TRAINING PLANS – Jan 2

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.  Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:7-8

 As I languish on the couch with used tissues accumulating around me, I am still sick (AM I SICK), I have been diligently working through my recent Christmas present.  I received the book The Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joel Friel.

It only took a few chapters for me to realize that my training could be so much more effective.  The training philosophy espoused by Joel Friel is very different than what I have been doing:

An athlete should do
the least amount
of the most specific training
that brings continual improvement.

I have not been following this philosophy.  I tend to do random training workouts that usually focus on my strengths rather than weaknesses.  This haphazard training regiment survives reasonably well through approximately two-thirds of the season.  However, I have a tendency of burning-out toward the end of the summer.  I probably could be the poster-boy for the weekend warrior athlete’s battle with consistency.

Joel Friel is teaching me something new regarding how to maintain consistency.

Consistent training, not extreme training, is the way to attain the highest possible fitness.  Illness, injury, and overtraining can cause training breakdown, and extended or frequent downtime from such problems inevitably results in a loss of fitness and the need to rebuild by returning to previous levels of training…Consistency must serve as the ultimate standard in all training decisions…The key is to strive for moderation in training while resting at regular intervals.
~ Joel Friel, The Triathlete’s Training Bible, Page 7

Friel estimates that you will need to double the duration of a training break to rebuild the lost level of fitness.   That makes consistency the key to continual improvement.  Friel’s solution is to emphasis rest and recovering while maintaining fitness to avoid the inconsistency of significant breaks.

Just as the farmer’s field must lie fallow every winter, so does the human body, mind, and spirit need a rest, with time to reflect, recover, and rejuvenate.
~ Rob Sleamaker, Serious Training for Serious Athletes

That takes planning.  I have finished my annual training plan based on the guidance in The Triathlete’s Training Bible.  It is still a work in progress since I don’t have all my race, vacation, and work travel dates but this is what it is looking like so far:   Annual Training Plan   I am still in the process of creating my weekly and daily workout schedule in Training Peaks so I cannot share those specifics.

This planning process has been an excellent evaluation of what I am doing and why.  As a result, I am optimistic that my training plan for 2015 will guide me to training according to Friel’s philosophy – doing the least amount of the most specific training that will bring continual improvement and help me to achieve my goals.

While I concentrated on my athletic goals for 2015, I could not keep from reviewing my other resolutions for 2014.  I did not do very well.

I did not read nearly the quantity or quality of books I had hoped.  Most disappointing, I did not stay consistent in my Bible reading plan and did not complete it.

I failed to memorize Romans 8, once again.

I failed on every single one of my prayer strategies.

I was not as consistent in writing this blog as I had hoped.

I actually gained weight.

I didn’t start a home Bible study.

I did not send out a note of encouragement per week.

The sharing of achievements is much more satisfying than the acknowledgement of unfulfilled goals.  However, I share my lack of success because I don’t think that I am alone.  According to a study by the University of Scranton, just 8% of the people who make New Year’s resolutions will achieve their goal.

There are a lot of reasons resolutions are abandoned but for me the number one reason is fatigue.  I get tired and give up.  My resolve breaks down under illness, disappointment, distraction, or simply taking on too much (overtraining).

The intent of my athletic plan is to increase consistency – consistency will produce continual improvement.  That is what I need in my spiritual life.  I want to make the most of the time I have been given.  Therefore, I am going to try an experiment in 2015.  I am applying what I have learned from Joel Friel into a new spiritual training philosophy for 2015:

I will strive for consistent spiritual training
as the standard for all my resolutions
while incorporating regular periods
of rest and reflection in order
to achieve continual spiritual growth.

That is going to take some planning.  I have finished my first draft of an annual spiritual training plan.  I am still working on what I am going to be doing for each “X” but this is what I have so far: Annual Spiritual Training Plan

It is still a work in progress so I will be interested to hear any advice or comments.

