a work in progress, to be completed in meeting Him at the time of his choosing, but we are assumed to be on the road while we interact in this world.

So with our skill set in-process, we come together to share and help each other on the road. This is the core of collaboration, and there is greater joy in traveling the road together, rejoicing in both success and difficulty.

In juggling, we practice progressively more complex activities together. This builds both combined and personal skills. We accomplish more together than alone, but it is done on the base already, and continually, developed. Even more, in our errors (please see my previous post concerning the necessity of errors and correction) we have encouragement to continue, accountability to try harder or accept correction, and the experience of the reality of working through life in unison.

The Christian life is once again very similar, but with more far-reaching effects (into eternity). Having been established in Him and embracing this life from that place, we have (through the Spirit and our actions stemming from being “in Him”) developed basic life skills. The most significant anchoring skill is an overarching dependence on Christ in all things. In that dependence is obedience to His Word and His ways. That grants us an ongoing development path.

We then come together as brothers and sisters. This collaboration is in living life, as opposed to the more narrow juggling activities. However, most of the same lessons are to be learned. In working together at the Christian life we have encouragement, accountability, correction and rejoicing. All of these are dependent for both their basic actualization and their intensity upon the degree to which we submit to the Spirit and to the Lord. Where in juggling we have been responsible ourselves for developing and retainikng through reinforcement the basic skill sets, in our life in the Lord He does the work and supplies the benefits based upon our skills of dependence and obedience.

What a joy it is to rest in Him, with the sure knowledge of His supplying what is needed to complete the journey to His side. In the joy of Juggling there is reflection of that, and of the joy of walking together with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Coming next -> Joyful Collaboration - Complete Freedom

What battle would that be? Spiritual warfare, of course.

What do you mean forgotten? How can one suggest that the church is off doing something else?

Well, maybe forgotten is a tad strong. Maybe found more comfortable to overlook, or inadvertently unemphasized whilst working on increasing the local congregation, might be a better characterization. After all, when actually addressed, this topic might trouble some people (a definite possibility). In any case, let’s have a peak, shall we…

We regularly hear preaching about everyday struggles. However, they are often presented in the context of, or with overtones of, modern psychology, with some biblical references. They are definitely not present for what they are, the pitch battle between principalities and the forces of Heaven. But the Bible makes it clear that they are exactly that: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12. How much more clearly can it be spelled out?

Since this is spiritual warfare, the battle is certainly the Lord’s, and He has complete control. But the struggles are played out in the lives of the Saints and in the world. Those are the lives that the church is charged with assisting, whose arming for battle the church is charged with facilitating, and to whom (at least partially) preaching is addressed. That being the case, why do we not hear more direct discussion of the real battle, and exhortation for the only effective armour endorsed in Scripture - prayer and dedication to the straight, unvarnished Word?

The Lord has clearly layed out the proper attitude. It is to put on His Word, focus upon Him (”Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” Ephesian 6:13), and to treat each other with love. In essence, that’s it.

What He has stipulated is actually quite simple, at least in terms of getting started. Rehearsing His Word is staightforward. Focusing on Him in frequent prayer and mindfulness is possible to start. And loving one another as we focus on Him together can be appreciated and worked upon, even if we struggle at times. The point of all of this is to basically put ourselves in the position where we stand behind Him, protected by Him, and the battle is His.

If we don’t do that, and if instead we draw common sense solutions and attitude towards life into play, then the battle becomes our own. When that happens we are in big trouble. We can not successfully fight the powers of the air and of this world. We are not strong enough. And so, people succumb. Only standing in the shadow of Jesus are we strong enough, because then it is not us, nor our battle. It is Him alone, and He is strong enough..

Ladies and gentlemen, I choose to stand in the shadow the Lord of all creation. I am weak and can not stand alone. He is my only armour, and I love Him alone. Let us stand together, safe beneath His cloak.

Sola Christos

In juggling, the primary patterns must be second nature (habit – as mentioned before). But habits grow dim if not exercised and the juggler must continue to rehearse the basic moves on an ongoing basis.

