For years, I’ve turned this blog on and off. Honestly, I love to write, but it has been a matter of energy and time management. Running Hasten Nations, being a husband, father, and son has taken all I have had to give over the past few years. With all of the funerals and general upheaval, I’ve had to focus my time and energy on what is most important.
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What kind of follower of Jesus would I be if I abandoned my family priorities for the sake of my personal dreams or interest? What kind of dad puts his children’s needs behind his desires?
However, as seasons have shifted, I feel the margin to start writing again. So, I flipped the switch. In doing so, I had to fill out all the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) settings and give my blog a general theme. This has always been hard. Most of my writings about the world and missions and growing in God go on our ministry site (although there will be some overlap), so I had to ask myself the hard question.
What do I want to say to the world? How do I want to personally serve the world?
My pastor the other day had us all ask ourselves what type of person would you want in your life if you sinned and fell short? Again, I heard someone say that you will find your life’s purpose by going through the darkest season and becoming the type of person you needed during that time.
Jesus said it best, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”
And so it hit me. It’s as natural as by red beard. What do I want to give to the world? What do I need?
It came in a simple phase, “Do Not Hold Back.”
I needed someone in my life telling me not to hold back by gifts, my energy, my affection from the world. I needed someone to tell me that I must not hold anything back from my family and from my kids. I needed someone to tell me that I should never hold back anything from God!
Someone needed to remind me to love God with all my mind, all my soul, all my heart, and all my strength even when my nose was barely above water.
So the theme of this new blog is Do Not Hold Back! A Blog about Wholehearted Living.
As often as I am able, I want to encourage you to live wholeheartedly. And in the process, I want to be the friend to you that I have needed. A person truly on your side, a dad who tells you the truth instead of fluffing you up just to be popped, a prodder poking you toward giving Jesus, your family, and your calling your all.
And I wanna listen to me to. In these days ahead, we are going to need our whole selves. Writing these words pushes me forward. These words remind me to give all I have to my family, to my God, to my calling.
So join me on this adventure. Not only will I be blogging here, but Darlene and I will be sending a new Wholehearted Living newsletter often to our subscribers. To get on that list, go here.
I’m excited about this new adventure, and I hope you are.
