I wanna be on facebook but I have to write this blog! LoL, and that's exactly what I'm writing about. I feel very convicted and at the same time flattered by God. Here in Chiange Mai free wifi is rampant, and we have it on our ministry site! And I admit it has been a huge distraction. God has freed up a lot of time for me this week and I have not been a good steward of it. God told me straight up.
I feel for maybe the first time in my life like an intellectual. I love reading. I love that satisfying feeling after reading three different books and taking notes on some of them. God has told me that this is part of who I am I feel. That's the flattering part. For a long time, especially in high school, I was the punch line of many jokes concerning a lack of smarts. God has shown me that all those things were lies. He has made me very intelligent. He's shown me just through an increased desire to learn about Him and His word. Right now I'm reading the Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. It's fascinating. It will hands Down be one of my favorite books for a long time. It goes into the spiritual disciplines, explains effective ways to execute them, and tells about the misconceptions concerning them. (Thanks Randy Garmon for the Recommendation!) Through all this I've been able to apply what I've read to my own walk with Christ. Practical application is one of my love languages.
This book in one of three in my morning routine. The other two are The Bible and my Utmost for His Highest. After Having read these three books in the morning I feel like I could go to Harvard law. I feel like a fancy pants and I get a boost of confidence. It's really neat when God puts something common through out all three texts in the same morning and you get a message that's clear as day. Even reading proverbs these past few days has been cool to do. I get really excited when I find a proverb the is basically the sum of one of the stories in the Gospel, and there's so many in there. Chapters 7-11 has a few.
Here's where the conviction comes in. I haven't been using the brains or the time God has given me during my time here in Thailand. Our mornings are pretty free. At most we have to paint a room once every few days in the mornings. The majority of our ministry takes place in the afternoons at the slums and evenings in the red light district. With the time I have I could be following that routine and listening to sermons on youtube while taking notes, but instead I venture off onto facebook and distraction and procrastination set in.
And I don't feel like I'm being to hard on myself when I'm saying this. I'm really just voicing it to you guys so yall know what going on over here. Plus it's good blog material.
I think part of the reason I drift off is because I just want to day dream about big things that are coming after the race and certain aspirations I have. That's the opposite of what were supposed to be doing right now. Usually pushing into things is easy for me. ( That's because I'm used to actually physically pushing things -_-) Doing this mentally and spiritually is a whole 'nother ball game. (Ha it's funny because I love football.)
Since I have your attention and I can type about what ever I want on my blog, I'll just tell yall about a few of these things I day dream about.
-Hiking the Appalachian trail
-Possibly starting my own ministry/outfitter
-learning to surf -roaming the U.S. With my dog Hiking/camping/climbing/surfing/evangelizing
-possibly taking a girl on a date when the race is done (I might just take Dooley to the dog park though)
-updating my pinterest. YEAH… PINTEREST, I said it!
So yeah, that's what goes through my head and what I wonder off into, and most of the time it's to imagine some new adventure I want to go on. The problem there is if the one I'm on now isn't enough, then the next one wont be either. I don't want to get stuck in that. I don't want to become one of those people that endlessly search for the next adrenaline rush. Which reminds me of a certain analogy about focus. The analogy basically says where your focus is, that's where you'll go. If my focus is stuck on the next adventure, then that's where it will stay. No matter how many I go on. If my focus is, "don't get distracted," instead of, "what can I do for ministry this morning," or, "How much can I learn this morning?" then chances are I'll end up on my phone finding out how to sign up for sailing lessons on the lake back home. (Already happened as you can probably tell LOL)
Be Blessed,
Steven Buffington
