Finding Steven

     Ever feel like your life is like "Where's Waldo?"  Caught somewhere in between?  Haven't left one place and don't know where or when to enter the next place?  I've stated before that I feel like my life is lived in a "state of positive discontent."  By that I mean I acknowledge where my past has taken me, am interacting with where I am now and yet longing for that "more" of the future.  And so, daily, I search for Steven.  Sometimes I even find parts of him.  Some are neglected while other parts of him are intact.  Yet another part of him is on the move.  Not sure of the right direction all the time but I'm not sitting still.  Here is a key to "Where's Waldo?".  He is on the move.  If you look for him in one picture and find him, he won't be in the same place in the next picture.  That's where it is with "Finding Steven" as well.  Though I am "formed" by my past and present; my present and future are what "defines" me.  My former definitions pass away and behold a new creation.  But then I'm getting ahead of myself.
     I believe in evolution.  Not many Christians would say that.  However, my evolution is not about crawling out of the swamp.  I believe that history shows that we have evolved into whom we currently are through imagination, application and closure.  That's why we have watches we can use for the internet and other wonderful time consuming things.  Not to mention that screen is so small!  We have moved from horses to cars and trucks, wood stoves to microwaves, and animal skins to the finest of linen.  That's evolution.  Our crops are enhanced through selective breeding, our animals produce more for our consumption and we have artificial this and that to fill in the rest.  That's evolution.  Mankind's though has also evolved from the earth is flat to Pluto being kicked out of the planet category.  You get the point.  We evolve.  I believe that creation by God was an evolution in a similar vein.  In the quest of "Finding Steven" there is an evolution that must also be traced and learned from. 
     The Bible says that God knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb (Psalms) and that he knew the intimacies of our entire life; past, present and future.  To that end God also says that he will give us a new name if we overcome the world and stay faithful (Revelation).  The "new name" is what I'm trying to find.  I'm impatient.  I want to know now.  What is my purpose?  What is my reason for living?  What am I supposed to be and do?  All of these questions are future based.  They are also infused with the present and the past.  I am the sum of my past, present and future.  The future being unknown leaves the equation unsolvable.  Truly until I am before Jesus in Heaven I will not truly find Steven.  That shouldn't stop me (or any of you) from pushing forward and trying to know what your new name will be. 
     We are encumbered with the labels, history and draws from the past while searching for who God has created us to be.  Shaking off these 3 is difficult.  Why?  Because it's familiar.  We tend to stay where we are feeling secure.  There is nothing secure about abandoning the past and walking forward into the future.  The only security is knowing that we are drawn by the Holy Spirit who paves the way of our journey.  For every one person urging me forward in my quest, there are 10 who are trying to pull me back from the journey called sanctification.  That's a fancy theological word which means becoming more like Christ.  Finding Steven is an ongoing project that will be completed when I exhale for the last time here on earth and inhale for the first time in heaven.  That's why there is no death for the Christian.  They were dead in sin but made alive in Christ.  Breathe out on planet earth and breathe in up in Heaven.  How simple is that!?