Cold Clay

A couple of weeks ago I began going
to a training series that my church is putting on.
The series is on, wait for it... 

PREACHING. 

That's right. I'm taking a preacher training course. 

I don't know if that is really shocking or not. I also don't know exactly how I feel about it or even why I decided to take the course in the first place. The only answer I can give is that I did it on a whim because I was curious enough to put my name on a list and interested enough to think it may be useful. 

At the time I consoled myself with the thought that preaching can't be that much different from putting together an oral presentation for class. In spite of how anxious, shy and worked up I can get around people I actually genuinely enjoy presenting in front of a class. I think that a large piece of why I like presenting is because it's like teaching in a lot of ways and I really enjoy teaching. And that is where my insecurity comes into play.

I'm a teacher not a preacher. 

 

At least I think I am... That's what I've always told myself. 

I actually had several different opportunities to preach and share testimonies when I was away. I preached in Australia, Malaysia, India and South Africa specifically. I did a lot of speaking to groups everywhere else but it was never formal and usually directed towards children so I consider it teaching. 

My first crack at preaching happened in Australia and it was awful. Even while I was speaking I could feel my anxiety and the feelings of depression coming over me. I was ripping myself apart and I hadn't even finished speaking yet! It was seriously awful. I spent the rest of our night of ministry drilling into my head two things: 

1. I will never be good at preaching; 2. I will never willingly preach again.

Interestingly enough I've learned in the past couple of weeks that feeling tired and having the enemy come to attack, discourage and tear you down right after preaching is extremely common. We spent a good chunk of time in preacher training talking about it. 

I did preach again but I went into it with a lot of anxiety. 

In Malaysia I was given the honour of preaching in the villages of Rompin. Speaking in Malaysia was actually okay. Our team fasted together in preparation and I didn't get hit with the same terrible feelings of failure that I had before. 

Again in India we were given the honour to preach in several different villages and at a crusade. It was good. I really do like public speaking and by the time I was India I actually started to warm up to the idea of being in front of a crowd. What I still lacked confidence in and really struggled with was the message itself. I really did not see myself as capable of saying something that was truly from God. I spent hours privately doing a post mortem of my sermon obsessing over ways to be better and what I had done wrong. 

As part of preacher training I have to prepare and deliver two 5 minute "sermonettes" to the class. I fretted in the car on the way home about whether or not I'm even capable of hearing the voice of God and delivering a clear message. Somehow in the face of a giant I seriously began to doubt that I can hear God's voice. I was running through every less than stellar moment that I've had while preaching when God interrupted my thoughts.

"What about South Africa?"

"I didn't preach in South Africa." 

"Yes you did. Remember?" 

And then I did remember... In South Africa our squad set up and participated in a 24 hour prayer room to intercede over Coffee Bay. As one of the organizers and leaders I chose to fast, pray and stay awake for the full 24 hours. We ended our prayer time with a "Christmas Eve" in July service which I preached the message for. So many walls in my heart were broken wide open in that 24 hours. 

I don't know how to explain it exactly except that I had been with Jesus and it showed. I spoke clearly with confidence and authority and I delivered a message that came straight out of my time of intercession and worship that was relevant and necessary. There was no doubt in my mind that God and God alone had given me the strength to stay awake and make sense at that point. 

So I am not incapable of preaching. In fact when I truly position myself to worship, intercede in prayer and hear his voice I am actually very capable. I said before that I don't know why I'm taking this training... perhaps I do know why. 

Perhaps I need to remember that God is not limited by my talents and abilities. He makes me able. He gives me words to speak and the courage to speak them with confidence. Maybe I need to get over myself and stop saying things like "I am not a preacher". If God wants me to preach then it would be wise for me to do it with my whole heart.

I know that I am not alone in feeling inadequate when it comes to preaching. I know that many, if not all of the participants, probably share some of my insecurity and uncertainty to a certain degree. But we are there working through the steps, determined to give it a go and I know that blesses God's heart. But I also know that it is so much easier to work with warm clay. I don't want to place cold, hard clay in God's hands, I want to be open to whatever he wants me to do or learn. I want to place myself as warm, malleable clay in his hands so that God can use this training to shape me however he wants. 