So it is in our relationship with our Lord. After conversion, our initial and primary relationship is with Him. Our salvation is not the question, but continued, consistent interaction through the Word and Prayer maintain and develop the link as it is experience moment by moment in life. So, as in juggling, our primary skills are reinforced by continued rehearsal.

Our patterns of life, in the moment, are more often than not determined by the habitual behaviours that we have rehearsed. As we rehearse dependence in prayer, and the habit of seeking guidance for even small events from the Word, we are forming the habits that will regulate our unconscious approach in life. This will be particularly true in those situation where we don’t have time, or are too distracted by the moment, to reflect.

Next, let us not forget, or discount, the significance of spiritual warfare in this examination. While we are rehearsing our dependence and reliance on the Lord, we are simultaneously removing dependence upon Satan and the world. Remember that according to Scripture, Satan in always pro actively seeking to make inroads and distract us from the direction of our Lord. The Lord’s flock are Satan’s greatest focus and challenge. When we are not rehearsing dependence on the Lord, we are by our ‘natural’ nature implicitly rehearsing dependence upon the world. One or the other is always occurring. Let us rehearse for eternity in the Lord.

In our individual practice in juggling, it is similar, though the consequences of failure are thankfully not eternal. Failure to practice and retain (or hopefully improve) base skill sets results is their slowly being extinguished. We are thus practicing ‘not juggling’ when this is the case.

In both juggling and the Christian life, rehearsal, or failure to do so, is of great consequence not only for the individual, but for collaborative activity, as we shall see…

Coming next -> Joyful Collaborations - Together in Process

The Battle belongs to the Lord.

We sing that line, and we refer to it frequently one way or the other. The path of our lives, in the circumstance of every day, is the Lord’s in the same way. Our battle is His since we belong to Him. But our first thoughts are often not of Him.

This is understandable of course, since the pains of life, especially physcial ones, are pretty focusing. Yet biblically there are numerous examples for us that demonstrate that the Lord would have our thoughts on Him. Job, in my mind, is the most prominent of those whose focus did remain in the Lord throught physical trial and circumstance. The trial shifted from one tack to another as Satan changed his focus, tempting Job to loose his. But the structure of the attack did not matter, for Job remained focused upon God tenaciously.

Surely it was not Job’s own strength that allowed him to kling to God through it all. Various sermons and articles cite Job as the picture of Christian fortitude and staying power. In a human sense that is no doubt correct. But I don’t think that is the whole, or even the major, message we are given here.

Job, as a ‘natural’ man, could not have held out in the face of so many overwhelming problems without drawing on the strength of the Lord. Even in his struggles he humbled himself, always coming back to the watch care and provisioning of the Lord. Always bowing to the Will of God. Alway humble and dependent. THAT is where his real strength came from, and it has little to do with personality in the natural sense, nor with human fortitude, though he most certainly had both.

I am reminded of two other Biblical situations, linked to this one thematically in my thinking. I think of Samuel being taught the correct attitude to God in answering “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening” 1 Sam 3:9, and also of the humble obedience of Ananias in Act 9:10, as he obediently seeks out Saul in a situation which he would interpret as holding grave personal danger. In his steadfast faith in the Lord, looking foolish in the face of his friends and world, Job was continually expressing that same “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening”.

Let our prayer be that we all too can repeat that within ourselves as we move through that which the Lord provides. “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening”. To His greater glory.

Jugglers usually have two aspects to both practice and performance - working alone and working in groups (most often pairs). Most jugglers have a partner that they work with, often on the long term basis. There are ‘lone wolf’ jugglers, but in my experience they tend to be the minority. That is not to say that solo juggling is not satisfying. However, collaboration is both enjoyable and enhances skill development in ways that are not possible alone.

In the background thoughout all juggling is individual practice. It is essential to develop both base and more complex physical patterns. The body learns ‘habits’ by repetition and the base patterning must become a habit.

Collaborative work relies on the pre-existence of the base skills before they can be used together. The increased complexity in collaborative juggling quickly exposes holes in base skill sets.

