MAY 26, 2026

    " I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life..."

― Henry David Thoreau

1 CHRONICLES 17-19

7“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. 9And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 10and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.(17:7-10)

JOHN 10:1-21

14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

JOURNAL 

Several things this past week hit me in ways that feel significant. The first was the death of Kyle Busch at only 41 years old. From the outside, his life seemed full. Intentional. Successful. A man with purpose, family, influence, and still so much ahead of him. Something about it caught me off guard because it was a reminder that none of us are promised some future moment where we finally start living fully. We only get today.

It made me think again about the tension I constantly fight within myself. There is a part of me that wants ease. Comfort. To coast a little. To avoid hardship and difficulty whenever possible. But I recently read the idea that our bodies and minds were not designed primarily for comfort and ease as much as they were designed for challenge, responsibility, hardship, and growth. When we spend our lives trying to escape difficulty, we slowly diminish our capacity to become who we were created to be.

That immediately brought me back to the spirit of what Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden. He described the desire to truly live deeply and fully rather than sleepwalk through life in resignation and comfort. I have always resonated with that because deep down I think most people long for a life that feels awake and meaningful, not merely safe.

That same theme runs through the passages in 1 Chronicles and John.

In 1 Chronicles 17, God reminds David that He called him out of ordinary places and into purpose. David started as a shepherd in a field, yet God had been with him through every battle, every uncertainty, and every hardship. The struggles were not separate from the calling. They were part of what formed him into the man he was meant to become.

Then in John 10, Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd who willingly lays down His life for His sheep. There is incredible intentionality in that image. Jesus was not drifting through life trying to avoid pain or preserve comfort. He lived with complete clarity of purpose and complete surrender to the will of the Father. Real life was found through sacrifice, love, courage, and surrender rather than self-protection.

I think that is part of why Dead Poets Society impacted me so deeply when I first watched it the summer before my senior year of high school. Something about that movie stirred this awareness in me that life was meant to be lived boldly and intentionally. It awakened this longing to not waste my life. To become something meaningful. To live courageously instead of passively drifting through the years.

And honestly, I believe that longing is from God.

In John 10, Jesus contrasts His mission with the work of the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy wants distraction, numbness, fear, passivity, and comfort to slowly drain the life out of us. But Jesus says He came so that we could experience life to the fullest.

Not a shallow life.
Not merely an easy life.
A full life.

A life where we love deeply, risk greatly, create boldly, serve faithfully, and refuse to waste the time we have been given.

Because in the end, the goal is not simply to arrive at death safely and comfortably. The goal is to fully become who God created us to be before we get there.

 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

JOHN 10:10