A year of words.

A year of words.

This is the 52nd post of Buy the Field. On May 13, 2016, I had this idea. The college students at the church that Lea and I get to be at were leaving for the summer as the college semester at UT had ended. They were heading to Korea, Nashville, Memphis and surrounding areas. I was trying to think about a way that I could stay connected with them over the 3 months of summer from May to July while they were gone from Knoxville. I wondered about writing about what was stirring in me a few days after I would teach each Sunday in the English Worship Service at the Korean Church of Knoxville. Instead of rushing away from the things that I taught on a specific Sunday and just moving on in preparation for teaching the coming Sunday, what would it be like to come back to the Words of God and thoughts that I had with Him as I prepared to teach on the Wednesday after I taught and write about it as a way to poke the fire in my heart? At the same time, the college students would have something simple to read and a way that I could continue to be present with them and invest in them if they chose to read. And I would trickle Buy the Field to you too. And so, Buy the Field was born on May 13, 2016.

Why am I writing about this? "Damon...sounds like you're giving yourself a pat on the back. Easy fella." No, I'm actually just celebrating.

I have heard the enemy whisper so many lies and accusations about so many things in my life. "You're a fake. You will forever be defined by your sinful addictions. You never follow through on things." He's a liar.

What am I celebrating? A year of words has been transforming me. I have felt invitation to show up here over these last 52 Wednesdays (including a couple Thursdays) and spend time with God and you. I have felt that invitation very strongly, in a very formative way. It has changed me. Jesus, the Word, is changing me.

The above picture is the picture that I chose for my first entry on May 13th of last year. I wrote about a man who found a treasure in a field. "When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field." IN HIS JOY because the treasure is that good. Mind blowing, soul aching, it's so good, treasure. Nothing like it. I want it. I want it. I want it with you.

I simply want to pause and say......Thank you God.

Thank you.

You're abundantly good.

You're mysteriously real.

You're worth buying the field for.

Again and again.

There's more.