Hi my name is Frank.

Let me be frank. I have been doing a lot of good things lately. Like, can honestly say that 

I have been very focussed on the gospel mission lately. Every day when I wake up, that is what 

is on my mind. I have been hanging out with my neighbors, planned a pool party to get the proclaiming 

believers together to form some kind of community. There are honestly very few moments in my 

day that are not purposeful. Even now, as I am writing this blog, the purpose is for the body that 

is far away from me to be able to see that I am being faithful here so that you guys can send me 

out confidently.

Ok, but you cannot stop reading now. If you do, you will miss the point. I am not saying all of 

these things to boast. I am saying them for the opposite reason actually. You see, for me, when 

I think that it is me doing all of this stuff, I loose perspective. When I think that it is me doing these things, rather than the Holy Spirit graciously doing these things through me, when I forget that it really is just Him using me to accomplish His work, I get arrogant. And that is so not ok. Because when that happens, I miss the whole point. And when I make it about me, I think other people might miss the point too. 

     But that is not to say that effort is bad. I think that we can say that doing is Biblical. When God calls us to do something (like make disciples and teach them to obey), we sure as heck better do it! That is sometimes called being faithful (When the people in Jesus' day thought of being faithful, they did not think of people who knew a lot about God or who could talk about spiritual things. That would not have even crossed their minds. For them, faithfulness by definition included action.).

     All of that to say, I think that I am starting to live in the reality of one of the seeming dualities of the New Testament. Like, when Paul so often talks about toiling with all of his strength for the sake of the gospel, yet it is not he who does it, but the power of God through him, that is what I am stumbling into. It is wierd, and I have to be careful not to believe the many lies that are being thrown at me to confuse me, but I think that this is right. All I know is that I love God so much, and I am trying to love him with my life by living for Him and not for myself (ooooh. If I were to die today, I do not want to regret all of the efforts that I spent on myself).