DEREK MAUL: my so-called "normal" life

Thursday, March 29, 2012

my so-called "normal" life

Celebrating my birthday with the immediate family: l-r: Craig, David, Naomi, Andrew, Rebekah, Derek

This morning it appears that I pretty much have nothing to post. Essentially, I’ve determined it’s time to get back to my so-called “normal” life. What that means is:

Check my calendar… actually follow-up on some of my more routine assignments… begin to write the news articles I’ve been putting off for the past few weeks… finally get around to doing my taxes (maybe)… get on the phone and scare up some new work… schedule a round of golf (that’s more like it!)….

SURPRISE: I really didn’t expect to disengage with life so thoroughly. And I honestly didn’t know that I had, until I started the process of reentry and realized just how far I had wandered.

So – today – I’m going to ground myself in two things, and take it from there.

First, my family. I know this sounds cliché but these past few weeks have done a lot in terms of helping me to understand the strength, the extent and the gravity of those ties. Our children – Andrew, Naomi and Craig – travelled so far and gave so much in order to simply be present. Their faithfulness blew me away. In some respects that simple act told me more than I ever thought I knew about what it means to be this family.
Then, God’s Word. We talked about this at my small group Wednesday evening. Eric quoted my writing from REACHING TOWARD EASTER and we talked about what it might mean in our day-to-day lives. I’ll paste in the quote and let it speak for itself.

Jesus pointed to God’s Word as truth. The power of evil is resourceful; but God’s Word is a sword more than equal to the task. It is imperative that we immerse ourselves in truth so we are more than ready to take our stand when the time comes. How might you use scripture as the sword of truth today? – page 102