This will be my introductory post to this platform. I am a Faith based writer in pursuit of sharing wisdom, knowledge, and insight through electronic and word of mouth networking. My goal is to inspire others to have conversations with their families, friends, and loved ones about Faith based topics, with the goal of changing peoples lives for the better. These topics are not presented using AI assistance or anything of the like. I prefer inspiration from God's Word. I am not posting here to be controversial or click harvest. I am only writing what studying God's Word inspires me to write, so please share with whoever is on your heart after reading my posts. Blessings.

Throughout history, until the last seventy or eighty years, most of mankind had to commit the majority of their time focusing on surviving and providing for their families. Prior to the post World War 2 era, the pursuit of pleasure and leisure was something only the elite and wealthy could partake. The rest of the general population, even in the civilized modern world, had to spend energy putting food on the table. With the advent of more modern conveniences like electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, clean water, internet access, cell phones, fast food on every corner, home delivery, and literally obtaining anything you could possibly want with little effort, we've arrived at a point where our younger generations take these conveniences for granted and may not understand the benefits of living out a productive life. The word "deserve" has become commonplace in our vocabularies.

A topic that's been strong on my heart of late is how wisely am I using God's time in contrast to things I want to do? I am retired and I have a lot of free time on my hands. I can play golf all day, mess around with video games and the internet until the wee hours and pretty much do whatever I want to do. Seeking earthly pleasure instead of seeking God. Don't misunderstand. I have a committed Bible study routine at my mealtimes everyday. It's just automatic. When I feed my mouth I feed my soul with God's Word. But. I no longer attend Church for a variety reasons I may get into in later posts. I have a men's group at my golf club I attend but it's inconsistent. I'm basically flying solo. Dangerous territory for a single man in the modern world. Temptation at every turn. The dating world for singles like myself is a disaster. People looking for intimacy and financial benefits without commitment with multiple people. The fornication lifestyle is out of control. Women at church dressing like hookers and looking for men with money. Guys with profiles on multiple dating sites looking for casual sex. You get my point. I could go on and on.

I began to question the validity of my commitment to being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and a soldier in God's army fighting the daily battle of frontline spiritual warfare. It's so easy for us to stray off the path to the narrow gate. God wants us to be strong and courageous about our Faith, to quote Joshua, and not be timid to quote 2 Timothy. God showed me that to gain his wisdom I'm going to have to suffer some things I can't understand. Jesus suffered for me so I don't mind suffering a little bit.

It's been one of those times lately where I had to take a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself and ask, Is this really what I need to be doing with God's time? Thus the second iteration of this blog was born. I have a couple of areas in my life where I'm flying against God's wind. Chasing after a wind as it were, to quote Ecclesiastes. But I have been suffering from the pains of lack of inspiration, until a recent health issue kicked in the motivation I needed. Funny how that works. As a Believer, God is in control of every detail and aspect of your life. He is going to shape you and mold you and refine you to exactly what He needs you to be on this Earth and on into the Eternal Age. The distractions of modern life can easily sidetrack us. Next thing you know you're elderly and without energy, and you wonder what the heck happened. God speaks to us through our conscience and our hearts, and those little "cosmic coincidences" that happen without explanation. And we keep churning ahead with our sometimes extreme devotion to the ungodly.

The pursuit of pleasure is paradoxical to our walk of Faith. Pleasure is related to the flesh and the flesh is hostile to God to quote Paul in Romans. There are fine lines drawn between the parallels of idolatry, pleasure, fulfillment, and happiness. I for one cannot discern properly between these if I do not immerse myself in God's word several times a day or more, and more importantly, and this is the big one, talk to other people I meet in daily life about my Faith. Communicating with people and even having simple conversations exchanging casual pleasantries can give you a pretty good indication of what "heart space" someone is in. Believe it or not most people out there are just dying for someone to talk to. Social media is not the same. It lacks inflection and context. Unfortunately we have a generation of people now that don't know anything but texting and messaging. Social skills have become awkward and cumbersome among our youth, because they've never had to use and develop them. But people will gravitate and open up to someone who is effective at breaking the ice and being human.

The motivating factor behind presenting this piece today was my slowly ramped up addiction to an online video game. There I said it. I was spending a disturbing amount of time playing a game with other people online to the point it was taking over my life. On days where I didn't play golf I was in this freaking game. Sixty six years old and using God's precious time to pursue manipulating colored computer pixels on a screen with a keyboard and mouse to obtain more worthless colored pixels. And to what end? It's not just the video game that's the problem. The pursuit of personal pleasure can become a hotbed breeding ground for all kinds of other issues that are hostile to The Spirit. Pride. Greed. Selfishness. Self-centeredness, and in the end, psychological hedonism.

I don't post this to judge you the reader or anyone else. I post this in hopes something goes off in your heart to share this with someone you love or maybe someone who is struggling with their Faith and caught up in the whirlwind of the world and chasing after their own winds. Chasing the eternal winds of God is a journey that sometimes needs a course correction..