Living Our Right-Now

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”           2 Kings 23:25

Those of you who read my blog probably recognize a drastic change that occurred this summer! It wasn’t just the color and layout that changed, but the name changed too. Tamithurber.com sounds so impressive…believe me, it’s not. I even had a friend this past week write an email, congratulating me on my own website. Although I was touched at this sentiment, I decided it was time for me to discuss this issue.

When I was at the writer’s conference in July one speaker gave some tips for those who do speaking. Since that is one of my ministries, I listened closely and came back with many questions which I promptly emailed to Amanda, our church’s web-person. I then left for Teen Extreme. Upon my return, I found an email from her stating that I will notice some changes on my blog. I sure did! She did a great job of reorganizing and creating another beautiful site. However, she didn’t have anything to do with changing the name to tamithurber.com. That was ALL me!

I took the very difficult step of typing “godaddy.com” into my web browser and then purchasing the name “tamithurber.com” (based on the recommendation at the writer’s conference). Whew. It was difficult. It took all of ½ an hour and suddenly, I have a whole website named after me! I’ll admit that I am still adjusting to it – and I guess there are many reasons why I don’t like it.

For one thing, it seems so pretentious to have a website named after you. Someone must be pretty arrogant and completely confident in their abilities to put their name on a site. I am neither, and so it is still with a bit of chagrin that I post items onto this site. Although I love what Amanda has done, and I pray that having my name on the site will make it easier for the places I am speaking at to find me, I don’t want anyone to think that I am getting too big for my britches (although I have noticed some of my pants getting tight lately, but I think that is dessert, not pride, puffing me up!).

I tell you all this because there was a guy who, tonight, became one of my heroes. Read the verse that I put at the top. Who do you think it is referring to? Most of us would probably say King David. After all, he was a man after God’s own heart – one of the greatest kings of all of Israel. However, we would be wrong. Relatively lost to history, King Josiah was the king who this verse describes.

There was no king before King Josiah (this would include King David and King Solomon) who “turned to God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might.” And yet, could you tell me as many details about Josiah’s life as about David’s? Probably not.

Surrounding this verse we read some about Josiah’s reforms, but we don’t know much about him except that he completely loved, served, and desired God. What a way to be remembered!

Most of us will not be remembered past the next generation. Sure, we may have a family historian in future years that will record our name and a bit about us, but chances are, even if we have a web-site named after us right now, the details of our life will not too-far outlast us. But that shouldn’t stop us from living our right-now for God.

We have the opportunity today to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might. Sure, someone else like David may hit the history books, but let’s not worry about making an earthly name for ourselves. Today we serve the living, true God. Let’s do it with every inch of our being.