Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host –
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
We have nothing but praise and thanks to give to our God, for He is good and great and glorious, demonstrating His infinite power and eternal wisdom by way of His everlasting love, ultimately expressed through His Son, no less than the Lord Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, it isn’t just every Sunday service, but in each and every moment we exist any further in this finite reality, we take in all of who Jesus is and all He has done for us, and it is projected in us and all we do.
Indeed, praise and glory and honor to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – for because of Him, and through Him, we have been made new creations: We died to sin, flesh, and all that is doomed to oblivion, and we have been declared righteous (as Christ is righteous) unto eternal life, and, more importantly, unto absolute reconnection, reunion and reconciliation with the Creator, who we boldly and confidently call our Father.
Because of God, and through God, we are confident to live and move in this fallen world, especially considering (1) He is with us, and nothing can ever separate us from His love, (2) He is for us, and not against us, and (3) He is faithful to work all things for the good of the body of Christ.
Glory, glory and praise to God, now and forever! He has redeemed us completely – saving who we are, and redeeming all that we have done, all that we are doing, and all that we will do.
Thank You, Father! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Holy Spirit! We are completely, absolutely saved and reconciled forever, not by our works, but because of your great love, your finished work, and your infinite glory and power!
Thank You for everything, Lord!
Oh. It’s March.
Look, some realizations. I MIGHT go into detail in the future, but I just thought I’d get it out of me before I forget – and I don’t want to forget these:
- Pornography is a fixation of the past. Yup, starting here. Again, pornography is a fixation of the past. A record of what happened that encourages you to settle for reliving what has happened. But there lies its biggest flaw – it’s done. You aren’t experiencing it now. You can’t be present with the past. Nothing beats the real thing.
- You scared her off and/or she just wasn’t into you. Your fixations are fantasies. Call off the hunt. Expand your realization.
All that’s left is a huge void, where fantasies of the past once were. There were also regrets of the past and frustrations at present, and now it’s all void – accompanied by its uncertainty.
Scales have fallen but I’m led to face and embrace all that’s in this reality – in all its pleasure, and in all its pain.
Obviously, be present in the pleasure. That goes without saying, doesn’t it? But, well, work it both ways. Be present in the pain. Embrace the pain.
Through it all, flow. Trust God. Thank God.
Flow in the present. Trust God for the future. Thank God for the past.
No, don’t thank God for the pain – He disciplines us, but I believe He does not give the pain. There’s a difference. No, when I say thank God for the pain, I’m saying be thankful for His faithfulness, His loyalty, His presence in the pain. He is our peace, He is our comfort in the pain of the past. We realize (1) things could actually have ended up worse, but more importantly (2) He is faithful to make all things work for the good of the body of Christ. Everything may happen for a reason, but we are by no means entitled to know the reason for every single moment and circumstance – instead, we have something better in Christ: Assurance that (1) Christ is making all things new, (2) all things happen to display the wonderful works of God, and (3) again, He is faithful to make all things work for the good of the body of Christ.
Trust God for the future. It’s not to say we shouldn’t be anticipating – No, we ought to keep planning, we ought to make our assumptions. When we have time, we do more – we research, we prepare – so we turn our assumptions into valuable actions. We should be anticipating, bracing ourselves for the worst that could happen in every single circumstance; But we do all this, again, in peace, because (1) we in the body of Christ have the pleasure and privilege of committing all our works – whether planned out (but still ultimately flawed) or recklessly impulsive – to the Lord, that He would direct our steps and establish our thoughts. We also plan and prepare for the future in peace because (2) He is not only with us even in our eventual blunders and mistakes, or in the unforeseen circumstances, but (3) He is faithful to make all things work for the good of the body of Christ.
Flow in the present. Be present in the present – give your best in all that’s before you, knowing that (1) none of your mistakes, or anything else can ever separate you from the love of God through Christ Jesus, (2) that our God and our Father is always for you and never against you, chasing you down with love and compassion, and (3) again, that He is faithful to make all things work for the good of the body of Christ.
Discipline yourself. Make every step count. Make every punch count – don’t just punch into the air, but discipline yourself accordingly so you make the most out of every moment and situation, fully aware of the glory and grace of God alive in your existence.
Prepare in the present for the future, being fully aware of the past. Free yourself from the limits of your own imagination. If you haven’t received answers for the questions you’ve asked for the longest time, ask more questions. Don’t confine yourself to your fantasies. Acknowledge the void, knowing that it isn’t all filled with darkness – in fact the greater rewards may be realized when greater risks (in the unknown) are taken.
Do your homework. Fixate on the absolute – be aggressive in fortifying your foundation… But always be open to the flow.
You aren’t alone in your recovery, and in your new realizations – The Creator of the Universe and all that is seen and unseen, the Maker of time and space, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; He whom we are able to call our everlasting Father is, again, with us now and forever, for us and not against us, always thinking about us, always caring about us.
Operate in these new parameters, knowing that you have a great God whom you can trust, and a gracious God who gives us far more reasons to be thankful than sorrowful.
Flow. Trust God. Thank God.
Thank God for all the realizations, for they keep us dependent on God, and trusting Him.
Keep on trusting God, for as we move in His trust, we would see even more of His goodness and grace – and more reasons to thank Him.
In all circumstances and situations – the sudden tragedies and the drawn-out anxieties – We flow, moving as God moves, with God moving with us as we move.