PRAYER: Father, you know my fickle, inconsistent heart.  You know that I love to start things but struggle to see it through.  Lord, help me to consistently walk in your Spirit through this coming year.  Father, I ask that you will guide and bless the plan  I have laid before you.  May it be a tool in my sanctification.  Create in me a pure heart.  Train me in godliness for your glory.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

SEEKING GOOD SOIL- Dec 22

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:23

Two days past the solstice, my heart has returned already to thoughts of gardens.

While I relish my garden’s production of vegetables and fruits, they do not inspire winter dreams. For me, a preoccupation on production leaves gardening in the language of prose.

A garden should make you feel you’ve entered privileged space — a place not just set apart but reverberant — and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry. ― Michael Pollan

While the world could greatly benefit from more who turn a spade in the simple prose of production, a plot of soil takes on that unique designation of garden when the production of that plot harvests emotions, feelings and meaning beyond the yield of any farm.

Garden poetry emerges through careful crafting of landscape elements with the intent to evoke an emotion. The unique gardener’s vision of selection and placement creates the sense of a privileged place which differentiates a garden from a plot of productive soil.

My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. ― Claude Monet

Garden poetry inhabits my winter contemplation.

These contemplations have been revolving around a garden inspiration which came from a recent visit to Monticello. Monticello’s West lawn has a winding path bordering between the lawn and Thomas Jefferson’s various botanical plantings. Jefferson walked along this path as his mode of daily exercise.

Monticello’s West Lawn

Jefferson’s path is the inspiration for my North lawn.

While I currently do not need a pathway for physical exercise, I do need a pathway for spiritual exercise. I struggle for consistency in the spiritual discipline of prayer. Therefore, the privileged space I hope to create of my North lawn is a deeply personal masterpiece for my soul.

I’ve been dreaming and planning; drawing and erasing; researching and mulling over a prayer walkway. I hope to create a pathway that will lead me through a secession of prayers. As I walk along the pathway, there will be a variety of stations to lead me in my prayers for the various aspects of my life. Therefore, the selection of plants at each station of the pathway is essential to evoke the recollection and intent of the station.

I have been mulling stations for the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; governments of the world, the United States, Idaho, and my county; the Church universal, ministries of the seven continents, my local Church; my immediate and extended families; others – friends and associates; sources of enmity and enemies; work and provision; deliverance from temptation – seven deadly sins; and the concerns of self.

The selection of plants and structures which will produce the desired recollection has been a delightful way to pass the dormant season. However, I have encountered a hindrance common to many a gardener. Many of the plants that I would like to select will not be happy in the environment that they would be forced into. I do not have control over the climate and only limited control of the soil. Therefore, my plant selection must be subservient to the climate and soil of the planting.

My mind always seems to wander back to the parable of the sower when I think about gardening.

Have you ever wondered the composition of good soil?

How much nitrogen or phosphorous does it have?
What is its optimum pH range?
Is it free draining or does the clay content need to be high?

Jesus tells us that good soil is that in which the seed of the Word of God has been planted and the person hears the word and understands it. This person then grows in that good soil to produce fruit and yields a hundredfold, or sixty fold, or thirty fold.

But is the soil the same for everyone?

Just has God has created a variety of plants that thrive in different environments; I believe He has created variety in His children specifically suited to the environments He intends to send them.

God has gifted some to specifically thrive in intense heat of lifting their candle high;

Others flourish in the deep shade of ministering to the oppressed, abused and depressed;

Some blossom in a free draining flow of new thoughts and opportunities;

Others bloom in the saturated conditions of single familiar passages.

The seed of the Word is the same for us all. However, I believe the characteristics that constitutes good soil varies as widely as the personalities of God’s children. We make a mistake when we assume there is a prescribed formula that ensures the Spirit’s work of sanctification in our lives. We can end up trying to force ourselves into an environment into which we were never created to flourish.

Sanctification’s wonderful discovery is learning the soil or soils that God has specifically designed us to flourish in. It is why some produce a hundredfold in foreign soil as missionaries. It is why some people can bloom in a calling that I could not comprehend participating. It is why some need new soil free from a polluted past.