After sufficient base skills and initial collaborative skills are in place, further development of both individual and group skill sets can proceed in parallel. This all sounds pretty dry on the surface. It is not!! There is great enjoyment and joy. There is also a high level of dependence in the shared skills area as the escalating complexity requires more and more reliance on both skill sets.

Most of these paradigms are reflected closely in the Christian life.

Coming next -> Joyful Collaborations - Sharpening the Self

To go ‘wild’ or not to go ‘wild’, that is the question - with apologies to William S.

In the discussion about ‘Wild at Heart’, a comment some time ago, unrelated to this book, from a Christian brother came to mind. This is a man who has a number of adult children, including several sons, and thereby lots of experience. One day in conversation I was joking about the propensity of his offspring (all solid believers) to indulge in extreme sports and other adrenilin pumping passtimes. His comments were interesting.

To summarize, he felt that the lure of risk was programmed into the youth by our Lord for His own purposes. Youth were drawn to risk so that they could risk for the Lord. They could step out in risky ways that old believers were unlikely or unable to. With no Christ-centered outlet for this risk taking (eg. evangelism) in many modern senarios, the urge was miss-channeled by society into other areas. This remade the youth into consumers of one sort or another in seeking an outlet in other types of risk.

So the proposition is that the risk taking is by design, and that it is designed to allow them to step out for the Lord, possibly dramatically.

An interesting idea indeed!

While I have taken my share of risks when a youth (many inappropriate by this analysis), I am well past that now. Nonetheless, the idea, when applied the current popularity of eXtreme sports, would tend to see them as an abberation. That is intriguing.

It is also very different indeed from the Eldridge-ification discussed earlier…

We need Doctrine today more than ever, not less - particularly the youth.

Have you noticed that doctrine has fallen from grace in everyday church life, and from the pulpit? Maybe you haven’t noticed since the process is gradual and easy to overlook for a while. Doctrines may at times talked about, even referred to, but it is seldom if ever actually preached or offered as a significant part of church school.

In church society what appears to be happening (or already has happened) is that doctrine is being made synonymous with dogma. Dogma is a four letter word in the mind of relativistic, pluralistic society, equated with authoritarian control and the like. The evangelical church seems to be subtly adopting the same attitude, in what appears on the surface to be the fear that it will alienate non-Christians and reduce potential growth. The church would certainly differentiate itself from overt expression of this secular view, but living in the world brings a quiet inflow of ideas, attitudes and approaches. One of these is rejection of the fixed framework that doctrine represents (erroneously) to many people.

What does this indicate about the true attitude towards the Sovereignty of God in all these matters? What does it say about belief and dependence on the sufficiency of scripture and the sufficiency of the fundamental ideas therein?

In church life today it seems dated to insist that there are any fixed benchmarks aside from basic belief. As such, demoninational distinctives, and the rich history that preceeds them, are passe and are quietly jetisoned in favour of more up to date presentation and applications. But it bears remembering that a building in which the foundations are eroded by inattention, will weaken over time and eventually fail.

Before we expand into too wide a discussion, let us look narrowly at basic beliefs. I look from the point of view of a Reformed Baptist, but I suspect that most evangelicals would find the same symptoms to one degree or another.

If you were to ask the average church goer or even member:
What are denominational distinctives?
What are theirs?
Would they know why?
Would they think it was irrelevant? Dated? That they are all the same?
Would they know what a confession of faith is?
In this case would they know what the Westminster Confession is?
Would they feel that the doctrinal beliefs of church leaders were important?
Would they know what those leadership beliefs and tenants were?
Would they feel that leadership job performance was the over-riding criteria?

Do you see where this is headed? It is headed to where history, the structure of belief, and therefor the ability to defend or hold on to those beliefs in the face of adversity, comes into serious question.

The beginning of an answer to this is sound doctrinal preaching and teaching. It is not up to date. It does not utilize todays ‘relevant’ examples (it is timeless). And it does not necessarily directly address modern application. But it is absolutely essential for a faith based upon bedrock.