God forgive me for saying that I'm not a preacher without first asking you if it was something that you wanted me to do. Change my heart and my attitude so that I don't miss a single thing that you are teaching me.   

Surprise!

I have to be honest, 

I don't really like surprises. 

I mean, I usually like the surprise itself - gifts are great - what I don't typically enjoy is the process of "being" surprised. The moment where the blind fold is on or the wrapping paper is still on the package. I feel stupid saying it but those moments leading up to a surprise actually make me kind of nervous and self conscious. 

The what if's and the not knowing makes me feel anxious and worried. And here's where I feel like I may start to sound really stuck up and selfish but I'm trying to be brutally honest so stick with me because there's a spiritual concept that I'm working up to. 

I get really self conscious about whether or not I'm going to like the surprise because I don't want to disappoint the person who went through the work to surprise me. I want to really like the surprise but I also want to go in with no expectations so that I can't be disappointed. 

In short I'm paranoid and I worry too much...

Before you get too worried about me know that it's something that God is working on in my life because God really likes to give gifts. And, honestly, sometimes he hands out some pretty strange ones that just don't make much sense. His ways are not our ways so sometimes the gifts he gives are just not what we would expect from him. 

Tonight I listened to this pod cast from the Gathering in Georgia about the events that take place in Luke chapter 2. The speaker, Mike Paschall, talks about how unexpected it was for everyone that Jesus came into our world as a baby. No one was looking for a baby. How ordinary and odd for GOD to make the decision to send the Messiah not as a conquering hero but as a regular baby with regular looking poor parents. 

The people in the temple that day could have completely missed the significance of what was really going on. Many people there on that day did miss it but one man moved by the Holy Spirit was able to see what he had never expected. That man made the decision to speak life over a regular looking baby in faith trusting that the Holy Spirit and not his human perspective was correct in saying that this child was the long awaited Messiah. 

Mike ended his message by encouraging his audience to ask God to reveal to them the things that he has already placed in their arms. Those things may be unexpected, they may not look the way you think they should but that doesn't mean that they are not from God. And it is our task, through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, to look at the things that God has placed in our arms, acknowledge that they are a gift from God and receive it, speaking life and not death over it. 

The message not only caught my attention it caused me to pause and check out my heart. 

You see on the race I developed this passion to fight human trafficking. I have poured a lot of time and effort into researching, praying and collecting information about it this past year. I know what I want to do; I want to fight human trafficking. I want to fight it here in Canada and I want to go back to Asia to some of the nations I was in previously to fight it there. 

It's a really good dream.

I believe that one day I will pause and realize that I am actually in the middle of accomplishing that dream. But what about today? What about right now? 

My eyes are on anything but what God has placed into my arms right now because the doors opening up to me are not what I had originally expected to see. 

I see homelessness and low income housing. 

I see a call to advocate on behalf of people in my community.

I see the First Nations people.  

I see people with addictions and mental health issues. 

I see the marginalized, the abused and the misunderstood. 

I see youth with no place to go. 

I see the unemployed. 

I see struggling families. 

Human trafficking... Asia... As much as I look down at the bundle God has placed in my arms and squint my eyes if I'm really honest that is not actually what I see right now.

That scares me... it's a surprise that I wasn't expecting and a gift that I am kind of reluctant to receive. What if accepting this gift means I have to give up my other dream? What if choosing to speak like over what is in front of me means I don't get to do what I really want to be a part of doing? What if I never get back to Asia? What if I spend the rest of my life here IN Canada serving the poor and the homeless?

It's not a bad life... but it's also not exactly fighting human trafficking around the world. 

The Bible says that God gives us good gifts. I believe that but when I look down at the very ordinary looking stuff in front of me I can't help but feel doubtful about it and wonder if I'm missing out. But I know that's not right. I know that God gives good gifts and when I look at the doors he opens for me I can walk through them with confidence.

This is where it all comes back around and ties into the previous post about spying out the land. The things that God has for me are good. There is a promised land full of milk and honey that he has set aside as my inheritance. It may not look exactly like I think that it should with my human perspective but I am not called to walk by sight, I am called to walk by faith. 

