The first couple of weeks at FPO

Well, week 1 and 2 of FPO are complete! I feel like the days are flying by!
These two weeks have been packed full though. A personal retreat, classes, prayer, 6 am running, ultimate frisbee, eating Ethioian cuisine, and hours of cards are just a few of the things that have kept me busy. With so much going on, my main prayer has been to just stay focused on the Lord. He is the reason I am here. It's so easy to get distracted by friends and activities, but ultimately I want to deepen my relationship with the Lord and hunger more and more after his Word every day.
We have had some good workshops, inlcuding a few days on Spiritual warfare. My favorite session was given by Gordon Fort on Friday. He started out by saying, "Why would we want to export a mediocre Christianity?" It is so true if you think about it. We get so accustomed to going to church on Sunday, then we leave the front doors of the church and go on with our everyday activities throughout the rest of the week. There's nothing wrong with that, but we tend to forget in our busyness what life is really about. Being a Christian is not a one day a week thing. It is an everyday of our life thing. To be truly alive and free in Christ, we must deny ourselves daily. The only way to real victory in our lives is to let God take the rightful place on the throne of our lives. This also means that the standard for righteousness in our lives cannot be based on what is commonly acceptable in our world. God's Word is the standard for our lives. We stifle what the Lord could do in us and through us because we do not live in the Spirit everyday. As long as we continue to try to live in the flesh and in the Lord, we can accomplish nothing. This really hit home for me. I must deny myself, my flesh, my desires every single day. I don't want to be a mediocre Christian. I know I am victorious in the Lord, but I want to live out that victory every day. I can't accomplish a thing on my own.
well, that's one area the Lord has been working in my life. I'm sure over the next few weeks, few years I will be stretched in ways that I never imagined. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me!