I should have been writing all this yesterday – February 28 is the last day of the Month, and we have 1/6 of 2025 in the bag. I’m tempted to make this a milestone; I don’t think I want to wait till the end of March to make a Quarterly report… But on the other hand, I don’t think I will have complete and concise answers to give to the questions: What worked? What didn’t work? What are things to do, and what are things that are hindering us? (Yes, very SWOTish)
Or, heck, okay. I’ve mentioned a couple of ‘revelations’ earlier that ‘worked‘ or are ‘working‘ for me as of very recently:
See pornography, or any other ‘graphy’ as they are – records. See failed relationships and opportunities as they are, by understanding what they aren’t, and differentiating what you want to believe is true versus the reality of the situation.
Ultimately, these ought to lead us back to what I believe is a solid mindset which was established Q4 last year: Flow, Trust God, Thank God.
And let’s keep going.
I seem to have shifted from working out in longer periods, to just using the weighted vest more, and taking less time. Nate Bower says that we ought to be a little bit uncomfortable with our workouts… and, well, that sandbag-holding vest is certainly doing its job. After a shadow boxing session using that vest, I’m feeling more spent and therefore more fulfilled, in a shorter amount of time.
It also seems to be a good practice to write immediately after said workouts. I feel one has to come with the other, if only to ensure that the mind and the body are both drained, to make space for fresh strength and wisdom… if that makes any sense.
Switching from the desk lamp to the lava lamp seemed to be a good idea. The latter was a weaker light that leaned more to the color red, which I’m told helps with getting the rest of the body to sleep – of course, I still shouldn’t be using the phone because that counters the red light, but that’ll be something for the months to come.
Speaking of sleep, it was also a good idea to limit or outright avoid coffee after 2pm, or unless I need to stay up. The first cups of water and coffee in the morning gets my mind started, and the rest of the body detoxed, if you know what I mean.
Finally, as in most of 2024, and all of 2025 so far, the whole gimmick of recording my activity in an organized fashion (i.e. an Excel sheet) is definitely keeping me on my toes.
Posting my workout videos on select social media spaces also continues to keep me on my toes.
You know, to be honest, I’m not sure if I’m doing myself the greatest favor here by sitting down and intentionally listing what pops into mind, and calling them things that work. They’re more like things remembered, no?
I won’t be continuing down the SWOT path, but I will take this time to go ahead and say what doesn’t work.
Let’s go back to that Excel sheet I mentioned. Sure, like I said, it’s keeping me on my toes, but on the other hand, I’ve caught myself also limiting my productivity in a day by way of what tasks I have set on the sheet. In other words, if I’ve already done what I had set for a given day, or if most, if not all (but rarely all) items have been ticked off, then I enter this whole ‘comfort’ phase where I do whatever I want, and/or fret over other things I should be doing, which more than likely ends with me doing a half-assed job.
The physical arrangements of my spaces (my room and my office) were cluttered/in need of reorganizing, but I’ve made changes to that ever since.
Speaking of workout videos, I’ve since changed my layout or presentation style, since I’ve literally heard folks remark about my posting time-lapses. Since then I’ve also changed from posting time lapses to collected, selected segments of my workouts.
I’ve noticed how I’ve been making less use of my time by insisting I should be playing through a game regularly. Currently, I’m playing Magic The Gathering: Shandalar (again). Before this, I played through Diablo 1 (and the Hellfire expansion) for the first time after at least a couple of decades, and then I finished my second playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 (this time with the Phantom Liberty expansion).
I’ve also noticed how, when I eat at home, it needs to be accompanied by a series episode. Currently going through the Billions season 6, and I was going through the Band of Brothers series before that.
I really should be limiting my time playing, and I should consider what I learned from Ben Greenfield – that is, be present in your meals, and concentrate on your consumption; You apparently eat less when you aren’t watching something.
And, really, this is the thing – I KNOW I should be doing these things less. I’ve known it for a long time. But I will say, I believe things are moving in my mind and probably in my body but definitely in my being as a whole, that are pointing me not just to do certain things more, but also moving me to want to do those things more.
We come back to differentiating rest (i.e. peace in all circumstances, true power) from comfort. And, now that I’m thinking about it, comfort is too nice a word to describe what I’m struggling with – it’s feeling more like an intentional propensity towards what I’m framing as the inefficient, and the things that may just mean absolutely nothing on a long-enough time line.
Well, maybe not too much of the latter, because, believe it or not, and I’m not rationalizing here, there are some solid takeaways from what I watch and what I play. But I think I’m veering away from what I’m trying to figure out here. I do remember, however, the Greek ‘sarx’ as mentioned in the book of Romans. With a little help, we find out that it’s ‘the messy, willful part of us that drags against what’s best’; And, yeah, I’m back to being reminded that I’m dead to this proclivity and propensity, and I’ve alive toward exactly that – the best.
I’m just going to go ahead and cut this off here by putting it all together. In all things – personal development, living in communities, and our walk with the Eternal, as Christ-redeemed temples of the Holy Spirit – we’re to give rejoice, pray, and give thanks at all times, easing into our new identities, as new creations redeemed into righteousness, reconciled to the infinite and everlasting God, whom we now call our Father. In all things, we’re to remember that we have died to the power of the flesh – that is, ‘the messy, willful part of us that drags against what’s best’.
In other words, the mandate continues. Let us be more intentional with trusting God, thanking God, and flowing.
As usual, January and February could have been better, but it could have been far worse. Let’s keep all of this in mind as we take on the rest of 2025.
Also, I may have a less half-assed and more structured evaluation next time around. Or maybe I really should be doing this more quarterly than, well, this.
Until the next post, may the Lord just continue to bless us, and overflow us with His love and His truth.
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JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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