An Excercise

I don't know about you but I have often prayed for: strength in Christ, opportunity to grow close to God, self-discipline, trial in order to be proved. And as often as I have desired these things I have NOT made the effort to actually do something about them. That is one of the reasons I am starting a 30 day media fast.

These are my personal stipulations as of now (Sorry friends, you may find me to be a bore this month):

- Read my Bible first thing in the morning and last thing before I sleep (and variably during the day).
- No movies
- No Twitter
- No Television
- No video games
- No reading the news
- No YouTube
- Facebook only to reply to important messages (I rarely use facebook as it is)
- E-mail for correspondence only
- Online only for my Resident Assistant duties, school work or Church ministry
- ditto for computer
- Books on God, godliness or godly relationships only (and required school books)
- No blog reading
- Free time for studying, excercise, reading and spending quality time with my girlfriend
- Music only from overtly Christian artists or classical
- Scripture memorization (I have a list of 30 passages I hope to have memorized, thanks OSL ;) )

What do I hope to accomplish?
1) First and foremost I hope to glorify God.
2) Godly self-discipline
3) Cleansing of the soul of the trash that the media covertly an overtly seeps into my mind
4) An overall closesness with God through his word and prayer
5) A clear understanding of priority in the end
6) A complete cessation of the most banal things I discover in my life throughout this period

Some dangers to be watchful of:
1) Arrogance
2) a sense of holiness
3) Legalism, imposing my system on those around me
4) A complete disconnect from the life in which we live thus creating a road block to ministry to the lost

You may be wondering why I am posting this. Why not just keep this a private matter? Well it's because I'm depraved. I have this human ineptitude of not following through with the most pure and godly ideas I vocalize. I hope the contract I've written, the one you are witnessing to now, will be kept. These implications are deep.

Please keep me in your prayers my friends. I am still unsure as to wether I will give a weekly update on not. Is writing a blog post breaking my media fast? Will my desire to read your comments cause me to seek encouragement from you and not from God? I could have Brenton transcribe or even observe and write (we're roomates, it's not as weird as it sounds). Anyway, this is all just another attempt to seek God and loose control. I'm excited and scared.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Dan