Every Child of God has a bountiful place in our Maker’s masterpiece garden.  We just need to find the soil that is best suited for our soul.

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the variety that you have created in plants and people.  Thank you for creating and calling your people to all the environments of this world.  Lord, lead us by your Spirit to those soils in which we were designed to produce in the masterpiece of your redemptive plan.  Father, you are the Master gardener.  You have created a poetry in creation that we so often overlook.  All of creation proclaims the intent of you, the Master Gardener.   Open my eyes to see.   Help me to display you in all that I do and produce.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOUL CLEANSE- Dec 17

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14

As a year’s end rapidly approaches, I get a little retrospective. I was looking over my 2014 resolutions and was disappointed in the general lack of accomplishment. I was particularly disappointed with the progress toward my body weight goal.

I was 200 pounds at the beginning of 2014. My goal was to be 186 pounds at the close of this year.

I exercised more consistently this year than I have in my entire life. I ran more miles than I have ever run. I pedaled over more asphalt than I have ever cycled before. I followed the black line in my pool lane, lap after lap, for more laps than I thought possible (for me). I did the Jilian Michaels Body Revolution and P90X3.  I took a fitness test and it said that I have the fitness level of a 21 year old.

Yet, I was 204 pounds as of November 1^st.

I know  I have put on muscle but that only explains a portion of my weight gain. My bathroom mirror exposes a lot of things, including the myth behind my rationalizations. The reservoir of fat that accumulates above the dam of my belt has persistently survived through the drought that I sought to subject it to. The reality is that the drought was not as severe as it needed to be. I no longer have the metabolism of a twenty-nothing. I can’t eat whatever I want and just workout a little more to stay lean.

My weight is a frustration because I do not eat excessively. I don’t drink carbonated-sugar colas or snack on junk food.  I have only an occasional dessert. My only meal of substance is dinner. Yet, the weight has persisted through a year of consistent exercise.

2014 has conclusively taught me that if I want to be lean then I have to watch both the quantity and quality of what I eat.

Therefore, my wife and I decided to treat ourselves to an early Christmas present – a Vitamix  and  Dr Oz’s two-week cleanse. My diet has been replaced by fruits and vegetables with a little bit (6 oz.) of protein for dinner. That is not very much.

However, this initial phase has been enlightening as to how much our grocery shopping has had to change. Our refrigerator crisper is now overflowing with produce that is actually eaten before it has a chance to rot; frozen fruit and Greek yogurt has replaced the ice cream.

When we made this concerted effort to refrain from our normal diet, we were able to access how many compromises were being made in what we consumed. They had not been huge compromises, but they all accumulate – right above my belt to be precise.

In general, we have been consuming the better rather than the best.

So far, I am very pleased with the results of our Christmas present. I am down to 196 lbs and 186 lbs seems possible by the time the 2015 triathlon and cycling season starts.

As I stared into my bathroom mirror and giggled in frustration the deposits that I hope will be gone by spring, I wondered about the fitness level of my soul. I live in a world with many very good things, a lot of neutral things, and a whole plethora of bad things. I take into my mind a regular diet that feeds my soul.

I believe that we can be spiritually fit with chunky souls.

We may know the basic principles of God.
We may be secure in the elementary doctrines of Christ.
We may  be steadily maturing in our faith.
Yet, we still retain that persistent “baby fat” of an immature follower of Christ.

Is your soul lean? Mature faith is lean faith

What is the diet of your soul?

Are you feeding your soul the solid food of the mature believer or the milk of the immature?

Is your diet filled with the things of the Spirit or the compromises of the flesh?

I believe it is good to do a periodic spiritual cleanse. When we make a concerted effort to refrain from the normal diet of what we allow into our minds, we are able to access how many compromises we make in our soul’s diet. These compromises might be sinful, but they don’t have to be. We may have merely substituted the better for the best. Compromises don’t have to be huge but they can accumulate to pull our eyes off of Christ and make us spiritually fat.  I believe that this process of stepping back and assessing what we let into our minds is instrumental in allowing the Spirit to train our souls to discern between good and evil.

