[pruh-gres-iv....ri-zis-tuhns]

I'm betting you probably thought you were getting a workout article when you saw the title of this post and the dumbbells.

You are. Sorta.

People have been asking why I have not been posting much lately. To explain this I must paint an analogy. My course load at school has nearly got me at crush depth. The best way to explain it is "overburden". Only a person called to this would do this as it is extremely rigorous and taxing on the mind. A new language from scratch including most of the characters. Pondering the depths of God as He has revealed Himself to humanity in all His subtle and not so subtle glorious nuances. Memorizing more Scripture in 14 weeks than I did over the last 40 years of my life. Memorizing Greek noun declensions of which there are a slew. Verbs and parcing of verbs. Learning and perfecting the art and science of proper interpretation in hermeneutics...and so on. Simulateously enjoying every minute of it with a sense of wonder that defies description. The overburden that I am experiencing mentally is best described by a comparison to the other passion in my life (besides God and my wife) which is weightlifting. Lifting is also something that puts me through my paces and I thoroughly enjoy it.

In weightlifting you gradually overtax the muscle of the body to strengthen it. It is called progressive resistance. In science its proper definition is as follows:

Progressive Resistance [pruh-gres-iv ri-zis-tuhns] : A strength training method in which the overload is constantly increased to facilitate adaptation (also known as progressive overload). Progressive resistance is essential for building muscle and reaching strength goals. The body adapts to exercise and needs to be constantly challenged in order to continue to grow and change.

I short, it is a conditioning of the body to handle increased loads.

See any similarities to what God is doing with my melon (a.k.a.: my head)?

As any lifter will tell you...while lifting and overtaxing the muscle, you are acutely focused at the task at hand. This serves a two-fold purpose. It helps maintain the intensity that will be required to continue to push the threshold where true growth comes. Secondly, if you do not stay intensely focused you will mentally drift and injure yourself. It is what most athletes call "the zone". You become hyper-aware of your task. The rest of the world hazes out and drifts to the periphery into white noise.

Strangely and similarly, this uber-intense studying has taken me to a new place in my personal worship of God and my sanctification. As noted in an earlier post there are different types of worship for different people. I am not usually highly emotive when it comes to worshipping God with music or other aesthetic ways to approach Him. I do get extremely intense when studying scripture and then expounding on it. This study has put more of what God is in me and pushed out a lot of the refuse that does not belong in me. The ugly stuff that took up residence in my cranium over the period of 30+ years of being a reprobate. It is also keeping out some of the new stuff that wants to get it too. When you cram everything into your cranium that your cranium can handle, it leaves no room for anything else to get in. The old adage is: "It's like stuffing 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag" or like "pushing a 1 inch block through a 1/2 inch opening". There is no room for anything else let alone the stuff that is suppose to go in the bag or opening.

God does the same with our faith. He builds on the last episode where we required faith and slowly but surely our faith grows so that in time, even at our weakest we are much farther ahead of where we were at our best a few trials before. The harder things get for me in school the more I pray, and generally am rewarded although not always in ways I expect. Case-in-point: It has gotten to the point where I can stare at charts of 25 case endings for nouns only once or twice and I can picture them in my mind. Dare I say my memory has become marginally photographic at this point. Think about it people. I am talking about a reprobate that spend nearly 25 years drinking and 5-10 of them as a user of narcotics also. God uses the foolish things of the world to...eh...never mind.

I do not watch TV. I listen to teaching seminars and sermons on my way to school. You know, MacArthur, Sproul, Paul Washer, Piper, Dever, etc. When I get to class I learn at school. I come home and try to be a good dad (usually fails within 10 minutes). I study after the kids go to bed for about 2 hours. If I have spare minutes like now I type a zinger of a post and publish it to SoulJournaler. I sleep. I get up and repeat the cycle 5 days a week. I study and write papers all weekend. No time for stupidity only time for the Lord. God is making me see what will break me intellectually/mentally I think. As odd as it sounds, it contents me. Just like the 25 year period lifting weights. It isn't that I like pain but I appreciate seeing what the limits are of this creation that people call Andy Pierson. I am only coming through this world once and I need to make up for lost time.

Is it easy, nah. Besides, as I stated in the previous post. I was never promised easy, I was promised what was best for my eternal salvation and what is best for all the lives of those I can touch with the Word. As a matter of fact, I don't want easy. Jesus essentially told me otherwise:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

By implication it can be understood from this passage that I will always be required to carry a load or bear a burden anyway. I am not given a choice of "no load" or "slacking" in this verse. I either bear the sin of the world or I bear the yoke of Christ. I am either slave to sin or a slave to Christ.

Just call me Andy δοῦλος Χρήστου [slave of Christ]

Now back to my Greek vocabulary flashcards until beddybye which is...ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz