There’s not many things worse than seeing red and blue lights behind you whilst driving. One thing that is worse, however, is when the conversation after the man controlling the red and blue rights ends with, “signing here is not an admission of guilt, but just a promise that you will contact the judge.” If you know me, you know that I typically don’t meet a stranger, and I typically leave conversations with people having made a new friend. This cop did not want to be my friend. I got a ticket this year, my first one ever. See, I was going into work early one morning, and unknowingly sped through a familiar stretch of road simply because it was earlier and darker than my usual time to commute through that spot. I went on my way, and came to a stoplight that I roll through every day. Frazzled and distracted from my ticket, I then rear-ended the woman ahead of me. It was just a light tap, very minimal damage to her vehicle (grill-guard on my truck did it’s job – thank you Texas 😊) and no one was hurt. Still the police were called to assess the situation and provide us both with the other’s accurate insurance information. I got in a wreck this year, my first one ever. I got a ticket and got in a wreck (in separate incidents), both for the first time, on the same morning. Not fun, to say the least. I’m so grateful for both of the experiences though, because in retrospect, I can now see how distracted I was. I was distracted with work items when I was speeding and not paying attention to the posted limit, and I let myself become even more distracted after that and ended up causing an accident. Satan wants us in a distracted state; it’s at that point that he can firmly move in and implant lies and temptations. I made this connection and learned from that morning the danger that distractions pose. But there’s something more here; through that experience I learned something. There was an element of failure that took place, natural consequences that followed, and a lesson learned. With societal pressures to do well in “learning” institutions, I feel that we neglect the value of learning, and processing through our learning. 2018 has been a year of learning for me.

Learning, and the application of such is crucial to our growth. Like my horrible morning of traffic incidents, I learned an overall lesson from the experience, and I learned practical steps to ensure that I don’t place myself into either of those scenarios again. Learning is important, and there’s no better teacher than God’s Word.

I’ve learned quite a bit this year; and I want to share 3 of the grander things that God has revealed to me either through failure, success, or just by common grace:

It really is all about relationships | Relationships – it’s a word used often in the church, in the camping ministry, and in corporate sales – a 3 way intersection for me. I’m a natural relater; I empathize, and I have a deeply ingrained desire to get to hear people’s life stories. The idea of doing life on life with people is something that can be jarring and taxing, but it is oh so rich. Naturally, God gives me a job that requires an intense amount of relational pursuit. On the outside, it seemed like a great fit and since my natural desire is to forge new relationships with people, it should’ve come easy! Parts of it did, but I quickly got lost in the desire to perform and not to relate. Effectively, my performance and my relationships suffered. This begins with Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus is the only thing that truly matters. I neglected this because I wanted to perform well for Him, perhaps a noble approach, but certainly misguided. Your relationships with others are your ministry. Instead of being concerned with performance, I learned the importance of prioritizing the relationships (something that I would have never assumed would be a problem for me), and the Lord simply handles the rest. Easy to say, harder to do – but it is truth! It really is all about relationships. “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

There’s power in truth | There’s a stigma around politicians for being liars; I’d even argue that most of the time its more than a stigma. Nonetheless, most of them are good at dodging questions and beating around the bush. Luckily God has not yet told me to be a politician, but I do indeed have the gift of changing the subject away from myself if it moves to something that merits me potentially having to share truth or vulnerable things about me. This is not healthy. There’s power in truth, and God’s Word is the ultimate and eternal truth. There’s power in confession. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). Christ did the work for our salvation, that is achieved through belief in Him. Sin is forgiven, and we are able to relate to the Father, only through Christ and what He did. The way that we heal from our sin nature and tendencies, however, is to confess them to one another and pray for one another. Withholding sins, not handling conflict – not being direct – is simply passivity. Passivity never served anyone well; read Genesis 3. I learned this year that there is immense power in truth, and while speaking it and seeking it is often a painful process, it never makes anything worse. There’s power in truth.

Prayer is priority one | “Truly , I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). I don’t know how to pray. I feel as if I’ve often focused on the actual words and coming up with enough of them, instead of just going before my Father and speaking with Him. If you too don’t understand prayer, then first know that it is essential to the Christian life. When we become better prayers, it’s not that we arrive or have it figured out, but in our constant submission and prayer, we realize how much we need God. I’m reading a great book on prayer by Paul E. Miller, he cites Christ’s teaching on how to pray and approach prayer like a child: “Whenever Jesus starts talking about his relationship with his Father, Jesus becomes childlike, very dependent. “The Son can do nothing of his own accord (John 5:19).” … When Jesus tells us to become like little children, he isn’t telling us to do anything he isn’t already doing. Jesus is, without question, the most dependent human being who ever lived. Because he can’t do life on his own, he prays. And he prays. And he prays.” See, a child crawls up in his Father’s lap. He asks questions that don’t necessarily correlate. He follows no path, he often doesn’t wait for answers, he just speaks. He knows and trust in His Father’s words and answers. There’s no science to this; Jesus calls us to childlike faith and to approach our Father through Him in a way that is totally and completely dependent. Jesus prayed constantly, because He needed His Father. If we do not mimic this, we essentially say that we don’t need God. If even Jesus needed His Father all day every day, how can we expect to not? This year I’ve learned in a concrete way that we abide with Him in spirit and in communion with Him through prayer. Even when I don’t understand or know what to say, God still has a remedy. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Prayer is priority one.

This has been a year of learning for me. I’ve learned that it really is all about relationships, that there is power in truth, and that prayer is priority one. That’s only a few on the things God has revealed to me this year. μαθαίνω means learn in the Greek. This has most certainly been a year of learning. You’ll never arrive; don’t stop learning.