The most precious mildew

There is a bag, and in it is some really disgusting stuff. It has mold and mildew and tissue and bleach and all kinds of interesting chemistry stuff going on in there. I haven't opened it in a long time. I'm sort of scared too. Last time I opened it, I was pretty distraught.

It used to be a simple spiral notebook with three subjects. One a little bigger than my Bible. The truth is, I had no intentions of ever keeping a journal. But on a rather frustrating week, my baby brother said he needed a ride to a Bible Study. I was in college and had no desire to sit in on a Jr. High Bible study - but as it turned out, once the speaker started talking, my spiritual life was given a swift kick in the ...

So I HAD to start writing down everything I was hearing. I couldn't believe that this information was in the Bible. So I grabbed a spare college notebook (that was lightly used :) and started writing. It soon collected all kinds of things, notes from the Bible Study became less and less, and my life on its pages became more and more. Soon, I was journaling.

That journal is precious to me. Not only did it have the things I learned, it also had the life experiences I was going through and how God was literally transforming my Christian perspective. Never in my life did I grow more and change more and was challenged more. It was absolutely crazy. Crazy fun.

Today, I have no idea what is in that Journal. The mold and mildew has destroyed most of what was important. See, it was stored in a box on a shared wall in an apartment. The opposite wall was a kitchen, and it sprung a leak and soaked our closet. We noticed the smell before we found the problem. But we did what we could to salvage it and somewhere is an old journal that I love.

In today's world, it is really easy to whip out a tablet (like this Awesome ASUS SL101 that I am using now) and crank out some thoughts. Journaling is so easy. But it isn't as intimate as the hand written journal I once had. My life is slowing down again. I love this. I love taking the time to write out my thoughts on God and what he is doing. But to be honest, I want more. I desire to get back to the days when I was writing out my prayers and logging my day's events and stories.

Perhaps the problem is that we have packed our schedules so tight, we don't want to do anything slow that we could do fast. And I just don't know that we want to rush any relationship. A rushed relationship is not likely to be a good one.