So I’m looking back at a journal entry I wrote back in March, in which I summarized the journey I had taken in my personal and theological philosophy over the preceding two years. Sometimes, documenting your life like Josephus can pay off. 🙂

But wow. What a change.

I never did believe in “the best of all possible worlds” (thanks Voltaire), but integrating a realistic notion of DESTINY into my existentialist tendencies was a painful process.

Indeed, nihilism is sometimes the most necessary vacation of the mind.

I can say with confidence,
for once,
that I’m glad I’m back.
I’m glad I’m here.
And I can gladly say this was,
in some irksome, yet admittedly bolstering, manner…

all part of the plan.

God has a plan.

I used to hate this phrase. I still do, when it’s overused and underestimated.
But, as annoying as it is… it’s true.

God, the one who made you, whether you like it or not,
possesses a route for you.
You can step out of it.
But you can step back in, too.

Today, even.

It’s not too late.
You’re not too far gone.
There is a thing called grace that has the same effect on your path as Chutes & Ladders.
You just have to CHOOSE to sit your butt down on them
and let the gravity of the situation
pull you back into your destiny.
The chutes and the ladders, the ups and the downs —
the nihilism and existentialism and fatalism that lead you awkwardly to HOPE —

they’re His gift to you.

So grieve at the pain of the hot metal as you go. Remember the good memories of tag and chase and being “married” on the swings, for that short, beautiful, horrible time.

But MOVE ON.

Not all must be lost. Maybe something was. And that is a tragedy entirely worth grieving — for a time. But not everything must be lost.

After all, only eternity and infinity remain to be gained.

Just wanted to encourage you with that today.