The ultimate of ‘defining moments’…

There is one ‘defining moment’ that is common to all of mankind, and that is what they will do when they come face to face with Jesus Christ. It is generally understood and accepted that there is a God and that there is an innate (born with) desire to know God. Roy Davis, author of Satisfying Our Innate Desire to Know God, writes, “A compelling urge from the deepest level of our being makes us yearn to have our awareness restored to its original, pure state and we cannot be completely satisfied until this is accomplished.”

It was God who intended that it be this way. Solomon, the wisest man to have ever lived said, “He (God) has put eternity in their hearts”. God has not only put such a desire in every person’s heart, but also placed them in pre-appointed times and places in order that they would seek God and in their seeking find Him .

God, on several occasions was heard to have said, regarding Jesus Christ, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him! It was Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father (to God) except through Me.” Simple logic tells us, that since every person seeks the truth about how to know God from birth, such a search will ultimately lead them to Jesus Christ.

Every person will come face to face with who Jesus is and what He said at some time in their life on this earth. It will be the ultimate of ‘defining moments’. The only question that remains when people meet Him is the timeless question Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” And just like every question that is ever asked, there is a right answer…and a wrong answer. The wrong answer leads to disaster and ultimately tremendous dissatisfaction. However, the right answer leads to ‘complete satisfaction’…guaranteed!

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions!”

I will never forget the day that my father said this to me. He had called me, long distance, after an extended period of me not calling him. When I realized who it was, I quickly said, “Dad…I was going to call you!”, to which he promptly replied with, “Son, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!” I don’t remember a whole lot about the rest of the conversation.

One of my favorite people of all time said, “The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice…O wretched man that I am!” This is precisely how I have felt much of my life. My mind and my heart race with the things I want to accomplish…and yet I find that it rarely gets past my mind and my heart. Posting to my ‘Defining Moments’ blog is just one of those many things I want to do, I feel I should do, but simply fail to do it. O wretched man that I am!

In my first post on July 25, 2008 (almost two years ago) I wrote a simple definition of a ‘defining moment’, “By simple definition, a defining moment would be ‘moments in our lives that define who we are’.” My failure in posting to my blog is another one of those defining moments which say, ‘you are being defined by what you fail to do’. Ouch! Those are words which cut to my heart and yet at the same time, as I face them head on, cause me to search for a remedy.

My last post was almost one year ago to the day (March 8, 2009). So, what you are reading is my ‘annual’ post, three weeks early…just kidding. I concluded my first noble post, What is a ‘defining moment?, with these words. “And so I will write, and if people read...cool...but if not, I will at least have enjoyed the process of putting my thoughts about the defining moments in my life and the world around us into words.” Oh what noble and lofty words these were, perfectly setting the stage for yet another job unfinished and another ‘defining moment’ in my life. Call me crazy, but it is a little hard to get people to read something when you never write anything!

It was one of my heroes, the apostle Paul, who declared himself such a wretched man. However, at the same time, he declared who it was who could rescue him from his wretchedness. “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I thank God that posting or not posting to my blog, cleaning or not cleaning my garage, or any number of things don’t change my standing with Christ. But, they do define me, they speak of who I am which isn’t always who I want to be.

“And so I will write…once again…and this time…if I don’t, I will pull my blog off the internet and put both myself and my two followers out of our misery!”