Let us not settle for the better. Let us push on to the best. Let us push on to maturity with a diet that will feed a lean soul, fit for the work of our Lord.

PRAYER: Father, you have been so good to me.  Thank you for my faith.  Thank you for the maturity that you lead me in through your Spirit.  Father, teach me discernment.  Show me the difference between good and evil, better and best.   Lord, give me a desire to have a lean faith.  Give me an appetite for the things of you rather than the things of this world.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCOURAGING SHADOWS – May 9

“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” Proverbs 4:18

I don’t like my shadow!

I have been spending a lot of time running. I am still building up my running miles for the Boise Ironman 70.3. I ran 10.6 miles (17.06 km) last night with two more weeks left to top 13 miles before starting to taper down prior to race day. As a result, my shadow and I have been spending a lot of time together on the lonely rural roads of my running routes.

Running is far more mental than you might think. It is very easy to fall out of form. I try to concentrate on a high cadence, feet landing under me at mid-sole, chest forward, arms pumping like a gun-slinger, and deep breathing. It feels great when it all comes together.

I feel like an athlete when I hit that rhythm in form. Images of my favorite triathlon videos play in my mind:

Bevan Docherty – Super-human Triathlon Sprint Finish
Crazy sprint finish between Javier Gomez & Jonathan Brownlee

My imagination paints the course of my impending race over the abandoned fields. I can envision myself running with long, fluid strides trailing behind me, speeding me to the finish line.

At a glance, my shadow crushes these delusions. When I look about me, I will catch a sight of my shadow. My shadow does not remind me of the runners in my favorite videos. It reminds me of Forest Gump and not the young Forest Gump but the desert shuffling Forest Gump. My strides look short and my torso looks fat as my shadow mockingly shuffles beside me.

I don’t like my shadow because it conveys a truth that is not helpful to dwell upon – I am sliding to 50 years old; I’ve been running (inconsistently) for less than 3 years; I can still lose another 10 pounds; and I am slow. Dwelling upon what I am, does not deliver me to what I am becoming and does not let me enjoy how far I have come.

Therefore, I prefer to run into the sun. When I run to the sun, my shadow falls behind me and out of sight. I still am who I am – a middle-aged guy trying to stay in shape.  I know that I will never be an elite athlete,  but that reality does not need to steal the joy of being a triathlete and participating in the race.

Many people don’t realize that we cast a similar spiritual shadow. As Christians, we are being transformed from one degree to another into the image of Christ. We travel down our God-ordained paths of righteousness with the light of Dawn shining upon us; the Son illuminating our lives as we follow Him. However, the enlightenment of the Spirit will cast a shadow from all the areas of our lives that remain sinful and disobedient.

We can see who we were in our spiritual shadows. We can see all those areas of our lives where the righteousness of Christ has not cast away all darkness. I get discouraged by glimpses of my spiritual shadow – those plaguing sins; those inconsistent disciplines; those worldly loves; the slow pace of my sanctification.  In the past, I have become so discouraged that I questioned my salvation.  Focusing on my spiritual shadow resulted in a joyless religion.  Dwelling upon my sin never delivered me to what Jesus is making me and never raised praise in how much I have been transformed.

Therefore, I prefer to travel the path of righteousness with my face toward the Son. When I consciously focus my mind on the things of the Spirit, my spiritual shadow falls behind me and out of sight. This is not to minimize sin and the need to faithfully follow Christ, but that work is in front of us. What we have been or who we are, does not dictate who we are transformed into when our lives are illuminated by Christ.  I might never be an elite man of faith.  I know that I am a sinner in need of a Savior.  I also know that I am a Child of God with a seat at His table and that is more than enough to motivate me to continue in the joy of my salvation.

Don’t allow the joy of your salvation to be stolen
by focusing on your spiritual shadow.