Nowhere is this more critical than in the church youth. No group is more challenged by society. No group is more suseptible to its wiles. Yet in no church group is the education in the structure of our beliefs and the reasons for them often more lacking.

The danger is that what may be created is a wonderful, vibrant, dynamic ministry that is built on sand. When the flood comes, and we all know that it will in some (worldly) form, a foundation of reinforced concrete is needed, not sand.

In the comments on hunting, a similarity between the New Age Movement and the current Wild at Heart movement was drawn. For those involved in or familiar with the present group, this may well raise some eyebrowes. Yet for those who have seen both up close, it is absolutely clear that they are parallel in both ideas, and sadly IMO, in fundamental error.

Both posit, at the core, that to realize or actualize their masculinity, men must return to the wild. Also, implied directly or indirectly is that they are most comfortable there once they realize it and that they must do so in the sole company of other men. These manly things, and the realities held therein, are solely for men and available only to those who ‘realize’ the reality of it. Strong words, but when you cut to the core in the both groups, that is where you end up. The classic humorous anecdote of course is about men in loin clothes running through the forest to find themselves. We may chuckle at that extreme, but the reality is actually just a more ‘civilized’ version with the same belief set.

The current Christian reworking of this belief set is VERY close the previous interation, a fact not realized by most involved, and which would no doubt upset them.

The entire mindset is a boys’ getto, both then and now. Though it seeks to find an ephemeral freedom in human roots (which could yield another interesting around Christian subscription to an evolution base paradigm), it in fact creates a very narrow world view. To suppose that our Lord created man with such a narrow vision for his potential just seems silly, to be honest.

Admitedly this view has some seductive qualities, mostly based in freedom from fear in a limited world. But those in the end this limit the potential of a man, not expands it.

Now, does this mean that I am disregarding the fundamental differences in the roles and functional capabilities of men and women as created by our Lord? Does it mean that I do not feel that that there are fundamental difference between them? Not for a minute. I am, in fact, arguing that within what the Lord created and modelled, men (and women) are not required to return to the wild to find actualization of their potential in the world or in relationships with the opposite sex.

In the secular New Age groups (as I have seen them), these limiting views do not build enhanced relationships between men and women. They segreagate them. In the Christian life, the acting out of the biblical model layed down for men and women neither requires nor is enhanced by segregation of experience as a preequisite to becoming whole. The bible would seem to indicate precisely the opposite in the case of couple who are “one flesh”.

Let me state clearly, however, that I am not discrediting wildness experience as a wonderful one, nor the company and fellowship of the same sex as less than encouraging to growth. But these experience are most certainly NOT the magic bullet to self and relationship to God that they are oft subtly presented as.

I would challenge men (and women) to examine what these world views are really appealing to and form opinions based on that.

So what, you might ask, of the seeminlgly built-in propensity we see in many (particularly the youth) for risk taking and extreme experiences? That we will explore shortly…

This Post could also be called “Arm the Moose”, and I will no doubt offend some people, but you can’t please everyone…

I just don’t ‘get’ hunting. Actually I never have.

What is proven by taking high powered modern weapons, and using them to blow away animals in their natural habitat? How does this make a man more manly? How does this demonstrate any sort of ethical behaviour as a steward of the planet? In my complete biased view, it does exactly the opposite.

It certainly may demonstrate skill in the act of sneaking covertly about in the bush, and also in the precision of shooting. There is also the wonderful fellowship which participants report that they enjoy. All that is arguably commendable. But it is the obsession of the kill that we are talking about here, not the window dressing.

In secular terms, people today are usually obsessively concerned with ‘fairness’ in all things. Without entering the debate about the appropriateness of ‘fairness’, how can killing animals as they stand unaware in the wild be considered ‘fair’. Thus we have my subtitle of “Arm the Moose”. Or let the hunter hunt with a knife and naked. That would be closer to ‘fair’.

There was most certainly a time historically when hunting was a necessity of life. In that context it was wholly appropriate, and I definitely ‘get it’. Today, however, that is not the case.

