Originally written January 3, 2008.
John Hever, the pastor of H2O in Orlando, is the main speaker of Awaken 2008. Isn’t that ironic? I came all the way to Europe to listen to a pastor from Orlando. After speaking with him briefly this morning, I learned that his oldest daughter is a senior at my high school and is hoping to go to UF next year. Another speaker, Joe Dunn, also lives in Orlando.
The ironic proximity of the main speaker aside, the conference has been well worthwhile so far. The theme for Awaken 2008 is the Story of God. Last night John gave us an outline of the Story of God from the Fall all the way to Christ’s return. The title of this morning’s session is “Waking Up to the God of the Story.” He gave us some advice on how to grow in a relationship with God. He said something toward the end that I’ve heard before but forgotten. John asked the speaker at his first conference a question, and he answered with, “Read the Scriptures every day, and I promise you it will change your life.” That was not what he wanted to hear, but he’s found years later that it’s true.
I almost never read the Bible on my own until I entered the University of Florida and got involved in Gator Christian Life. In the past two years, it certainly has changed my life. The problem is I’ve never been able (or maybe willing enough) to read it every single day. I often read it daily for a two or three weeks and then start to fall apart. Then I’ll stop for maybe two weeks until I finally get to a point where I just have to do it. It’s not out of guilt. It’s because I genuinely want to. That’s a sign of major change because that never happened four years ago. The feeling is intensified in Spain, where I do not see GCL comrades around every corner and hear the Gospel preached loudly on campus.
I actually made a New Year’s resolution for this year. I don’t think I made one for last year. If I did, it must not be very important because I can’t remember it. I’ll certainly remember this one because I’m writing about it now, and those of you reading this can remind me if I ever appear to forget it. I actually didn’t think of making a resolution until New Year’s Eve. I was at a party at the home of Daniel Goering, the pastor of The Bridge in Cologne. They put up three paper Christmas trees. The plan was for everyone to cut out an ornament and write on the back a wish for the new year. I thought “wish” and “resolution” were synonymous, and I needed to think of a resolution anyway. On the back of my lousy attempt at a Gator-shaped ornament, I wrote this, “to maintain contentment and focus on God.”
In other words, I want to never forget this year that I only need Jesus in my life. I never want to lose focus on Him or lose sleep over something trivial because I forget He is in control of everything. I could have made a resolution to read Scripture every single day, but I know that will not happen. Also, I don’t want to find myself reading the Bible just to read it and then immediately forgetting what I just read. In contrast, prayer, friendships, and other books can help me maintain focus on God. Scripture is very powerful, but I often find that I need other things to supplement it. That is why God gave us the church. Nevertheless, sticking to my resolution will no doubt require more reading of Scripture, more prayer, more of everything really.
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