Fight the Good Fight

Every Monday, Adam Young of Owl City posts an entry to his blog. I was highly challenged by today's entry, and wanted to pass this message along to you as well. You should follow this guy. http://www.owlcityblog.com/

Right now I’m tucked snugly into my bunk on the tour bus as a sleepy chorus of tires on blacktop sweetly serenades me through the night. My eyelids are growing heavy. Our fearless driver is at the helm, a great courageous captain of the moonlit open road. It’s 2:34 AM and we’re skirting the east coast, stealing through the night, trekking from Baltimore to Montreal. A rich scent of evergreen hangs heavy in the air as our landlocked cruise ship pitches and reels over wave after wave of rolling coniferous hilltops.

A dear fan gave me a beautiful letter after my show a few nights ago and she wrote a verse on the inside cover.

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)

I’m sure I must’ve read this verse fifty times before, but tonight it struck me in a new way. I spend so much time DOING… in whatever capacity the definition of the word DO includes. I, as a mortal human being, would go nuts if I wasn’t always DOING whatever it is I DO… and of course not all of it is BAD per se, because all of it just IS and sometimes I don’t pay any attention to it. I wake up, I do stuff, I fall sleep, I repeat. The conviction here is the fact that I so often forget to do whatever it is I do… in the name of the Lord Jesus, not because I’m willfully trying to be a greedy little monster (despite the classic nature of the flesh) but because sometimes it just doesn’t cross my mind. I stood onstage the other night during the encore and felt the Lord suddenly say, “You don’t have to be afraid to trust me. I’ve got you.” Everything in me wanted to cry out and say, “Yes, but I’m such a helpless sinner! What good can I do?!” Later that night I found myself reading 2 Peter chapter 3, and there was my answer… the fact that my wonderful Savior is ALIVE, and He is going to return for His own. Despite my many flaws, despite my endless list of weaknesses, Christ is so much BIGGER than all of that… my prayer is only that He grant me the strength required to finish this race, to fight the good fight, to remain steadfast, to further the Kingdom, and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… for it is painfully obvious that without Him, I am absolutely nothing. I deeply desire more than anything to make Him proud, that by my life or death, His name may be glorified.

Sometimes the good fight feels impossible, but I for one, am NOT giving up.

JV