Focus on the Son and enjoy the work of the Spirit in your life.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for redeeming.  Thank you for sanctifying me.  Turn my eyes toward you and away from all my continued failings.  Father, keep my face turned towards, you as I walk in the light of your Son as I continue along the path of righteousness that you have laid before me.  Keep me from being discouraged by my spiritual shadow.    I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

SPIRITUAL FREIGHT TRAINS – Mar. 26

“And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” Number 20:11-12

 Newton’s first law of motion: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Spiritual maturity entails learning to respond appropriately to the external forces that are applied to our lives. We can be in a good state –walking with all consistency in the Spirit. We can we be going in the right direction –following Christ with all of our heart. However, all of that uniform positive motion can be thrown into disarray by application of the slightest of force that is beyond our control.

When I was younger much of the state of my spiritual motion was dictated by the decisions I was making. Decisions will always have consequences. My decisions applied internal forces within my life that drove me in good and bad directions. I was like a five-year learning to ride a bike without training wheels. I wavered all over the path that lay before me. There was nothing in my spiritual life that one would call uniform. I sped up and slowed down. I changed direction and then changed again as I sought out the balance of following Christ in a confusing and fallen world. The inconsistencies of my younger years were mostly due to the decisions that I was making.

As the years have passed by, the Spirit has shown me so much patience and grace while teaching me how to follow Christ. My spiritual life is far from perfect but I am no longer the wavering and inconsistent child that I once was. I look back and know that the Lord has matured my faith, despite myself, to a state of mostly uniform motion.

This does not mean that the spiritual state of the more mature is without wavering. I have come to learn how vulnerable my spiritual motion is to the forces that are beyond my control. We all have to deal with circumstances that are not of our choosing. We all have to respond to conditions that are not our preference. Most of these situations are beyond our control. Yet, they are external forces that can disrupt the uniform motion of our spiritual lives.

There was no man like Moses. He was meeker than all the people who were on the face of the earth. He lived a faithful life. God spoke to Moses, mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles. Moses beheld the form of the Lord. Moses’ faith was steadfast and uniform.

Yet, even Moses was susceptible to the disruption of external forces. The people of Israel gathered together to quarrel with Moses and Aaron. That was a bad decision. It was a decision that Moses and Aaron had no part of. Yet, it was an external force beyond their control that was applied into their lives and they wavered under it. Moses took his eyes off of the glory of God and responded in his own flesh – he spoke in anger, he usurped the place of God, and he acted with aggression. In that instance, Moses wavered due to the external circumstance that was applied to him.

The bad decisions of others created a bad decision for Moses from which he had to face the consequences.

The goal of spiritual maturity is to respond appropriately to other people’s decisions and/or circumstance that are not of our choosing. The spiritually mature child of God should be difficult to dislodge from his consistent motion behind the leading of his Savior.

Why is it hard to dislodge a freight train from its tracks?

To dislodge a freight train, one has to exceed the train’s mass and acceleration. The tremendous force of a train comes from its incredible tonnage and speed. There are few forces that can throw a freight train off its tracks. It can be done but it takes an awfully great wallop to do it.

A mature Christian should be like a spiritual freight train.
Only,
our tonnage comes from the glory of God and
our speed through the propulsion of the Spirit.

Hunter-Desportes / Foter / CC BY

We gain spiritual mass when we live for the glory of God. We are grounded when we treasure God more than anything else. The cares of the world can apply little force against a life that is filled with the wonder of the Almighty and living to uphold the holiness of God for all to see.

The child of God who sets his mind on the things of the Spirit is propelled forward as he walks according to the Spirit. The Spirit is the one who accelerates the follower of Christ forward in his faith toward life and peace.

Only the greatest of external wallops can waver the believer who lives within the bulk of God’s glory and knows the Spirit induced acceleration of a life focused only on the things of the Spirit.

