Purpose Statement

In January of 2006 I moved to Hartwell, GA and was living in a mobile home on six acres of land. Part of my rental agreement was lawn maintenance. I don't think I realized exactly what I got myself into. I went and bought a mower, my income only allowing for a push mower. Once the winter passed and the grass started growing I learned a little more about Genesis and the sweat of your brow. As I mowed I thought about how ridiculous I must look pushing that little mower in the vast expanse of never-ending land that was my lawn. So much to do and the only way to get it done was to be persistent and get through it.

I was sweaty, covered in grass clippings and dirt, and exhausted at the end. In the hours and hours that it took me to get it done, I reflected on the past year and a half which were possibly the lowest spiritually that I had experienced. I came to a conclusion. As much struggle and toil that it took to get that lawn mowed, I got finished and could look at the fresh cut lawn and rest in a job well done. My life over the past couple years had been filled with emotional and spiritual lows like I had never experienced. My faith teetered on the edge of destruction, or so it felt. As much as I hated mowing the grass I knew that it was part of what I was supposed to go through.

Much like I had to go through that physically, God had sent me through the dirt and the mud spiritually in the months before coming to Georgia. Knowing no one in Georgia and having plenty of time alone to reflect and consider God I came to the conclusion that the Christian life was a lot like mowing that six acres of grass with a push mower. It is hard at times, you want to quit, sweating and tired you get through it. Though you didn't know it would be that difficult when you started, you push through the mire and look to the result. Living for Christ was supposed to easy and full of blessing. No one told me the difficulties I would have to battle through but the thing is, just like I finished mowing the grass and now live in an apartment where the lawn service takes care of the yard. The struggles too will pass. You'll get through them beaten and hurting perhaps but you'll get through them. This book is about the struggles (and the joy) of the Christian life. I hope it will be honest and perhaps encouraging because if even I (a fallen sinner desperately in need of forgiveness) can get through and remain in the arms of Christ anyone can.