Even if I don't quite understand the things that God is leading me to I know that I can trust that it will be very good. 

So why not join me?

Open your heart to receive God's gifts (even the surprises!) and begin to walk by faith through the doors he opens for you. 

I Spy...

A large part of living a prophetic lifestyle is being willing to step out and do something without knowing all of the reasons why you are being asked to do it. 

Generally speaking I'm not always very good at living my life in that way. I like to have a plan to follow. I am more than willing to do something a little bit spontaneous and crazy if I know how it's going to turn out and can understand the logic behind the actions. I like to be safe and I want to take safe, calculated risks. Unfortunately God does not necessarily operate within the same ideas of "safe" that I do. 

God calls us to walk in FAITH with the knowledge that the purposes of God are good and full of life even when we look in front of us and the valley is dark and full of death or the land is full of giants. We walk with Him in faith trusting that when we walk by his side he will keep us as safe as we need to be on our journey together. 

He calls us to be fearless, to be bold and to take hold of the promises that he gives to us long before we ever see them come to pass. That is not always an easy thing to do. When you read through the Bible you will see story after story of people with less than admirable beginnings witnessing the grace and power of God in huge ways. 

Yesterday morning Brian spoke about the spies that the Israelites sent into the promised land to scout things out before they decided whether or not to believe and obey God by going in as a nation to take the land. Instead of simply taking God at his word to enter the land by faith they thought it would be a good idea to double check and make sure that God wasn't leading them into a trap before going forward. As a nation they didn't act in faith and they didn't trust God. In fact the actions they took were down right insulting to the character of God and called into question his love for them. 

The error of the Israelites seems so clear to me as I sit warm in my kitchen with a cup of tea and my laptop writing this out for you but honestly I do the exact same thing all of the time. I send out my own "spies" to figure out what the land looks like. I ask a lot of questions, give minimal commitments or spend more time finding reasons not to do something than I do looking for ways to make things work all so that I know that I can back out at the last minute if I start to feel anxious or fearful. I effectively allow myself to forget the power, the authority and the love of the God I claim to serve and turn away from him too afraid of the battle to even try to claim the promises. 

Nothing about that is Biblical or right. God calls cowards to be warriors and possessors; he does not coddle the fearful or call them to hide from the battle. 

Psalm 144:1 proclaims: "...Praise the LORD, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle." 

It is a proclamation that is repeated in other places. In 2 Samuel 22:35 is says "He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze." 

Romans 8 echoes this refrain and brings it all together. In verse 28 we are reminded that God works for the GOOD of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. Verses 35-37 draw us to stand firm in our faith and yell our battle cries loudly: 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

I think that it's safe to say that if we decide to respond positively to this it will take a huge change of heart and a great deal of courage. 

 

So... How do we respond to this? What actions do we take?

I think a good place to start would be with Psalm 26:2

"Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind."

Will you join me? 

Highly Flammable

These past couple of weeks I have been praying for a friend of mine and God gave me this word of encouragement to send to her. Now I've realized that this is something I needed to hear too. Because I'm excited about it I'm writing it down here. 

He told me that she is a "Firebreather".

I sort of explored the idea a little bit but I didn't really get it. I mean... I had an idea but it felt really superficial to me. I got distracted and instead of pressing in and writing it out for her I googled "firebreather" to find out if it was a real thing and found out that it absolutely is real.

And then I dropped the whole idea for about a week and a half. During that time I kept being reminded of the "firebreather" word and the fact that I just needed to sit down and send her an email. Today, you will be pleased to know, I sat down and sent the email.

As I wrote I was still feeling a little bit bugged by the idea that maybe this word of encouragement was a bit, ummm... shallow? I admit I was kind of critiquing it when I decided to reread what I had wrote out and all of a sudden God gave new meaning to the word and applied it back to me.

Now, like I said before, I am excited about it and I want to share it.

FIREBREATHER ------> A person who lights fuel, spewed
                                            from their mouths, on fire.

