Yesterday I finished readingRadicalby David Platt for the first time. The book has changed my life beyond what I expected. Before I even began to read it, God has really laid these subjects on my heart. I really think that God used this book to confirm and reinforce what I had been learning from His Word. More than anything, I want to continue to seek God, glorify Him, and grow in His fullness. I don’t know how God is going to use me, but I want to serve Him because His loving-kindness and faithfulness is more than I deserve. It’s something I believe and cling to every moment of my day. It’s something worth dying for. While that all sounds super drastic, it still doesn’t even begin to compare to the price that Christ paid on the cross.

So if you’ve read the book, you know about the Radical Experiment. Starting tomorrow, I’m beginning my year-long journey. And to get there, this is the plan I’ve formulated:

Pray for the entire world

I plan to accomplish praying for the entire world by subscribing to Operation World’s newsletter email to receive daily reminders. I will utilize my copy of Operation World and commit to praying daily. I will also stay in the know about current events in world news so as to meet the most current needs for the nations in prayer.

Read through the entire Word

I plan to accomplish reading the entire Word in a year by following a reading plan. I will manage my time and prioritize to ensure that my personal time with the Word happens daily. I will also limit the amount of time I spend on social media in order to ensure that I am able to have enough time to commit to reading daily.

Commit my life to a multiplying community

I plan to commit myself wholeheartedly to my church, Cross Pointe Community Church. I will continue to serve in the children’s ministry, but will actively seek opportunities to serve above and beyond my monthly commitment. I will also join a life group that is intentional about sharing, showing, and teaching the Word and serving the community. Within that life group, I will seek to build Christ-centered relationships. I will also be diligent in inviting someone to church with me every week.

Sacrifice money for a specific purpose

I plan to sacrifice my money above and beyond my 10% tithe. I will give above and beyond on 5^th Sunday missions offering. I will also start sponsoring a missionary through Gospel for Asia. In order to accomplish this purpose, I will be better about managing my personal finances. I will prioritize my spending on necessities first, and cap the amount that I spend on luxuries.

Spend time in another context

I plan to spend my summer on missions, whether it is as a counselor with Sky Ranch again or in another country. I will be open to whatever opportunities God brings up, and obediently follow wherever He calls me to go. Wherever I go, I will submit to the purpose of being there. I will put my needs beneath those that I am serving in order to share the gospel.

In order to meet complete this experiment, I will find individuals who will commit to holding me accountable in staying focused on the goal: glorifying God and growing in His fullness. I will daily check to make sure that I have followed through faithfully on this plan. I will begin this experiment October 1, 2012 and carry it out until completion by October 1, 2013.

I’m such a nerd for psychology and personality tests. These were my results! I think it’s pretty accurate :)

I wrote this for a staff handbook my old high school newspaper adviser is putting together this summer:

Being part of a newspaper staff has helped mold me into the person I am today. While I walked in with dreams of being a writer, the idea of walking up to a complete stranger to bombard them with questions was intimidating. I didn’t know where to begin. By the time I finished my first year on staff, I saw the benefits of going in person to interview. Instead of emailing my interview questions, I did my very best to go in person when possible. When I would be working on an article, it was like the people I would interview were so eager to get their story out there so the world could see and hear and feel their concerns, their passions, their opinions.

As a journalist, you learn to be flexible and fluid. You get to step outside yourself and serve as a messenger for someone else. Without a doubt, that was my favorite part of being on staff. Before I was a reporter, I let my mind reside within the neat and tidy little lines that delegated what I thought was acceptable and what I had drawn up from the world. Let’s face it- I was young and knew next to nothing about the world. I still know nothing, but I’ve learned that all of these little stories waiting to be told are opportunities to learn something new.

My second year on staff, I was made sports editor. I felt completely inadequate for the job because I had zero confidence in my sports knowledge. I couldn’t tell you the difference between innings and quarters or even what a touchdown is. But the beautiful thing about journalism is that you don’t have to know anything. As long as the people are passionate, they don’t mind taking a couple minutes to explain how something works to you. They want you to feel what they feel; they want you to understand why they love what they love. My greatest achievement that year was being able to write sports articles and know confidently what was going on in that sport. I wrote a story about how our football coach lost in the semi-finals of the state championship. The coach’s own high school alma mater won in overtime by one point because of a two-point conversion. I felt the heartbreak with the football team and the coach whereas I had never cared if we won or lost before. I was able to tell a story to the whole school that the team could not.

To this day, I still have a switch in my mind that flips to my journalist setting. I see the world differently. I will be driving home from work and think of an article that should be written or a headline or an infographic. I notice design details in newspapers and magazines that I would have never noticed before.

I’ve learned that it’s okay to be curious and to ask questions, even if they may sound silly. I’m eager to learn about the world around me and try new things and meet new people. My friends that knew me in high school tease me sometimes when I meet someone and I snap into interview mode. The world around me has broken outside of the neat and tidy little lines. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new and to hear someone’s story.

I always think these things are super cool :)