Whether in Ireland or in Alabama

On June 11th, I boarded a plane bound for Dublin, leaving behind my home, my friends, my country--just about all I'd ever known. I was excited about what lay ahead for me, but I knew little of what to expect of my time in Ireland.

Yesterday, I boarded my return flight and left behind incredible new friends, beautiful countryside, sweet fellowship, innumerable blessings, and a little piece of myself. I never dreamed I could grow to love a place or people so very much in such a short time. To say it was hard to leave Ireland would be the understatement of the year--but I know that I left changed for the better by the three weeks I spent there.

In the coming days I'll post more about my adventure in Ireland--it was so richly filled with blessings that I want to record.

But for now, I'm writing about my flight back from Dublin.

The trans-Atlantic flight lasted eight hours and I spent it happily re-reading one of my very favorite books, John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. In his book, Piper writes that "God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display [Christ's] supreme excellence in all spheres of life." Reading those words, I was reminded of all the ways that I was blessed with nearly constant encouragement to live out the good news of the Gospel of Grace in my daily life over these past few weeks. (To all of you who have loved me and encouraged me in that way, I can't thank you enough.)

But reading that call to place the blazing glory of the cross at the center of my existence also made me think about the difficulty of allowing Christ to reign as pre-eminent even in the midst of the ordinary ebb and flow of daily life. All too often I allow myself to be distracted from the ultimate importance of the cross. Insignificant activities and little responsibilities all too often and all too quickly take up residence as the center of my focus. And I don't think that I'm alone in this battle. 

Writing on the condition of modern professing Christians, David Wells writes that despite proclaiming belief in God's existence, many people "nonetheless consider him less interesting than television, his commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence, his judgment no more awe-inspiring than the evening news, and his truth less compelling than the advertisers' sweet fog of flattery and lies." What a tragic commentary that offers on the state of ourselves that we might consider the almighty God of the universe to be less interesting than the mindlessness of television. What sort of message do our lives send to the world around us when we only allow Jesus a space at the periphery of our existence?

As I am returning to the normalcy and routine of daily life here at home, I want to be intentional about placing Christ at the center of my identity and my existence. I want to reject my sinful tendency to allow Jesus to take a backseat to the daily distractions of the world around me. I long for my life to be proof that my Jesus is more precious than life.

Despite my best intentions, I know that at times my sinful nature will interrupt my focus on the glory of the cross. But I set out to place Christ at the very center of all that I am with the assurance that even when I fail, his love for me is unfailing. And it is the beauty of this redemptive love that demands my life, my all, whether I am away in Ireland or at home in Alabama.