till the end.

Lately I've been fed up with blogging. I've had a "lifestyle" blog for years and I just couldn't find it within me to keep posting. I was set on walking away, already composing the "i'm done with blogging" post.

But then I had my nightly quiet time.

Every night I spend a little time doing something called the lectio divina. It's an old Catholic way to encounter Christ more vividly in the Gospels, although it translates well to any book of the Bible. Essentially, you chose a small passage, say two or three verses, and use those. Read through it once, then take a few minutes to meditate and see if a specific verse or phrase or even word stands out to you. Then read it a second time, this time pausing to meditate on what God seems to be saying in the passage. Read through the passage a third time and meditate this time on what's being said to you specifically. You can actually combine parts two and three but I like to split them. I've found that studying the Bible this way brings more deeply into the text.

Anyways, I was doing my usual lectio divina with a passage from Luke, specifically Luke 1:21-25 In the passage, Luke tells the story of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest and while he was doing his spiritual duty, the angel Gabriel appeared to him with some good news: though he and Elizabeth were older and had been barren, they were going to have a child. Zechariah wasn't buying it so he was struck mute until the child was born.

But none of that was what stood out to me.

Verse 23 simply says:

"When his time of service was completed, he returned home."

After Gabriel left, I would have said close enough and gone home.

Because that's the pattern in my life. I successfully complete 2 out of 3 workouts and say that's enough. I get fed up and say that's enough. Something unexpected happens and say that's enough.

But Zechariah didn't. Even though he had this amazing experience, he stayed in the temple and finished his assigned task. He didn't walk away. He didn't quit or decide that what he had been doing wasn't important anymore.

It could easily be argued that staying wasn't necessary; God had promised to give him a son so what more did he need? Was anything else really necessary?

But it was because Zechariah stayed.

The message was blatantly clear: don't quit. Don't walk away.

Then came the big questions: don't quit what? Life in general? Was it generic advice for the next time I think about stopping running 3 seconds early or don't review that last document? Staying the course is good life advice in general but was there more being said?

There was.  I immediately thought of the blog. And then it hit me: use blogging to spread the Gospel. Don't walk away from blogging because it's difficult. Instead, turn it into something good, something beautiful.

So that's what I'm doing here. Stay for a while and walk with me. I don't know everything, or even that much. But I'm willing to learn and I'd love it if you learned with me.

So once again, welcome!! I hope you'll stay.