A few rambling thoughts...

Let me tell you a little bit about what you're about to read. I started writing this with no intention of ever publishing or blogging it. It was early one morning, and it was time to sort out a few thoughts, so I started writing, and I was intending to file it away somewhere, and leave it.

But some weeks passed and the Lord began to impress me to share it. At least, part of it. So, some more weeks have passed, and now I'm going to share it. At least, part of it - slightly adapted.

I write this as a boy who stands on the threshold of manhood, twenty years old.
And from this vantage point, I look forward upon the hills of life to be lived. A life to be lived to glory of God, Who has given this life to me. And I by His grace have given myself to Him, so that this life, which I live, will not be my life at all, but Christ, Who liveth in me.

From this minor ridge, I stand and look back over the fields and farms of youth, the lawns and gardens of childhood, even over the doldrums of toddler days, and I also look forward over fields yet unplowed, over life yet unlived. This view holds the thrill that must have thrilled Daniel Boone as he stood on his first ridge setting out into the unknown. I see that there are hills that have never been climbed, cliffs that have not been scaled, oceans that have never been navigated. I see that there are challenges no human has met before, there are battles yet to be fought, and victories that must be won. There are tragedies yet untasted, there are adversities yet unseen, dilemmas undeliberated, sacrifices that have yet to be made. There are days yet undawned, sorrows yet unknown, and joys yet to be experienced.


This, my friends, is the frontier of the future. Advance I must, retreat I cannot. It is not possible to move faster or slower, for time's relentless hands bring it on with a constant and unrelenting rate. Whether scaling a cliff or traversing a desert, it will not change pace, but will continue to test; continue to challenge. This is a frontier that has no end, except for future frontiers of eternity. No man knows, nor can know, the events that will lie ahead, but God indeed is the One Who sees, and Who knows, the terrain that I must travel.

This is a frontier that calls, as all frontiers have, and all frontiers will, for men of valour, and for women of virtue. And in doing so, it calls for that which is not common to humanity. The boldest bravery that I can muster up as a mortal man is insufficient to conquer this frontier for eternity. The most valiant of men have fainted behind us in the kaleidoscope of history, because all vigor and all valour that finds its source within the mortal man will prove to be a mortal figment of a mortal imagination.

Only the Immortal has conquered this mortality. And only on the strength of that immortal victory can we be conquerors in this battle. And with that Immortal One dwelling in this mortal one, one day this mortal flesh will be filed in the morgue, but the immortal victory of Christ which was wrought in me will ascend the final frontier of eternity. -And I pray, my friends, that this victory is wrought in you too, because you also face this frontier.

‘God made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions.’ And the frontier of the future that lies before us still calls, not for inventions, not for machines and devices, not even for muscles or money, but for upright men – men of valor, and women of virtue. Men and women who will not only live victoriously, but who will also die victoriously. And the only way I can meet this challenge, and answer this call, is that I be found in Him, not having my own righteousness – not walking after the flesh, but after the spirit.

And here I find one of the greatest challenges on this frontier: Verily, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is where the valiant are divided from the cowardly. This is where those who walk after the spirit are divided from those who walk after the flesh. This is where my mortal and fallen flesh must be mortified, and this is where the Spirit of the Son of God must be raised up.

The future is truly a frontier for all humanity. And as all frontiers have been, and all frontiers will be, it is conquerable only in the present. Right here, right now, in the present. No one has ever committed future sins, nor has any man yet built a reputation on things that he 'will do'. The past is comprised of the completed present, and the future remains that frontier which is one step ahead of the present. Yesterday was once 'a today', and today was once 'tomorrow', but our winning or our losing takes place right here, right now, in the present.


Pause with me here and survey this wild, untouched, unknown, unexplored frontier. We all will traverse a frontier upon which no man has set foot before. We will either conquer it, or it will conquer us. But you and I can be more than conquerors - through Christ Jesus in us, the hope of glory. Right here, right now, in the present, this frontier of the future can be conquered, through mortifying our mortal flesh, and the regeneration of our minds by the immortal victory of Christ.

Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.