PRESS ON...

CORE-RELATE!

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
Track: "Love is Here"
Artist: Tenth Avenue North
Album: Over and Underneath
Genre: Contemporary Christian

MOOD: Subdued

I've just been reading the transcript of the message two (2) Sundays ago, on "5 Stones that Kill Giants." I was actually in Manila that day to hear for myself such wonderfully inspiring message from God through Pastor Vince Burke. I must say that that evening I was re-vitalized and re-energized, re-inspired a thousand ways and over to just "press on."

In Christianese (the kind of language that Christians speak, seasoned with the "usual" phrases that you hear from, well, Christians) to "press on" can take the same meaning as "hang in there" or "keep going." It has become my 'mantra' nowadays, a fitting reminder when I am afraid (yeah, I still feel fear from time to time), discouraged (who says I won't?), guilty (I still am prone to sin), bewildered (God is answering my prayers but He still hasn't answered all of my questions) or just plain tired (physically, that is). Well, let's just say that more than a mantra, it is my battlecry.

Battlecry, eh? What do I think I am, a soldier? This may sound alienating to some, even surreal, but actually, "with all due respect" I honestly think I am.

How on earth have I become a soldier? Consider the following:

I am a subordinate to the Chief Commanding Officer.
I follow His orders but He doesn't grant me permission to obey blindly.
I am armored with a Love that knows no bounds.
I am equipped with Artillery that doesn't seek and destroy but seek and save.

During the message that Sunday, I was drenched in tears because my Boss has given me a clear directive. I've been asking Him for directions and even when He is very much into details, He hasn't given me the specifics. He just told me what to do but not how to do it. Yup, I am His soldier, not His robot, and I choose to follow.

It is really a privilege to be in a battle such as this where there is only a one-time Bloodshed and pure, unadulterated search-and-rescue 24/7. The Soldier in me never sleeps. And though I may be a David to the countless giants here on earth, I am eternally secure in a Path that is within the perimeters of a Love that knows no bounds, a Path that only moves forward in each passing day.

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14)