This month marks 15 years of blogging about living life extraordinarily …

It was 15 years ago this month I began my adventure in blogging with the launch of a blog called “Extraordinary Living.” The blog would cover a limited offering of topics — mental health and mental illness, Christian living, the church and church leadership, relationships and human behavior, fitness, and a little on personal and professional development. In 2014, when the international ministry of Scott Free Clinic (SFC) was formed, the “Extraordinary Living” blog was shut down, all the content was transferred here to the SFC website, and while the title of “Extraordinary Living” was dropped, the writing adventure has continued.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have read the various articles posted to this blog on a weekly basis. And other websites, such as ChurchLeaders.com and others, have reprinted (by permission) dozens of articles to share with their audiences.

To mark 15 years of blogging about living life extraordinarily — comprising 2,956 blog posts thus far — I’m re-posting here the very first blog post that started this journey of exploring together the extraordinary life of being a follower of Christ.

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Saturday, March 21, 2009

It’s about time!

Finally I have ventured into the world of blogging! After writing in a variety of avenues over the years, I’m excited about using this media to share thoughts on extraordinary living.

Living the Christian life is not an ordinary thing. Who we once were exists no longer … we have died to self, have been buried with Christ, and have risen to walk in newness of life. That’s an extraordinary thing!

But living out that new life in Christ is where both adventures and challenges begin, and is something Jesus really wants us to experience fully. In fact, Jesus said that He had come so that we may have life and experience it abundantly (John 10:10).

Extraordinarily.

We’re to live differently. God calls His people to be different. Yet, on any given Sunday you’ll hear much the same conversation among Christians as you do co-workers around the office water cooler … trials of life, difficulties of living, problems faced, challenges and testings.

I think we’re missing a lot of the joy God intended for us to experience as His children. And if we are, it’s our fault! God doesn’t promise us a life of ease. In fact, Jesus said in this world we will most definitely have some troubles. BUT, then He added something we so often overlook … he said, “But take heart, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Extraordinary living isn’t about a life of ease. And it doesn’t mean that life is easy, although I think it’s often easier than we make it. But regardless of the circumstances we face in life, we decide how we respond to all of life’s good and bad times.

I look forward to sharing about life with all who want to come along, and join in on, this adventure in extraordinary living. Your comments and insights are always welcome.

Scotty

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