The words that we speak are fuel. When we speak forth the things that God tells us to speak the Holy Spirit ignites those words and burns up the crap that the enemy throws around. We are called to speak forth words that cleanse and purify. Words that restore righteousness and ignite passion. The thing is you actually have to speak the words, you have to get them out. Swallowing fuel is never a good thing and neither is swallowing the words that God gives you to speak. You need to speak it forth, spew it out, in faith knowing that the Holy Spirit is going to ignite those words and light the whole place on fire!

That was the word.

Here's what I got out of it -for me- when I reread it.

First all the words God gives are highly flammable.

I need to be bolder in speaking to the people around me. I need to listen up and speak out when God talks to me in church, in prayer meetings, on the street - wherever and whenever he wants to chat it up with his people.

I was getting pretty good at doing that. Lately I've been pretty quiet and not because God isn't talking. I have just started deciding not to talk.

That is not okay and it needs to change.

Second was in relation to prayer and declaration. I need to do both of those things a lot more because they have power. I might not realize it but when I stand up and start making declarations, when I start praising God and listening for and speaking forth the things he asks me to pray, well...

 
I BREATHE FIRE!!!

And that firey breath wrecks havoc in the spiritual realm. It has power to ignite change, renewal and passion. It is absolutely necessary that I pray and speak forth the things that God asks me to say.

And, obviously, in order to bear fruit this requires action. I need to stop swallowing the fuel and I need to start spewing it out in faith... So, that is what I'm going to do.

UPDATE: I just want to add this on. I found a verse for this.

But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Jeremiah 20:9

Jesus Christ: Zombie Hunter

Art by Steve Willhite, From Jesus Hates Zombies

The other day a friend posted images of three very nasty looking zombies on facebook. As a joke she suggested that another friend should purchase the posters to use in their Life Group. I thought it might actually work and I couldn't resist the challenge!
 
I'm kind of out of the loop on this new "zombie trend". If you're a zombie aficionado forgive me in advance. I might butcher this idea but I genuinely love to use metaphors as a teaching tool so I'm going to try anyways!


Before I actually started to write this blog I did a search online. I wanted to find a few images and possibly read an article or two to help me better form my idea and make it sound. What I found was not exactly what I was origninally looking for but it was interesting enough to share.


The above art work is an original graphic by Steve Willhite that was created for the graphic story Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack Jawed Blues by Stephen Lindsay. I copied the graphic from an interview about the story on a blog called The Zed Word and I wanted to explore a statement made by Lindsay because I think that it relates to and has even helped to shape my own idea.


In the interview Lindsay, when answering a question about why he had chosen to write Jesus as a zombie hunting hero, said that "[he] wanted to explore what [Jesus would] be like as a real working-class kinda guy. So [Lindsay] went into this with the idea that Jesus loves people so much that he's willing to sacrifice himself for us. And if [Jesus is] willing to do that, there's no way he'd let some disgusting, soulless monsters devour the entire race!"


What I found interesting about Lindsay's comment was this simple fact: Jesus actually WAS a real working-class kinda guy. In addition when he came Jesus became FULLY man. He set aside his divinity like a bird making a decision not to use its wings to fly and he chose to walk among the rest of us earthbound humans. The power that Christ drew upon to do things like turn water into wine came out of relationship with God and that's not out of human reach. In fact that is actually the way that we are called to live: unconditionally surrendered to God doing as we see him do (John 5:19). 

Lindsay believed he was tweaking the character of Jesus by representing him in that way but unbeknowst to him he was actually confirming it.  

The second part of his statement carries in it a hint of truth but it actually falls short as far as my metaphor is concerned.

You see it is absolutely true that Jesus loves people so much that he's willing to sacrifice himself for us. But I believe that the real Jesus would have a perspective on zombies that would defy the views of everyone else fighting for survival. Christ was contraversial in his view of sinners while on earth and I'm pretty sure that if he was faced with a zombie apocalypse Jesus would have a very unique view on the situation.

