Alex and Brett

First, I’d like to thank Alex and Brett Harris of The Rebelution for linking to me. Alex and Brett, that was almost 500 new visitors! God bless you! And folks, if any of you haven’t visited the Rebelution yet, you have to go there now. If you thought my blog was good—twin that!

Carl Brugger

Carl greatly assisted me the other evening in going through all of my old posts and running them through a cleaning script to clean out all those yucky symbols that were showing. Thanks Carl, you’re awesome!

%{color:gray}Now for the News:%

Archives!

Go ahead and browse through all the best archives on OnewayPurpose.com—right there on the sidebar, or over here in the archives page.

Search

You can now search through all the posts I’ve made quickly and easily. Right up there on the top right of this page. See?

Keep watching. We’ve only begun.

Introduction

‘Of Giants and Grasshoppers’ is a brand-new, indefinitely continuing weekly series right here on Oneway Purpose. Directed mostly at young men, but applicable to almost everybody’s life in one way or another, this series bites into some of the biggest cultural and spiritual issues that face young people today. Too many men are viewing themselves as grasshoppers. Too many men have lost their vision, their honor. I want to do my part in restoring manhood, not only to my own character but to the character of as many men I know. Let’s all do the same.

Giants and Grasshoppers?

Espionage is a dream job for a handful, and a terrifying occupation to the rest. Right now, I want you to put yourself in the place of one of the millions of Israelites and stand ready to hear the report of a small group of men who have just returned from spying out the Promised Land. I’m sure you’re excited. Here is the report: (From Numbers 13, ESV)

“We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this [a large cluster of grapes and fruit the spies had carried back] is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.”

Then Caleb said,

“Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Then the men who had gone up with him said,

“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying,

“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

1 out of 12

I can just picture them there, 12 men start telling about the wonder and beauty of the fruitfulness of the land. And then 11 say ‘but’. But… However… the people in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Caleb is standing there realizing that they’re about to launch into a negative campaign against taking over the land, so he interrupts them and says, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

But the rest of the men countered, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

For they are Stronger than We

Did you notice the reason they gave for not being able to overcome the land? Did you notice?! Since when was that ever a reason for failure? Since when did the Israelites have that attitude? What had happened? Is it possible that they had fallen into the same trap that we find ourselves in so often?

How many times have we whined, “But that’s impossible! Do you realize how big a job that is?!” Foremost, it lies in our character and our attitude towards danger and responsibility. Guys, listen carefully.

Recently, at a college in Montreal, some psychopath (I refuse to call him a man) male, walked up with a couple weapons and started shooting randomly at people. He started outside the college with one or two shots, wounding at least one person. Than he slowly walked into the building, through the front doors, down the hallway, (at this point police were already following him telling him to drop his gun), and into the cafeteria where he started shooting again for another 10 minutes while police organized themselves to take him. He ended up shooting himself finally, after he had killed one and critically wounded over a dozen.

What angered me most was not the police—it was that all the men ran when they saw him… and left the women to fend for themselves. Of the 19 men in that room, not a single one stayed to help the 14 women, There was not even one single man, one single hero. nobody who stood up to him. If even a few men in that room had tackled him, he would not have had the opportunity to do more than wound a couple people. He was using an automatic rifle, an extremely ineffective weapon at close range. But there were no heroes that day. Not even one.

I had a long time to think about how I would have acted if I was the 1 out of 19 in that situation. Would I have risked my life? As I began thinking about this I realized just why everybody ran, and just why nobody stayed. Everybody was ruled by fear—the same fear we all have.

Ruled by Fear

And so were the other 11 spies. They were afraid, and they gave that reason enough to not be able to conquer. Nobody but Caleb had any faith in God. Nobody was willing to risk themselves in obedience. It was the same story all over again in the Montreal shooting. Nobody was willing to risk their lives. One guy told the reporter, “I was there, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to get shot!’ so I ran for my life.”

Very reasonable decision. I must commend you, very wise. But your life was not the only one in question. If you were only watching out for your own skin, than that would have been just fine. But I’m afraid that today sir, you proved yourself a child.

That would have been entirely our same action, unless we were ruled by something other than fear. Like honor. Like principle. No hero will claim he was not afraid, he just knew had to do his duty.

Here again are a couple of the vows of Chivalry.

1. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
2. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
3. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

We Seemed to Ourselves as Grasshoppers

Picture yourself. Now picture a grasshopper. Those are big giants aren’t they?

When we are ruled by fear, everything takes a different proportion. But now, what exactly did they say? “We seemed to ourselves as grasshoppers.” Do you get it? They were viewing themselves with one 1000th of the strength they should have been! Of course they would never be able to take over the land with that attitude!

Unless we as men realize that we are grossly underestimating our abilities and begin to live by a principle of honor that we vow never to break, we will never change this world. It’s a daunting task isn’t it? But like Caleb yesterday, we must face this task like men. In the strength of God, we are well able.

Men Wanted: Yesterday, Today, Forever

It’s time for a revival. Men, my generation, your generation will change this. We will show ourselves worthy of honor. We will be heroes. And if we never get the chance to singlehandedly fight with a gunman, we shall still always be continually ready to risk our life for the safety of another. On the value of our own life, we shall represent God fearing manhood. Daring Manhood.

But this attitude isn’t only about things that are heroic. I don’t want to leave this introduction on a note of surrealism, on the dreamy idealism of ‘being a hero’. Most of us will not have such a drastic opportunity, although we shall be prepared for it. Where we all will prove our ability is in every aspect of life around us. We will prove ourselves when we approach any duty with the attitude of Caleb, “We are well able.”

We will prove ourselves on many giants, all the giants in our life. From each test in school, to each test of character. Every time we feel incapable, every time we meet a giant in our life, let us remember: There are giants. But we are not grasshoppers.

We are well able.

This is only the beginning of this series, stay tuned for more next week!

I wrote a 3-part writing series for Regenerate Our Culture Magazine recently, check out the articles below if you haven’t already read them. (Descriptions from ROC)

Part 1: This Pen Shall Change the World

Writing is a powerful, yet very convenient, tool in the hands of young Christians, and there are many ways to influence others and regenerate our culture with the written word. In this three part series, David Boskovic shows from personal experience just how powerful yet enjoyable writing can be. From journaling to article writing, the ability to move others with your writing should not go to waste, as David shows in an intriguing and challenging way.

Part 2: Deliberate Inspiration

All of us have those moments when we say, “I give up!” and throw the pen and notebook away, vowing never to write again. David Boskovic doesn’t think we should give up so easily. Here, he shows us helpful tips that he has discovered from his own experience, like keeping an outline, using helpful resources and finding inspiration when we draw a blank. His message is simple: draw the roadmap, and you’ll reach your destination.

Part 3: Mommy, What’s Cadmium?

You were born with an insatiable desire to learn, explore and discover. In fact, for the first several years of your life, your most frequent question was doubtlessly, ‘why’? Yet somehow over the years, you’ve lost a little bit of that curiosity; now, when you write a paper, it’s just easiest to avoid the ‘whys’ of research. In this article, David takes a look at the incredible rewards of good research in writing, and proves how asking questions pays tremendously in the end.

I Hate Working

I sat twirling in an office chair, “So…” I stopped the chair and faced my friend, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

“I’m going to retire when I’m 30, I hate working.”

“Oh come on,” I prompted, “but what are you going to do… like in the next 15 years?”

“Oh, nothing, review video games or something. Something that I don’t have to work at.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, I was sure he was kidding. That was the answer one of my friends gave me a couple years ago in regards to my question about his life plans. Needless to say, a little discussion ensued about how that was lazy and entirely unmanly, and how I couldn’t imagine anybody wanting to have such a lifestyle.

I know we’re all looking at eachother and shaking our heads like wise sages right now. “That’s so crazy! I mean, who would want to live like that?! (And what kind of girl would want to marry a guy like that?)” Crazy indeed. And of course we keep shaking our heads, slowly, back and forth, back and forth. We are sooooo much wiser.

Relative Success

But do we realize that this attitude is entirely natural to humans? Is it possible that my friend just had an overdose of it at an early age? Is it possible that we’re only better by a degree and not anywhere near what we ought to be? We settle back comfortably, and we work hard, and we’re sure we don’t have an attitude like that. We’re happy being a cut above somebody who wants to get fat, retire at 30, and get fatter. We’re better and we pride ourselves with that knowledge. It helps our self-worth to be better than somebody else.

But what are we gauging our success by? We feel the adrenaline rush as we pass all the cars, we smile as we think of what people will say. “WOW, that guy is fast.” But all that fun feeling of success crashes on us when we realize we were only passing parked cars. We were doing so much better than the rest of them, but were we doing our best?

