Bloggled Turns 200!

"It will be said on that day, 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.  This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'" - Isaiah 25:9

My blog turns 200 (with posts) today and I feel like celebrating.  I should probably get the blog some orthopedic shoes, but I'm lazy and I think he'd (I guess it's a him, I don't want to make Melissa jealous) just prefer me to do him the honor writing the 200th.

I find it's odd that the 200th has landed on a Monday, which is a hard time to write, let alone celebrate, but it's good and it reminds me that God is faithful even on Mondays.  That is a big claim!

We've has this church-planter dude staying with us recently and he pointed me to Isaiah 25 and the rich celebration that is pictured there, as God brings his salvation and fulfills his covenantal promises to his people.  I can't wait to be there on the day the passage describes, it's going to be a really good day.

But it's hard to keep that hope in my vision.  It's so very difficult to celebrate and rejoice when life throws you into tail-spins and whirly-do-dads and you're not sure which way is up and which is down.  And on top of that, then it's Monday all over again.

That's why it's so important for me to remember, and especially on the 200th post, that God's reality is REALITY and in Jesus we find life, real LIFE.  These have been the themes that I have looked at the most through the past 200 posts, and my guess is that these will be the themes that occupy me for a while.

I guess I'd call this theme "Real Living."   Real living first and foremost entails a firm knowledge that Jesus Christ is risen (something that pastor friend reminded me of this weekend).  Armed with this knowledge everything is different.

EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!  I'm free now to really be sad, while having hope.  I can really pour out my heart and be broken, with full knowledge that I am being healed.  I really can play and be silly, knowing that Christ made me funny (or at least made me to think I'm funny, which can be even funnier).  I really can father, husband, and worship simply because Jesus Christ, this dude who God rose from the dead in the 1st century, is alive.

It's the beautiful insanity of being a Christian, that our most insane desires will and are being met.  It's the insane hope that the holes we all feel (thank you Ann Voskamp), the hurts we all know so well and the longing for real life that dominates the trajectories of our lives are will be filled, healed and met in Jesus.  He's my hole filler, the doctor, and my life's satisfaction .

So I guess as this is my 200th post, a milestone for me and for my blog, there's one thing I want to highlight:  The reason that this blog is still alive is because there's something real going on behind it.  So thank you Jesus and may your real life continue to fill the next 200.