2011: Wrecked for the Ordinary

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I can taste the freedom, which is ahead.

I can feel the sensation of adventure to be.

I sit and I reminisce on what God has done in my life over
the past year, and I can’t control the excitement inside of me.

I have been reborn

Awakened

Broken down

Built back up

My secrets revealed

My past unlocked and dealt
with

I have lived in genuine community

I have stood in the presence of God during organic worship

I have laughed

I have cried

I have succeeded

I have failed

I have failed some more…

And more

I have fought for what I believe in

And other times I have walked away

I have ministered with the Holy Spirit

And have been ministered to by the Holy Spirit

The transformation in my life cannot be summed up in a blog

or in a passive conversation

What God has done in my life is monumental

The humbleness and knowledge I have gained this year from
God is what will shape my tomorrow, and my future.

I have been wrecked for the ordinary

I can no longer work a 9-5

Or spend my money at the theater to repay myself for my
boring and needy week

There is nothing I can buy that will bring me happiness

All that I have received this year has been free

It has been from the heart of God’s people

Children have gone hungry so that I could eat as a guest in
their house

The woman we just met spent her last dollars to buy us a
coke to show her appreciation for our visit

Tea and coffee offered at every house we entered

Blessings and prayers poured out

I have seen legs grow out

Crippled men walk

Blind eyes opened

Children smile

Demons cast out

Hearts mended

Girls enslaved by prostitution no more

Mouths fed

The dying orphan holds my hand and I can feel God’s warmth
within her palm

I dine with the unsaved

I drink wine with them and I share my testimony

I minister in the bars where prostitutes dance on poles in
front of my eyes

I whisper words of life into her ear while the man next to
her is gripping her inner thigh

I watch him take her away and I can’t help but cry

I have lived in the city

I have lived in the bush

In unfinished houses

In a tent

In airports

Orphanages

Mission homes

My Contacts house

I have traveled by planes

Trains

Buses (on top of buses)

Cars

Autos

Tuk tuks

Motor bikes

Vans

I have eaten fried snakes, frogs, tarantula, bugs…

I have climbed mountains

Learned to play guitar

Surfed some wicked waves in Cape Town, South Africa

Learned to drive a stick shift and drive it on the opposite
side of the car and rode

I have been bird hunting with slingshots running on landmine
fields in Cambodia

I have been kayaking in the Outback of Australia

Visited the border of Tibet only to be sent away with no
entry

I have been to some of the world’s most beautiful beaches

I have seen Angkor Wat

I got a tattoo

I now have dreadlocks

I have gone two weeks without a shower or deodorant

I have lived out of my backpack for the past 10 ½ months

I own 5 shirts that are too small for me

And every time I wash them they shrink some more

My pants are worn out and holes are in places they should
not be

I no longer own socks

My sandals are broken

My last pair of shoes are worn out from daily use

I literally have nothing

Not even at home

I sold my car, my movies, my x box, my furniture

I am going home where I have no possessions

And I have never felt freer

I have never been this happy

I am living like Jesus did on this earth

The way he trained his disciples

I am living the way God created us to live

My name is Philip Benton Cron

And I have been wrecked for the ordinary

I am wrecked for life.

I have been given today and I will use it for His kingdom.

How can I sum up the year 2011??

It was my first year of truly living.