Your Best: Wasted

Maybe we were, maybe our pedal was to the metal. Maybe we reached the glorious speed that very few ever reach. Or maybe, in real life, we reached the glorious heights of success, the medals, the honors, maybe we became the President of the United States. Maybe we did. Maybe we climbed Mount Everest. And then we reached the highest point. We were the example of success. But for what purpose?

Regardless of how high you climb, how far you go, how much you achieve, you can waste every bit of it. Your work ethic would be an example, you would be quoted, you would be honored. But, it could all be wasted. What makes the difference?

For what Purpose?

One of my favorite books in the Bible is Ecclesiastes. And yet it is one of the most discomforting books in the Bible. Everything good, everything right, everything we dream about, it is all vanity. Everything we can possibly do or (not do) in this life is listed off as vanity, vanity, and by the end of the book I’m frustrated. “What are we supposed to do then?! If that’s all vanity… why, that’s life! Life isn’t vain!”

But wait. Solomon isn’t saying that our life has to be vanity. In fact, life is far from vain. And He knows it, but there’s one key, one defining factor that makes the difference. In fact, we don’t hear about it until the last verse. And then, all he says is, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear [revere, honor, worship, glorify, etc.] God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecc 12:13 ESV

Is there something so magic in those words? Something that turns life from vanity to a worthwhile effort? There is. It’s where we focus our goals. If we’re living for anything other than God’s glory, if we’re living for any other reason than for His honor, if our goals are set on anything lower than His best… it’s all vanity.

Your Best for God’s Best

My friend seemed to have realized that. I think he read Ecclesiastes and missed the last verse. Maybe his attitude was, “Life is all vanity, so why should I do anything anyways!” But we’re much wiser, we don’t think like that. Or do we? When we think, “I’m good enough, at least I’m better than [name].” or, “Oh come on, why do you have to think I should be perfect?! I’m better than most people, and you still complain that I do things wrong.” We’re actually saying the same thing. We’re complacent creatures, we’re too willing to stay the way we are. But that’s dead wrong. The way we are is not the best we can be. God wants us to step up higher. He calls us to do things better. He doesn’t call us to a life of ease and comfort. He calls us to a life of daring obedience! He wants us to give every bit we have. He wants us to give Him the best.

So many people don’t realize that when we gave our hearts, that meant we gave God everything. It’s incredible that we will catch ourselves thinking, “I gave God my heart, He doesn’t want my energy too does He? God doesn’t want something like that, why, it’s only such a little bit compared to what He has!” Actually, God does want it. Even if it’s only a little bit. Even if you’re confined to a wheelchair, if you’re physically unable to do many things normal people can’t. God wants everything, for after all… God gave us His best. We forget, that God didn’t just love us, He lived out His love. He proved it at the cross when He gave up His only Son to die for me…

When He gave me the Best He had.

I finally have the privilege of introducing you to the brand new design on Oneway Purpose. This week you’ll learn about the new posting schedule, as I introduce a few new series and features. But right now, there’s a few things to note here:

Technical

There are still a lot of not-working things on the technical side. Due to an un-predicted change in schedule I wasn’t able to finish some things like search, and some of the sidebars on the side.

Pages

Yes, the ‘about’ page will be up very soon. And also, there’ll be a list of the best Archives on Oneway Purpose coming up very soon too. Just as soon as I can do it.

Problems

Of course there will be errors and problems, with this new design since I didn’t have time to entirely debug it. You’re welcome to tell me about them, so I can make sure they’re resolved. I do know about what it’s doing to my old curly quotes (turning them into question marks), and that will be fixed as soon as possible.

Your Thoughts

Tell me what you think of the design.

So I told you something was coming… but I think you thought I was joking. Well, I wasn’t.

If all goes well, on September 18th OnewayPurpose.com will be launched with a brand new design, writing schedule, and at last something in my about page.

If all does not go well, it will be launched on Monday, September 25th.

I still have open spaces in my schedule, so if you’d like to hear what I have to think about something, or if you have a question you would like me to answer, please go ahead and comment with it, or drop me an email at contact@onewaypurpose.com.

UPDATE: Oneway Purpose will not be relaunched on Monday the 18th, expect it any day between now and the 25th.