The Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know." Teddy Roosevelt

This quote was recently introduced to me by Lael Arrington as I have sought to write the story God has given me through my time in seminary.

As I have been forced to look at my story, look at the story that God has written and is writing, I see that it is not really about my time in seminary. It is about my walk with Jesus and learning to figure out where and how I fit (or maybe don't fit very well) into evangelical America.

And so the new blog. A blog not about stories from a time of my life, but a blog about life: about learning to fight the good fight (1 Tim. 6:12) and how on earth that looks here and now.

I hope you'll risk joining me, risk what it may look like to fail miserably, but at least to know that we are fighting together.