The Jesus that Lindsay writes about is a merciless, all out zombie killing machine. Heads literally start to roll when he steps into town. He is a man on a mission to hunt down and destroy the race of zombies terrorizing the world that he created and save a select few who have escaped the plague. I think that the actual Jesus of the Bible would be a zombie hunter as well but his motives and his tactics might be just a little bit different. You see, just like Christ was able to love us despite our sin I think that he would also be able to see through the undead exterior of a zombie race and love them anyways. I think that his goal would be to destroy the source of the plague and not necessarily the zombies themselves.

I say this because of what it says in Romans 5:6-10...

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

 

There is so much more that I want to say about this but it's going to have to be in another post on another day. Until next time I want to leave you with one more verse to consider:

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

                                                       Do you believe this?"

My zombie references:

http://www.jesushateszombies.com/Story.html
http://www.zedwordblog.com/2009/06/brain-picking-interview-with-stephen.html

Sometimes I Climb Mountains...

This past weekend I took a trip with a friend into the Cariboo Mountains to hike the Yellowhead trail up to the summit of Mt. Murray. The entire trek is hemmed in by some of the most beautiful forest and alpine scenery that the Cariboo has to offer. The funny thing is during the actual hike I spent the majority of my time watching my feet playing footsy with tree roots.

I used to be a better hiker than I was this past weekend. I was younger, in better shape and determined to push myself to conquer and even excel against the nature of the wild. In high school I took an Outdoor Recreation class and participated in several different physically demanding hikes and backpacking trips. Thing is I haven't been in high school for 6 years, my "can-do" attitude is a little rusty and, while the appeal of the hike still beckons, it's hard to see the beauty when sweat is obscuring my vision.

So I focus on my feet and for reasons unknown to me I count steps in my head.

                                           1 and 2... 2 and 3... 3 and 4 and 5...

Each uphill step hurts, pulls and strains but I keep going, keep counting and keep wondering, at times out loud: "Why on earth do I chose to do things like this?!?" It's usually only in the aftermath of the hike when I'm safely seated in the car on the way home that I reflect back and find that I feel deeply satisfied.

But isn't that just like LIFE?

We spend a lot of time focusing on small things at our feet and the burning ache in our chest as we draw in air and our eyes lose focus on the beauty of the life we've been given. The joy of the here and now escapes us because it carries the struggle and exhaustion of an upward climb.

http://indulgy.com/post/Z8t05PyFJ1/its-the-journey

 We like it when we finally "get" somewhere or when things seem rather smooth and easy but life isnt' all smooth and easy. It's not just a series of spectacular destinations. There are, in fact, a few choice mountains standing in our way.

Sometimes we get to plant our feet, speak to the mountain and watch it throw itself into the sea. Other times we have to grit our teeth, throw up a prayer for guidance and start the grueling uphill climb to the apex.

There really isn't one right way to get past a mountain. Whether that chunk of rock cannon balls into the sea or your tired feet plod a track up it's rocky forehead doesn't really change the fact that there are lessons to learn, experiences to shape you and faithful muscles to flex.

I said it before when I wrote my post about optimism versus pessimism but it's true yet again. When we choose not to be distracted by our next step and instead focus on the overall benefit and joy of the journey we're on then we get more out of it. We recognize the outstanding beauty while we are submerged in it instead of just on a few choice photographs from the trip. But of course such a lifestyle demands and requires bold and outrageous courage on our part. We can't truly be optimistic unless we first choose to be brave against all odds.

For me this is an important thing to remember. When I got home after 11 crazy and amazing months doing what most people only ever dream of doing as I travelled and served the abused, impoverished and vulnerable in 11 different nations I felt devoid of purpose. I didn't know what to do next or where to turn. I was angry and frustrated because I didn't know how to find value, purpose and meaning in my life back home.

The really funny thing is I was being given an amazing opportunity to pour into a group of vulnerable and often abused people in my community and I didn't even realize the connection for the first several months after becoming involved. One day while I was praying and complaining to God about it he hit me over the head with the realization that I have everything that I could have ever wanted in a job. Not only that but I have been given purpose and the opportunity to pour into people the way I was before. It was a sobering realization because miserable pretty much sums up the way I felt for about 4 or 5 months after I got back. In addition grumpy and ungrateful pretty much describes my attitude when the truth is I had everything I wanted all along!

