Out of the Gate: Action steps we took

We are just two guys trying to figure out the God thing.

And, on a recent episode of asweunderstandhim.coffee, we reflected on the events and actions that set us on a directional course to where we find ourselves today. You can hear the episode here.

This post manifests what we discussed in the first of a two-part series, “Now what? -The spiritual starting points”. To reiterate, we are not theologians or trained spiritual leaders. We are just two guys laying out what we have learned along our spiritual journey.

For us, there was a time of revelation when we told our inner selves to point back to the creator of the universe. We went about it similarly and differently but agreed that moving our relationship from head to heart was the game changer that delivered peace and crafted purpose to our existence.

We conversed on four things in the session, four actions that set us on our current course of comfort: confronting our internal conflict, plugging into a church body, connecting with other seekers, and continuing our commitment to stretch and grow on our journey.

We will unwrap each of these a bit today:

Embracing our “true north.”

For us, there was a heart understanding of a power greater than ourselves that resided in us since our early youth.

For years we fought that internal compass. We lived in conflict with who we were meant to be. We made decisions and took actions in direct contrast to what we wanted so deeply. It became a constant circular struggle of bad acts followed by intense remorse, more bad choices, and guilt.

When we had finally bankrupted ourselves, physically and mentally, we were left knowing that our hearts needed to be filled with a true north bearing. But we had drifted so far from home that significant effort was required to turn ourselves around to get “right.”

We needed to understand that physical activity (ACTION) would be required to bond with our creator correctly. So, we took deliberate steps as follows:

Returning to Church

This was a tough one on a couple of fronts. First of all, we both had negative church experiences: The rituals, the hypocrisy, the rules. We had to overcome what our history said about worship and listen to what our core knew would be there for us if we came with open hearts and minds.

Secondly, we had to find a church environment that worked for us. Each individual has to align independently, as one size does not fit all. Hands raised, speaking in tongues, old hymns or screaming guitars, or somber structure could be that linking ingredient that draws one closer to the one true God.

Not one magical formula works for all, but finding a place to gather and worship was essential in our spiritual development.

NOTE: According to the National Congregational Study Survey, there are an estimated 380,000 churches in the U.S. Surely, there is one that works – but, as important to note is that we have found that none are perfect, and by the way, nor are we.

Connection

We found that church buildings are a great place to run into additional “seekers” to support one’s quest. Connecting with others with the same goals (understanding God and our spiritual role on this earth) accelerates learning exponentially if a group is committed and honest.

Our experience in meeting weekly with a group has been nothing short of fantastic. Self-named “the rhinos,” our group of misfits has taken a collective stride in a deeper understanding of God’s word and its application in our lives.

We have seen the side benefits of support and accountability repeatedly play out and have added net strength in numbers.

Commitment

We don’t always know what God wants us to do, but we do know what He doesn’t want us to do.

We believe that anything worth natural joy through growth demands doing things we are uncomfortable doing. And that if we commit to forming new positive habits, peace comes, and purpose unfolds.

At least, that is what happened to us; We dove into the pool, learned to swim with others, and took the ACTIONS in front of us that led us to a growing understanding of the God of the Bible.

Jump in – there is always room in the pool!

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Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast #11 “Now what? - Spiritual Starting Points part 1” The podcast dropped on 6/11/2023. Click here to hear the podcast.

Photo by Samuel Larocque on Unsplash

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