I am writing my first blog ever. That makes me a blogger.
No, it doesn’t.
I play golf. That makes me a golfer.
No, I am not a golfer. I am a klutz who enjoys the game in spite of my cursing at it most of the time. My wife tells me I should get a personalized license plate with the words “Yips” on it. She’s a comedienne. No, she’s not. She just thinks she is.
So who am I? Who are you? Are we defined by what we do or what we do well?
The only thing I can say that I am really good at doing is sinning. I am a sinner who has come to embrace, celebrate, proclaim, and rejoice in one absolute reality: grace. I’ll be addressing this in future blogs. (oh no! There I go, imprisoning myself into having to write another one of these things!)
You know, I have known some real bloggers. I have known some really good golfers. But in this blog I want to highlight two persons whom God has brought into my life and their stories are real and relevant to this journey.
I want to introduce you to my co-author, Mario Busacca. Mario is as different from me as is possible. He has a background in science and his world view, when I met him, was informed by only that which could be proven scientifically. I think one of the reasons it was easy for me to base my life on “faith” was because I couldn’t understand science. Nonetheless, Mario & I bonded together by a desire to talk about “what is life all about.” He captured my attention by providing me with free beer and Fritos. By the way, I’m not really a beer drinker but I do drink beer.
Over the past twenty-four years I have seen Mario literally transformed from an “anti-Christian, no-way-in-hell is there a God and the Bible is a joke” warrior into a man who fully embraces Jesus, his Word, and his Way. I love Mario because he is the best physical evidence I know of that there is a God and God is in the business of changing lives. My conversations with Mario did not transform him, God did. I was able to see it all unfold right before my eyes, giving us a context for the lessons of the 3G Lifestyle.
The second person I’d like to introduce you to is E. Stanley Ott III, President of Leading Moments and Founder of the Vital Churches Institute AND blogger-extraordinaire. A self-designated “friend of the heart”, Stan taught me the “with me” principle. It goes something like this… Jesus invited people to be “with him.” The God Isaiah worshipped said, “Fear not, for I am with you.” Jesus was called Immanuel, “God with us.”
This leads me to the purpose of writing this blog post and the ones to follow. I invite you to be “with me” and continue the discussion, electronically… so that we can learn from one another as we go through this life where grace, gratitude and generosity intersect.