May we all mature into spiritual freight trains. Lives lived with so much spiritual force that bad circumstance cannot dislodge us from our walks of uniform motion according to the Spirit.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for how far you have taken me.  Thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit to guide and teach me.  Thank you for keeping me from wandering away from you. Lord, teach me how to live with your glory constantly in my sight.  Help to continue to walk according to your Spirit.  Restore me back into faithfulness when I do waver from external forces.  Father, create in me a faith that is as stable as any freight train for you glory.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

“MAKING A GLAD STREAM” – March 1

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”  Psalm 46:2

I received an overview of rivers as I trekked across southern Idaho for a recent ski day.  I crossed the Snake River, which is a slow, wide, and meandering river that is not very inviting.  The Snake River is a dark muddy river where I live.  It is full of sediment washed from thousands of acres.  It cuts into banks of soil in its century’s long search of the perfect course.  Energy continually dissipates as soils are consumed along the river bottoms, producing an opaque soup that is not fit to consume.

Stuck in Customs / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

As I ascend into the mountain reaches, the rivers become narrow and hardened.  The soils have long ago been washed away and the underlying rock exposed.  Channels lie fixed between mountain ranges.  Water flows with vigor and energy.  The life-sustaining water tumbling across the rocks of these rivers and creeks glistening in the morning sun, inviting a refreshing taste.

The parables and other imagery of the Bible mixed and mingled as I contemplated these rivers that accompanied me in a weary descent from an enjoyable day spent sliding down a mountain.

I could see my life as a follower of Christ illustrated in the changing of these rivers.

I know that I live mostly oblivious to the majority of the deep spiritual realities all around me – like looking through muddy water.  The polluting influences of my flesh have long obscured the truths of the living water of Christ.  I get periodic glimpses of fleeting clarity to bolster my hope during those brief periods when my eyes clear of selfishness and the resulting murk of life.

The eroding work of the Spirit has continued through the years to churn away at the banks of my idolatrous world.  I meander spiritually through this life as the Spirit relentlessly undermines one unholy edifice after another.  It has always been messy when a bank of bad soil finally collapses into the rushing power of the living water.  Confusion and questions swirling in the obscured wash of a life being gouged deep.

Yet, the Spirit is faithful.  The flowing power of the living water has never diminished and the cleansing flush of the divine always brings clarity through reliance, restoring tranquility to the child, love by God.  The seemingly meaningless meandering of a life endlessly eroded is never futile.  God is accomplishing a concealed purpose within the sightless depths of our soul.

He is washing the bad soil of our flesh away to reveal the bedrock of faith.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  (Matthew 7:24)

We are able to have a hope in the future only through a life firmly fixed upon the rock of Christ.  We can only find that rock through the hydraulic mining of the Spirit, removing layer after layer of bad soil from our lives.  The entire process of sanctification, being transformed from one degree to another into the image of Christ, is a messy and bewildering process.  We rarely can see through the muddy confusion of a life being hydraulically washed by the Spirit.

I have often been frustrated by the ostensibly random patterns to life.  I have wondered if I had jumped the banks of my purpose.  I have wondered why events have transpired in so unexpected ways.

By faith, I know that there is nothing random in the life of an heir of God (Rom. 8:16-17).

Maybe, all the chaos that we don’t understand is evidence to the continued work of God in our lives.

Maybe, the sudden bend in circumstance is another opportunity of the Spirit to remove the bad soil of our lives.

Maybe, the vigorous nature of suffering and disappointment is the living water driving deep into hidden crevasses of our soul to remove the last vestiges of rebellion.

We need to take heart through all trials and temptations because the Spirit of God uses those times to drive us onto the rock of our faith – Jesus Christ.  He loves us too much to allow us to build our lives on bad soil.  He loves us too much to leave us in our idolatry.  He loves us too much to allow us to continue meandering through life in an endless search for contentment.

It is because of love that He continues to wash us clean
– as painful as that might be.

My hope is that every child of God will look back at their lives and see a transformation as distinct as the difference between the Snake River and a mountain creek.

May we be washed clean and Christ exposed in every aspect of our lives.

May our course be gouged deep into the sure foundation of the King of kings.

May the living water flowing through our lives invite others to taste and see that the Lord God is so very good.