Today it is not a necessity either in term of survival, nor in terms of providing male identity. If it is, then the associate definition of identity is pretty trivial indeed. This could lead us to the whole area of Male actualization - expressed 20 or so years ago in the Male New Age movement, and repackage very successfully recently in the Eldridge phenomena. We will deal with that in due time, but suffice to say that it is not a justification.

In Christian terms, I do not see it as good stewardship, since it is not a necessity for survival, nor for successful character actualization.

Now, am I saying that shooting itself is a problem? Not at all. I see nothing inappropriate in target shooting, sheet shooting, and so on. I am also neither an NRA aficionado, nor a vehement gun control advocate. Lastly, I am not saying that you shouldn’t shoot the bear that is about to attack you.

So there we have it. The guns are on the table, to be issued to all Moose. Once that is done, I don’t think that I would object to the hunt at all!

Comments ( no shooting, please)?

I have continued to be sidetracked by the medium, at the momentary expense of the message.

After moving the site to the new domain, I have been adding a few odds and ends underneath the hood, to hopefully make it a tad easier for people to find.

There are some really neat add-ons out there. One really nifty one (thanks to Lorelle for writing about it) adds a little note pad to the system. This allows me note items for future posts or projects, and subsequently convert them to drafts. The side effect of installing it was that once I transferred various notes from little scraps of paper on my desk it became obvious that I should stop fooling around and get typing.

Nonetheless, working on the medium is fun.

The move is complete - latest software version and moved into the new domain name.

If you noticed anything wierd this aftenoon when trying to view the site, it was because we were in mid-move. All appears to be operating well now. Over the next few days you may also notice some short or longterm changes in the overall site look as I try a slightly different layout. Time will tell…

If you came to the old address, you were automatically fowarded here by the web server (or you wouldn’t be reading this ).

Please update your bookmark for us to http://www.ThoughtPaths.com.

Now I can hopefully get back to the writing that I have been making notes about (so i wouldn’t forget the topics) for the last couple of days.

Moving away from the juggling analogy (Juggling and the Christian Life), where the perceptions of an error and it’s effect on participants can be clearly dealt with, let us concentrate on the discussed similarities in the Christian life. Here the lines are less distinct and divorcing oneself from the effects more difficult.

In comparing our perception of our personal walk with the Lord and the expectations directed at us from others in the guise of responsibilities (read that as optics), let us look for the end game. That would be the conflicting messages often propagated not only by non-believers, but in churches, and then adopted by extension through others in the Body.

Observation would indicate that the delivery of these contradictory messages is both consistent and common, with no surface indication that the deliverers have any insight into the conflict being communicated. That in itself is hard to fathom.

What am I talking about, you ask?

A believer is frequently exhorted to always act in a manner that will reflect wonderfully on the church and show the joy of Christian life. It is made a ‘responsibility’ of the believer by implication to show that conversion will bring clear outward indication of the “hope that is within us”. This demonstration is to draw the non-believer to see the value in conversion in the joy of the believer. This is certainly what the Lord said at various times, but the way it is interpreted in the Christian community can be a problem.

At the same time, the same believer is warned that the necessary correction, calling to attention of problems, pruning and regrowth of character, etc. will involve often great difficulty in life. This will at times render the believer rebellious and struggling, all for the glory of the Lord as the development later bears fruit, but nonetheless problematic at the time. In a nutshell, we often resist change and act badly in the throws of it. Since these are often big changes, the associated difficulties and behavioural struggles may also be big.

Do you see the problem?

On the one hand one is to act perfectly and reflect the beauty of thier calling, being made to feel guilty if they were to do otherwise. At the same time, one is exhorted to embrace difficult change in the clear realization that you may initially react and/or act badly. This is a Catch 22, and there must be fundamental error somewhere in the interpretation active in this situation.

I do not propose to have the complete answer, but part of it must be in the safety of the irresistible Effectual Calling of the elect. We are indeed called to preach the Gospel to the unsaved. But we are call to do it from where we are now - where our Lord has placed us. We may be fraught with problems and not act the best, but that is who we are in the Lord at that time. And that is okay! The Calling is His.

