The Journey

Last Sunday at FBC (the church I attend), We (my friends and I) were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by cheery old ladies dealing out free green wristbands. They even wrung the wristbands on us.
The bands, as most do, had a message inscribed on it: "Pressing on...the Journey continues!"

How apt.

The bands are part of a church-wide spiritual growth drive. I think the campaign is "Pressing On", and the tag-line is "Because We're not There Yet"; not too sure. Could be.
Anyways, all of us in the congregation were given blue-covered devotionals to read for 40 days, with a focus on the theme of "pressing on".

Spot on.

It's coming to 2 months now...5 days more, to be exact. The initial excitement of my moving here has begun to wear off. Permanence does not seem to be an inherent characteristic of novelty. As the dust and fireworks settle from the Move (remember the airport? The left-behind bag?), the long road ahead slowly comes into focus and begins to loom larger and larger...

Valleys, mountains, deserts, thorns...so narrow, the path. I realize there is no turning back now. The fact begins to sink in: my life has been changed, and my "old life" has slipped out of my hand forever. I have to keep moving forward, for there will be no real "going back" to Penang, to home, to "the good old days". It hurts to think that; but pain often accompanies truth, and then healing.

Pressing on...the Journey continues: because we're not there yet. I am so keenly aware of my own deficiences and character flaws and weaknesses now; the excitement of forming new habits is wearing thin, and it's getting harder to keep up the fervor of jumping out of bed at 6:42 am in the morning, and say no to those steaming slices of pizza...plus, the increasingly cold weather is not helping my resolve to "eat right". Ugh. Joel, have you heard of this wonderful thing called "exercise"? :p

One of the things that is wearing me down is the constant tide of humanistic thinking and philosophy that is perpetually breaking against the walls of mind. Is God real? Creation is not scientific! Look at the jealous, arbitrary God of the Old Testament! Humans will be able to attain eternal life without God through cloning. Let's take the Bible "symbolically"...

*shivers with rage*

It's a constant, daily battle to renew my mind, immerse myself in the Word and cling to God for the strength to "...[cast] down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:5) The fighting wears me down sometimes; somedays I just get so...in need of the cleansing flow of the Word.

"For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:36-38)

And encouragement from a kindred spirit, fellow soldier, who shared a beautiful song with me:

The mountains are steep
And the valleys low
Already I'm weary
But I have so far to go
Oh, and sorrow holds my hand
And suffering sings me songs
But when I close my eyes
I know to whom I belong
Who makes me strong

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits for me
Oh, I will be free

A wise man, a rich man
In pauper's clothes
A shepherd to lead us
Through the land of woes
Though many battles I have lost
So many rivers yet to cross
But when my eyes behold the Son
Who bore my loss, who paid the cost

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits for me
Oh, I will be free

Oh, and I'll dance on silver moonlight
And I'll walk through velvet fields
Oh, and I'll run into the arms
The arms that set me free

I will be free
I will be free to run the mountains
I will be free
Free to drink from the living fountain
Oh, I'll never turn back
'Cause He waits....
I'll never turn back
Don't you ever turn back
Because someday, someday we're gonna see
We will be free ...

The Journey lies long ahead...the Narrow is paved with tears shed for 2 thousand years, wrung from the saints sincere, martyred and mourned...but this is the road I choose, the path stained with the blood and sweat of Him who suffered on the cross to make me righteous before God...

Pressing on...the Journey continues; because we're not there yet!