                        So shall we end this with a dare?

I dare you to stop your uphill climb for just a minute, take your eyes off of your feet, catch your breath, take courage and actually LOOK for the beauty of the mountain that you're climbing.

Once you've seen it try taking another step forward but this time
KEEP YOUR HEAD UP.  

Clearer Eyes.

When I put on my first pair of glasses it was like a small miracle. Suddenly the world that I was so accustomed to seeing one way completely changed. The world became crisp, clear and strangely new.

I was 13 when I found out that for years prior to my fateful appointment I had been looking at the world with failing eyes. For years I had complained to my parents about not being able to clearly see the chalkboard but they never took me seriously. My parents assumed that my complaints were based on an absurb desire to look like all the other kids with glasses and not because I actually couldn't see. When they finally took me they were shocked to find out just how poor my vision actually was.

I can still remember that first day wearing glasses. It really was like the world had been reborn. It was like going from seeing in black and white to looking at a new world filled with vivid colours. My head kept whipping around as I soaked in every distant scene as though I had never before opened my eyes. It was intoxicating and exciting. Up until that time I consistently saw the world as unfocused and blurry. Like a beautiful Monet painting it captured the essence of the things I was seeing but it wasn't an accurate depiction of them.

This past week I took one more step towards clear and unhindered vision and made an appointment for a contact lens fitting. I was a little bit nervous about it at first because poking myself in the eye on purpose is not something that I generally do as a hobby. It turns out that it's actually a lot easier than I imagined and pain actually isn't a part of the process. I spent most of the first day very aware of the foreign body floating on the surface of my eyes and continually attempting to "fix" my glasses.

That same euphoric feeling that accompanied my very first pair of glasses has transitioned to the way I've been looking at the world around me this past week. Suddenly my world is not hindered by frames or scratched glass. I have complete and clear vision no matter how or where I look. I can wear REAL sunglasses. I can style my hair without accomodating a set of frames. I put on makeup for the first time in my life while actually being able to see what I was doing. There is so much freedom and clarity in the way that I am able to see the world while wearing contacts. I feel like a person with normal eyesight.

I've been drinking in everything that I see as though it's all new. This whole new way of viewing the world along with a few timely conversations have made me do a little bit of reflecting.

As a teenager I seriously believed that I had my life figured out. I understood that God had this great plan for me and I believed that it was my job to figure it out so that I could then make it happen. I spent a lot of time trying to do exactly that. I cracked my head against a wall of legalism and religion until I could no longer stand the pain of what I precieved to be constant failure.

I was frustrated, confused, uptight - a mess really - and despite all of my best efforts I just couldn't twist God's arm or tempt him enough to give me exactly what I wanted. Eventually I sat back long enough to realize that nothing I did worked and it really wasn't worth the pain. I got angry and had a real attitude towards God and anything to do with God. I became a heckler and a critic. I read the Bible but the words didn't give me peace like they did when I was a kid, instead they just sunk like a lead ball resting heavily on my mind and making me miserable.

Slowly I started to see that they way I had viewed God for a good part of my youth was actually really twisted. He wasn't at all like I had imagined him to be. I thought that he was conditional and fickle. I was convinced that in order for God to like me, heck, for him to even notice me I had to be working my butt off to please him. I had to be successful, spiritual, mature, and strong all on my own. I had to prove myself to him and earn his favour and his love. And I was trying awfully hard to do exactly that.

Thing is it's actually true that everyone has sinned and fallen short. We are all absolutely DOOMED without grace. Lucky for us that's exactly what God offers. Grace. Forgiveness. A New Start!!!

At that time in my life, just as I'm literally finding out as I view the world through contact lenses, I couldn't truly find a way to see clearly without three things:

1. Someone to point out that my vision has been limited.

2. My own personal realization that I haven't been seeing clearly.  

3. A little bit of help to correct my vision and give me a clearer perspective.

I don't think that this is unique to me. I'm sure that each of us has an area of our lives where we are living with limited vision or understanding. We all need to be challenged with a new way to see things in order to obtain a clearer perspective of life.

So, where is your vision limited?