"ARGH!" is what I kept thinking this morning as I got around to go to work. And not a Pirate "ARGH!" but more like a Charlie Brown "ARGH!" with a little more emphasis on the "GH!"

I wanted to pull the covers over my head and not face the world. I wanted to lock all the doors to our house, turn off the telephone and cocoon with my family. Anything but face my work and the world!

On my drive in to work, though, I was listening to K-LOVE and "The Glory" by Avalon came on. I have heard this song probably a hundred times but the line "When He was only thirty-three" just kept ringing in my head.

Jesus was sent here by His Father -- our Father -- as a man designed for maximum impact. Whenever I read the Gospels, I am forever overwwhlmed by the impact Jesus had. Thirty years of preparation and just three years of active ministry. And to think of the path that He walked and the various reactions which He received during those three years, culminating in a criminal's death, betrayed and denied by the very group He had chosen as His followers. But yet He changed the world forever.

There really is only one credible explanation and that is that Jesus' entire life was designed for maximum impact and He followed His father's bidding to the letter.

Not to sound John Maxwell-ian but I believe that we were each designed in our own way for maximum impact as well. If we seek our Heavenly Father's bidding and follow it, we could never dream of having the kind of impact that Jesus had ... but we will live a life that reflects His beauty, His love, His compassion, His grace.

I do believe He has a plan for each of us and mine today was not to pull the covers up over my head. So I face the day knowing that my power does not come from nor reside in anyone but our Lord and Saviour. I have a week ahead of me in which I anticipate a couple of conversations which will bounce me around a bit, perhaps even leaving me a bit bruised or bloodied. But, again, there is a plan in place. He is teaching and preparing me for living out the plan He has for my life.

He was only thirty-three and look at His impact. I have almost ten years on Him and so I go forward, attempting to boldly and bravely seek the Father's plan ... I may still let out an occasional "Argh!" but perhaps it will have a hint more Pirate in it -- a wee bit of emphasis on the "AR" instead of my good friend Charlie Brown's "GH!"

THE GLORY by Avalon

In the solitary moment of His birth
On this barren dusty land
All of heaven kissed the face of the earth
With a miracle of love
God became a man
But He was sent away to draw His final breath
When He was only thirty-three
And in the shame of dying a criminal's death
He cleansed an angry world
And in His suffering I see

(chorus)
The glory of the blood
The beauty of the body
That was broken for our forgiveness
The glory of His perfect love
Is the heart of the story
The glory of the blood

Now I have tried to find salvation on my own
In a search for something real
But there's a guilty heart inside this flesh and bone
Fall upon His grace
And I begin to feel

(repeat chorus)

And when I close my eyes
I can see Him hanging there
Oh the precious wounded Lamb of God
All the majesty in this world cannot compare to the glory
The beauty of the body
That was broken for our forgiveness

(repeat chorus)

But He was sent away to draw
His final breath
When He was only thirty-three