On April 11, 2011, Morrison, an infantryman with Bravo Company of the 1-168 INF, rolled out on mission in the Paktia province of eastern Afghanistan in a mine-resistant armored protected vehicle (MRAP).

“The last few things I remember are going to sleep the night before, rolling out on the mission, and then rounding a corner,” Morrison, 21, told me. “When I finally came to, I was at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland.” Several weeks passed before Morrison regained consciousness. What Morrison didn’t know is that his MRAP triggered one of the largest IED explosions in the history of Operation Enduring Freedom, instantly killing one soldier in the gunner’s turret and severely injuring another. Read on…

So I came up with a dozen things, I just want you to meditate on and so I’ll say them slowly…

12) For Brilliant, Awe-Inspired Creation. With seahorses’ fluttering wings, a hummingbird’s heartbeat, stars larger than the earth, the depths of the sea, and a butterfly whose creator painted two eyes on her to scare predators away, a human eye so complex it befuddled Charles Darwin.

11) For a Righteous God Named Most High. Who hates sin, loves goodness and justice, who mercifully stopped the hand of a father on Mount Moriah.

10) For the Guidance of a Tiny, Rag-Tag People. Out of bondage. Fed from heaven. Guided by Cloud and Light and Words Written on Stone.

9) For a God Who Loves the Using Weak Vessels. A shepherd boy to defeat giants. The least of a household. The younger. The foreigner. The widow. The orphan. All display His glory.

8) For a prophetic Word pointing to Messiah. Deliverance. Redeemer. Suffering Servant. For hope of rescue from bondage.

7) For choosing a father and mother from the least of these. Born just over 2000 years ago in a rude manger where the smell of cow dung, goat, and hay mixed with the blood, sweat, and tears of birth.

6) For a Messiah few recognized in a Kingdom no one foresaw. For not throwing Rome, its taxes, its dominance, and restoring the nation, recognizing a more eternal and insidious enemy. For proclaiming the kingdom is now.

5) For the name Yeshua meaning Savior.

4) For a Savior who said, “I forgive sin.” For healing not only the blindness of eyes and lameness of feet but for forgiving the prostitute, adulterer, cheater, and drunkard.

3) For three nails. For a crown of thorns. A rugged cross. Jeering crowds. Wrath and darkness. Excruciating separation. The drinking of a cup if you believe you might otherwise have drunk yourself.

2) For the confusion of running feet of disciples. For bewildering tears of wonderment. A marvelous light. The dawn of a new day. The resurrection from the dead.

1) For our own resurrection from the dead. For the Holy Spirit. Reconciliation. Transformation. To someday be in the very presence of a wondrous God, the very hope of heaven.

We do indeed have much to be thankful for.

1) Remember in Karate Kid where the Dojo master said, “Do we show any mercy in this dojo?” And then the response was, “No, Sensei!” ?

2) Do you think my muscles are growing? Because I don’t want another one because they’re sore!

3) I want special powers so I can turn Daddy into a baby.

4) Santa’s not real because last time, I asked for a Barbie and he must have got stuck in the chimney and then melted.

5) If I break my right arm and you drop me, I can’t do my homework. If I break my eyes, then I’ll be blind and everyone will have to tell me the math problems at school.

I think the balanced, moderation is to understand that all that goals, increasing time with God, increasing time with family and God, disciplining the body, fasting, etc. is a means God himself suggests of walking closer with God. Being with my wife for an hour alone each day will not mean that we are growing closer, but spending no time is probably a guarantee that we won’t! If we set a goal of spending a quiet, intimate hour together every day, that could be a powerful means to an end, one that we ought to measure with the caveat it’s not a guarantee of success in and of itself.

Just because there is an increased amount of quiet time in the Word, giving, family devotionals, studies taken up, exercise of the body in a God-glorifying way does not ipso facto mean that there is heart growth in worship. However, the absence of all of those is probably a sure indication that there is little growth going on. I think it’s a sure either / or fallacy to avoid in thinking we can have either determined measures or the gestalt of the heart which leaves it so fluid and nebulous that we don’t do any sort of measuring. Does that make sense?

I’ll give you one last example. A solid missionary in Papua New Guinea wrote a couple years ago that he’s reading John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life. I see him reading it in a photo of him on a boat with four nationals behind him in this very violent country where he’s devoting his family to the next 25 years among a tribe of once-cannibals who have now accepted the gospel and are spreading the gospel to other tribes. He writes on the condition of the heart:

I took Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life with me on this trip to read when I could. I guess in a way I hoped it would help me cope with the hard times and give me reasons for what I was doing. What I found was quite the opposite. I realized that no matter what I am doing, even if I am here in all this I can still waste my life. Not wasting your life is to pursue God desperately with all your affections in your soul no matter where your body is. God has honored me with this physical task. I could do it and do it well and still waste my life. Oh, I pray that I would seek God with all my heart and soul as I work. I pray the same for you guys too. The Lord has something different for all of our lives but with the same purpose, let’s not waste our lives.