An Introduction

Welcome to my Christian Forums blog. I'm Waddler, though you could call me Rob. I made my first profession of faith when I was five years old, and since then I've had quite the adventure. My life has taken me through a congenital disability, childhood abuse, addictions, doubt, mental illness, trouble with the law, a suicide attempt, and much more. It's safe to say I've gone to extremes, as the Billy Joel song says.

Despite these valleys, I have also seen light in the darkness, and I've learned. I continue to learn, and that's what this blog is about. Through my journey on the third rock from the Sun, I've found that much of what I was told as a young Christian--through the first eighteen plus years of my life--was wrong. I have learned to separate true, biblical Christianity from the cultural biases I've encountered within the churches I've attended--a phenomenon I call "churchianity."

My goal is not to pluck feathers or stir the pot or whatever metaphor you'd like. My aim is to talk about what it means to be a Christian who is also a disabled, mentally ill addict who has given God and fellow Christians more than enough reasons to write him off as a lost cause. Yet, God remains steadfast. I'd like to explore a few things.

In screenwriting, there are five stages to a story, separated by turning points for the main character. It's next to impossible to define life in those terms, but I'm here to explore my story and what I've learned.

The Setup: How I got my start in this ol' world.
The Opportunity: How I came to know Jesus Christ, at least nominally.
The New Situation: How a combination of bad choices and circumstances led me away from Christ.
The Change of Plans: How I lost my bad religion and found God.
Progress: How I began to discover what being a Christian is all about.
The Point of No Return: How I couldn't deny God or His truth.
Complications and Higher Stakes: How clinging to my old life nearly killed me.
The Major Setback: How nearly dying was the wakeup call I needed.
The Final Push: How the story thus far has made me push deeper into God.
The Climax: My moment of clarity that has led me to this point.
The Aftermath: What I've learned, in summary.

After I lay that out, I plan to dig into the story and point out some specifics, and what I've learned in hindsight. God knows I might have come to the wrong conclusions, but so long as I'm breathing, there's still a chance to learn. That's my ultimate goal: to teach what is good, and to learn what is good.

It's okay if we disagree. It's okay to be wrong. We are all wrong at some point, but we have opportunities to learn, if we're willing. I hope you'll find what I have to say engaging, enlightening, challenging, and encouraging. That's all part of living a life worth telling well.
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Waddler
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