The responsibility for the conversion of others is the Lord’s, not ours. Not even a little bit is ours! If they are to be called, then they can not successfully resist any more that we can be other than who we are, in His process, at that moment. If the truth of us in the Lord meets with them, then we are presenting exactly what the Lord intended, irrespective of what a bystander might think. And they WILL be called if it is His will.

So to those who proposed that the believer put on a perfect face, presenting things in a better light – get over it. We are certainly called to reflect the Lord to the best of our ability, but that is as ourselves, as we are now. We may be rejoicing in his Calling but still not rejoicing in life at that moment. Some may say that is what they are saying. Possibly true, but from the pews what is often being ‘heard’ is the precursor to personal guilt and stress. That is error, plain and simple, and does not further the Kingdom

All Glory to our Lord.

The site has now grown to the point where a recognizable name might be useful. That is easier than explaining the current address. Thus began the great domain name search.

The search was for something catchy, quirky, spellable and at least tangentially meaningful. After all that, it had to be something that someone else hadn’t already thought of and registered. Turned out to be a project for thesaurus, lots of domain lookups and suggestions from readers and friends.Then with a few in mind, lots of indecision and other silliness.

Eventually, enough is enough prevailed and the decision was made. The name ThoughtPaths.com has been registered. I hope you like it.

The site will be moved there shortly. The name is operational now and refers to the old address. Once moved, the old address will forward to the new one indefinitely.

On we go…

Having talked about underlying skills sets and fundamental Faith, we can move to the more pressing issue of outside reaction to the realities of errors in juggling and in Christian life as we learn and grow.

As has been explained by implication, one of the first things that neophyte jugglers must learn and grow comfortable with is the reality and inevitability of dropping. That reality is that dropping is NOT negative and is NOT a problem. In fact, it is part of the activity. Without that knowledge there is no joy or no freedom in the work.

The same is true of the believer. We are brought to faith and then taken on a lifelong journey of development with our Lord. We are assured that the processed will absolutely included at times extreme extension, challenge and growth. That can not happen without error, and we are provided explicit mechanisms for dealing with that and moving on in His service and love. So, error (or dropping) in the Christian life is reality and part of the process.

Now for the tricky part…

In juggling, non-jugglers generally regard errors and drops as negative, not only to be avoided, but reflecting poorly on the juggler. Further, errors immediately cancel the positive regard of other demonstrated skills. The juggler has to learn to overcome and ignore this attitude in others, and to resist any adoption of it personally. Other jugglers can and should be supportive in this.

In the Christian life we have a VERY important parrallel. Christians may, and hopefully do, come to learn that as the Lord pointed out, life in His company will be challenging, we may well stumble, but we have a redemption mechanism when we do. We can therefor rejoice in the continuity of the process, and in the overall safety in His grasp. Non-Christians, though, usually will not see it this way. They see a stumble as failure, and may say that quite clearly. Though we would like to present the best view of the life our Saviour has brought us, we nontheless are not responsible for the non-believer. We do not cause his attitude and the Holy Spirit is the only active agent that can alter it. They will be called to Faith, if that is the Lord’s will, by Him, and not by our perfection or error. If that is not embraced by us, then we can not grow as He would have us grow. And THAT is the real goal for which he has called us to Himself. Therein we Glory Him.

Our true endevour on the Lord’s behalf, errors and all, is the only truth we can present to others, demonstrating among other things the Grace he continues to extend to believers as we are molded. This is in plain view and we are not caused to be anything other than completely transparent about it.

Now, does this appreciation of the process in either case mean that we do not strive completely for excellence or perfection? Not in the least. But without participating in the process as a whole we are limited, and can not fully abandon ourselves joyfully to it.

Let us truly rest in Jesus, trying on His behalf to excel within the commands he has provided, honestly seeking forgiveness as He provided when necessary, that the world may glimpse the power of this ongoing transformation and He might received the Glory.