Drifting, Dreaming, and Doing

(Part 1 of 3)

Maybe you are like me in this, but do you sometimes allow your mind to drift to the future?  You may be 18 or 19 or you may be 60 or 70 and these ages will bring to you different sorts of “dreams” but still they fill your mind and heart with emotion.

I’ll share with you about my journey through life, “dreaming” about what God might want for me, what I can do for Him, and seeking to do His will at all times. Although this refers to my personal “story” and desire, I assume that there may be able to empathize with parts and these will be somewhat familiar to you—and you also may share some of these same desires. In fact, in my life “story” (entitled “Seeking God”), you will find some of these parts mentioned. Please see the Search Engine for the website (www.Truediscipleship.com).

When I was about age 22, I was living in Eastern Pennsylvania and working in the general hospital there, in lieu of the military. Those of you who are devoted Christians will recognize this as found in Matthew 5:38-48 and similar passages of Scripture. Since I was a follower of Jesus, I was seeking to do all things according to the will of God.

I began to formulate my “plans” for the future, according to what I concluded was God’s will for my life. At my age (about 22 at this time, as I mentioned), I knew that my plans were for a limited time span for a limited life. If you are a Bible reader, you will recognize James 4:14-15. Let me quote part of verse 14 just here: “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Our life is like a vapor. It is here today but tomorrow (too quickly) it will vanish away. Just today I received word of the death of another of my high school classmates. This is quite sobering, as you may recognize, and we must use our limited time here wisely!

There is a little saying that I place on all of my envelopes that I send out and it graces my wall as well on a wall motto: “Only one life, it will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” Isn’t this true! We only have one life but it will soon be past. But deep down we know that only what we do for Christ—the very Son of the living God, our beloved Savior—will last through our brief life here and extend into the vast reaches of endless eternity! This is utterly awesome!

Thus, this was the perspective I had on life at this age of twenty-two. (My earlier perspective, at age 15, is similar to this. Thus, it was also my view of things earlier—in my teen years. When I was about age twenty-two, I assumed that I would be married by age twenty (two years earlier). Then, before very long, I formulated my plans for my lifetime. I came to see that there were many different views and different lifestyles in existence—even among professing Christians. How was I to deal with these? Since these different views represented different worldviews and life views, and since life was so brief, and since we only had one mere life to live, I must earnestly strive to discover the answers now—while my life now existed, while today was still here, while I was still in the flesh!

Thus, when I was about twenty-two, I began to think that the wisest way to use my life was to do this: I would travel the country and get a personal, up-close view of America. After this half-year (or six months) period, I would find a secluded place in the country where I could engage in about a year of intense study to seek to discover God’s truth (found in God’s written Word) on many different subjects, particularly that which pertained to salvation. I wanted to know this truth—God’s revealed will—intensely and I thought that it could be grasped in some measure. Then, after this period of thought, study, and reflection, I would travel again for perhaps another half year. After the end of this two-year period of time, I would then be prepared to begin my life-work. Maybe this seems somewhat fantastic to you, but to me I was dead earnest!

Along with these plans (see above), I thought that God would give me a similar-natured wife with similar life desires. We would then begin to preach and share the “good news” of Christ (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-48). We would begin to gather interested men and women together into small assemblies to worship, to live, to study, and to carry on God’s will. Further, I didn’t think it would stop there. No, we (my wife and I) would travel the country of America doing this sharing as God gave us enablement. And this might even extend to foreign countries with a similar perspective. Many of you live in other countries of the world and never do I want to leave out of my consideration the places outside of the United States!

Does this sound somewhat “dreamy” and irresponsible? I know that to many of our readers, it might. But keep in mind that this was still being formulated. It began about age 20 or 21, but about this time I was “drafted” (at this time the draft for the American Armed Forces was well under way). I was sent to Eastern Pennsylvania (to work in a large city hospital) and then to Eastern Ohio (at a small country hospital). This portion has been explained adequately described in my “story” section of the website. I invite you to check this out. After this two year and four month period, I went to Eastern Pennsylvania again where I bought a used car for my travels and extensively prepared it for this while living in the country. And thus I began my preparations for this somewhat “unconventional” portion of my life. After this time, I prepared for the studies and travels and preaching that I earlier described.

I might add that during this three year period, I not only prepared my mind for this two-year activity, but I prepared other aspects as well. I gathered up books, tracts, and bought a camera. I even purchased film for the trip. Also, I did much study and learned as much as I could about God’s Word, about the history and geography of the country, and, of course, I had some contact with other people (even though I knew of no one who shared all aspects of this sort of “strange” activity).

My further descriptions (found in the “Seeking God” installments of the website) will be of interest to some of you. Thus, we began this period at about age twenty-two and the first part ends at about age twenty-five (in the fall of the year). My plans had been altered quite a bit during this period of time. And I still was not married and (of course) I had no children.