My Purpose

I think that critical self-reflection is important. It was Socrates who told us, "The unexamined life is not worth living." You and I have a serious need to think about what we say, do, believe and think. We should hold ourselves accountable for our plans and decisions. Unfortunately, too many people do not have plans. Life moves somewhat aimlessly from day to day, event to event, crisis to crisis for them.

My 2010 Lenten journey has been especially filled with this sort of introspection. I want to be the best person that I possibly can be. It is important for me to have a focus and an end in mind to my life. I want to know where I am going, and how I am going to get there.

Several years ago I evaluated my purpose in life. (This evaluation corresponded roughly to my fortieth birthday and a "mid-life crisis.") I studied, thought, meditated and prayed about what I should be doing with my life. I believed at my fortieth birthday that I was roughly half way through my life. I was trying to discover what to do with the last 40 years of my life.

I believe that God has a purpose for every person, and therefore, I felt a need to discover God's purpose for the rest of my life. I discovered three things. Here they are in no particular order.

1. I am supposed to raise up leaders for the church, especially among young people. To that end, I have focused more of my time and energy on students- children, teens and young adults.
2. I am supposed to teach the Bible and foster a love for it among God's people.
3. I am supposed to renew worship in the United Methodist Church. This does not mean that I have to get people to change their preferred musical style, but that they would get a new understanding of what worship means.

That's it. I'm down to about 33-34 years. I'm going to make the most of them, though. With God's help.