28 things I learned in 28 years

28. Trying new food is a low-risk, high-reward activity.

27. Don't set your heart too strongly on shirts, because they tend to disappear.

26. Don't buy cheap pants.

25. Who cares how nice your car is? Anyone who does is an idiot.

24. If you are angry with someone, you can either talk to them directly, or forgive them completely. Those are the two options. Not an option: talking about with other people, or clinging to the anger.

23. The outdoors is nice, but it is also outdoors.

22. Two easy things: exceeding low expectations, and disappointing high ones.

21. My least favorite question: "What is your favorite color?" I just pick a random color and then the conversation is over.

20. Fear of change is futile. Things will always change. Ignoring inevitabilities is stupid. How many evils have come from a simple fear of something new?

19. Always look for new friends.

18. I have never regretted obeying the Word. No matter the difficulty of it, no matter the immediate consequences. By contrast, every regret I have contains within the flavor of rebellion and disobedience.

17. When people say, I regret nothing, it is empty bravado. We all have things we regret.

16. Everything new!

15. Fear is the great enemy! Fear holds me back from so much, from so much depth of fellowship, so many moments of potential joy and pleasure! I look forward to the day when fear will be no more.

14. This prayer I pray for myself every day: "May the eyes of my heart be enlightened, in order that I might see the hope to which he has called me, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."

13. Most of the time when you are trying to impress other people, they are mostly thinking about how they can impress you, and so you both end missing each other. The signals you send are misinterpreted, and vice versa. A fearless man will always love.

12. The real reason I decided not to pursue classical music further than I did was that the minutiae of excerpt practicing was killing me. I love to learn new things too much.

11. A valuable thing: a careful balance.

10. My most valuable possession: knowledge of the Word.

9. It is the great embarrassment of Christianity, that its people are so shamelessly ignorant of the Word, and that the ministers of God seem so content to leave their people in ignorance. Even excellent churches, even excellent ministries, even famous and brilliant pastors hardly seem to care that the average person in the pew knows his Bible so little.

8. Most of the things people worry about are completely pointless.

7. The cost-ness of life here, that all things cost, energy, money, time. All of them finite, all of them over. We instinctively hate this.

6. That my father and mother are my friends, my confidantes, and my advisors...what a blessing.

5. Don't be content with poor communication. Don't satisfy yourself with empty sayings that you couldn't define if someone asked you. Don't let your emotions lead into sloppy thinking.

4. There is no place for lies in our life. Learn to hate a lie for what it is.

3. I am unmarried. I have not learned to be content in this.

2. I am irrational.

1. What foundation can I stand upon except forgiveness? How could I make my way in pain without knowledge of future relief? How can I comprehend all things except ordered and purposeful? Jesus is the root, the offspring, the lamb, the king, the foundation. This is my all, for many years now, and until I die.