I've been a Christian since 1979.
I've been a follower of Christ since 1990.
I've been attending church weekly since 1994.
I've been reading my Bible (almost) daily since 2003.
If I studied any subject in the world for as long as I have studied God's Word, I would be an expert in my field.
And yet?
Up until a few years ago, I still felt embarrassingly deficient in the Living for Christ department.
It's like God freed me from slavery when I was nine years old, and I had been wandering around the desert ever since.
But that all changed in December 2006. My goal to read the Bible every day led me at that point to the book of Joshua... the tale of the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the desert.
One commentator I read during that time got my attention. He made the argument that the Promised Land is not heaven. To back up the point, he cited many facts- including that there were battles in the land to which they were headed. Heaven won't have battles. Instead, he suggested that the Promised Land is the Christian life here on earth. Joshua, he said, was the Christian's answer to-- "I believe, I'm saved.... now what?"
My heart beat rapidly... this was exactly what I needed! I grabbed my backpack and dove in, savored every word in the book of Joshua. I finally got to dip my toe into what it felt like to really, truly walk with God! This journey, though just barely scraping the surface, changed the way I live as a Christian forever. Every day I would wake up and rush to the Word to see what goodness would happen next. As I followed the trail, I kept a journal of all the sights I saw and left markers along the way for the day God would ask me to share it.
That day is coming soon, my friends... I can't even wait!
