Hello to anyone who is taking the time to read this blog, and thank you! Just to give an overview of who I am, I am a college student, middle-class, and fitness fanatic with goals of being a professional strength and conditioning coach within the realm of professional sports. I still maintain a GPA above 3.9, and with references from my past school, and from my current school (Point Loma Nazarene University), I was poised to land what would’ve been a dream job this coming summer. Although I have found plenty of success in regards to these areas of my life (especially in an Americanized way of thinking), I was left without a true purpose to my life. I was baptized over the summer, but proclaiming Jesus as my savior did not truly change much for me, completely because of my own choices. I recognized God, but I allowed excuses to form an enormous barrier between God and myself. I continued to put my physical appearance ahead of God, with the excuse of it all being for Him, which I convinced myself, was fact. What I saw as God’s will was polluted by the selfishness and earthly desires that surrounded me. I continued to use drugs occasionally, ignoring the faint thoughts that it was standing between my Father and me. All of this was blocking my view as to what God wanted me to do and do for this world.
I was truly saved a few weeks after arriving at my new school in San Diego during a church service, and since then I have decided to dedicate my life to The Lord! This involved throwing many of my excuses out the window, and changing what my life had been about. Soon after Christ saved me, I found myself being gravitated towards the idea of mission trips. When I realized God was pointing me in this direction, I had one looming excuse to set aside. As a junior in college, graduation is not far in the future. Logically, I told myself to finish school and then worry about God’s plans. But being a follower of Christ has nothing to do with what I think is right, and everything to do with following what God knows is right. I have put school ahead of all aspects of my life, including God. But we are here to serve HIM!! And with the endless amounts of love, forgiveness, peace, and grace I have received from God, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to set aside the things that I have put ahead of Him for so much of my life! Ridding my life of these excuses has been far from easy, and the process is far from over, but the blessings from doing so have already been overwhelming at times.
We all have these excuses and practices that are not of God, and excuses come easy, but the truth can save a life that was once built on earthly things. Step one is recognition, and that recognition needs to be repeated every day to see what is God’s will, and what is an excuse that has been reasoned into an acceptable practice. God has huge plans for us all, but you have to open your whole self, lose your pride and earthly desires, and ask yourself: what are my excuses, and more importantly what could my excuses be holding me back from? God bless!
