101

This is my 101'st blog post. It seems funny now looking back at the very first time that I posted here (though the web address was actually different then) the original purpose of the blog was to keep record of my photos and track my learning curve and to have an immortalised diary of my progress. looking at my first post now it is somewhat embarrassing in terms of how low the quality is. (I would not advise going and taking a look - it would be the biggest waste of your time ever) even if you do go back now and look you won't be able to see the original layout and design of the page which was on a par with the standard of pictures.

On this training base and particularly within the last week we have been given a large amount of reflection time where we can take stock of the days events and process them as the days are very full and we are dealing with pretty heavy stuff. These reflection times have been a joy for me, at first they were great for catching up on sleep but I now find it incredibly useful in decision making to stop and think for an elongated period of time. Looking back on my life as a whole and specifically on my walk with God I feel that this blog is somewhat of a condensed representation of that. It started out shoddy and stayed that way for some time but there is no questioning the continual improvement, step by step that might not be noticed between individual posts but if you skip from first to last you would barely recognise them as being authored by the same person. This gives me great hope for the future - in the same way that there is always a certain level of dissatisfaction in every post that I make, the technique could be better - the editing could use a touch up or the wording could be more witty or engaging so I know that as I live I do not do so as an end product - I am a work in progress. If I were to stop growing today but lived to 80 then I would look back at my life and be bitterly disappointed that I wasted so much of it.

(yes this is a picture of a gecko the size of my fingernail licking its own eye!)

Fortunately I know that this will not be the case as my growth is not solely dependant on me (if it was then I would have to say I have no idea what will happen in the rest of my life) My friends and family will constantly be encouraging me to stretch myself to be all that I can be but more than this God is actively working in me and won't stop till he decides to bring me home - be that tomorrow or when I am old enough to forget my age. I know this because I know that God is jealous for his glory and my good and he is not satisfied with second best.

What does 'growing look like?' the bible describes the life of a christian like a tree that bears many different kinds of fruit - the fruit of a Christan being that which God supplies - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Self Control, Faithfulness and Gentleness. If these are all words used to genuinely describe who I am when I die then I know I will have run well.

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