It’s been a while since I have been out here. I realized that when I was at a party last evening and someone asked me what was happening with arpology. And I had to think. Has it been that long? You see, I love writing. Or at least I love to say that I love writing. I love seeing my thoughts and the thoughts of those around me put to paper (or screen…you get the gist of it). And so that fact that I had to think about how long it had been to me was troubling. I realized that I was in kind of a state of inertia. Merriam-Webster defines inertia as, “lack of movement or activity especially when movement or activity is wanted or needed.” Can I confess for a bit that I have been stuck…at least as far as the blog is concerned? I have been so busy with other things that some of the stuff I enjoy in life has gone by the way-side. And that’s where the flip-side definition of inertia comes into play.

Merriam Webster also defines inertia as it pertains to physics in the following fashion, “a property of matter by which something that is not moving remains still and something that is moving goes at the same speed and in the same direction until another thing or force affects it.” You see two weeks ago a Movement began in Peak Student Ministries.* And then last week I decided to Move. And with all of the exciting things I have been caught up in I just haven’t had time for some of the other things in life. I kind of wish that I could get in all the things that I know keep me moving in the same direction and forsake all of the things that build into the “outside” force that could knock me off course. I think that is what the apostle Paul was trying to get at in Philippians 3. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

The word he uses for “press on” is diōkō and can be translated, “to pursue, run after eagerly.” That’s ultimately what this is all about. We are here to learn to purse, to run after becoming the image of Christ to the world around us. And that’s what my life has been about lately. But I want to keep pressing. I want to keep adding those things to my life (prayer, scripture reading, communion with others, even blogging) that keep me moving in the right direction and I want to forget those things that try to throw me off course. May we find ourselves the victims of a holy inertia pressing on to becoming more like Christ each day.

* Stay tuned for more on this. I have some really cool stuff I want to share that was born out of Disciple Now 12: MOVE