May the assurance of our salvation abound through the clarity of a life being continually washed by the word of God.

May our lives be streams that make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the good work that you continue to do in my life.  Thank you for continuing to erode away at my selfishness, disobedience, pride, and discontent.  Lord, thank you for repeatedly bringing me back to the sure foundation of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Please continue your work in me.  Don’t leave me as I am.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“THE SPECTACULAR ORDINARY” – Jan 28

“The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.”  Exodus 12:28

My calendar contains much anticipation.  Days are designated for future purposes, months in advance.  Yesterday, I took my kids snow skiing.  It was an event that occupied a spot on my calendar for months.

However, calendars never seem to diminish of special days and obligations.  Even while my children and I were sliding down snow covered mountain sides, my wife registered my son for his next NCFCA speech and debate tournament.  One special day was replaced by another.

I understand that this experience is merely a result of living in an organized and responsible manner.  However, a fixation on  future special days can steal the exceptional from the intervening days of ordinary.  That is a great loss.

The ordinary typifies the children of God.  Consider how long the descendants of Abraham resided in Egypt.  Centuries pasted from the time  Joseph welcomed his father and brothers to Egypt to the time  Moses came to lead them to the Promised Land.

The Bible is silent about these intervening years but that does not mean God was not at work.  He created a nation in those silent years.  A family came into Egypt and after 430 years of ordinary, a nation left.  That is pretty special.

God still creates the special in our ordinary.

God sanctifies us in the day-in and day-out of the ordinary.  It is through the reliance upon Him in the mundane that the Spirit transforms our hearts by an imperceptible degree or two.

God draws our children to Himself through the faithful everyday examples of parent and grandparent who are living a real and vibrant faith.

God is magnified before those who don’t know him by His followers’ unusual reactions to everyday difficulties.

God still builds for Himself a nation in the ordinary.  He is doing it today as I prepare to go to work.  He will be doing it today as my wife teaches our children.  He will be on display as I respond to clients and coworkers.  It will happen in the ordinary evening I spend with my family before I go to bed.

God will be doing glorious works throughout this very ordinary day.

May we not lose the blessings of the ordinary in our addiction to the spectacular.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for all  the special days that you have blessed my family and I with.  Thank you for doing wonderful works in my life that have caused me to praise and draw close to you.  Father, I equally thank you and am grateful for all the ordinary days that you have given me.  Thank you for the spectacular work  you will do in me and my family today even though I may scarcely notice it.  Thank you for the incremental transformations in my life that you are continually blessing me with through these long ordinary day.  Father, continue that work in my life and the lives of my family.  Lord, open my eyes so that I never diminish your spectacular work in the ordinary.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“MADDEN CURSE” – Dec 2

“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands, seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.”  Zephaniah 2:4

Madden NFL 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What do Eddie George, Daunte Culpepper, Marshall Faulk, Ray Lewis, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and Shaun Alexander have in common? (Other than having been NFL football players)  They all appeared on the cover of the video game Madden NFL and were all victims of the Madden curse.  The Madden curse is alleged to doom the player gracing the cover of the EA Sports video game, Madden NFL, to suffer a significant injury or perform horribly the following season.

Many believe in the Madden curse.

Maybe, it is God’s punishing them for pride.
Maybe, it is karma.
Maybe, it is the wrath of the god of football.
Maybe, it is something I don’t understand but it is still real.

I read the article, “Is the “Madden Curse” Real?”.  The author concluded:

Madden is selecting players who had outstanding seasons the previous year. But just like a roulette wheel might have a run where it comes up red 75% of the time, the outstanding performance by the players who appear on the cover is not sustainable. So the year after they’re featured they don’t perform as well as they did the year before, and it looks like they’re cursed. In reality, they’re simply playing back at the same level they were before their outstanding season. They’re just regressing to the mean, and it would have happened whether they appeared on the cover of Madden or not.

Madden NFL 07 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The “Madden Curse” is not real.  These players had a great year performing above their average.  The Madden Curse is just a reminder that sustaining elite levels of performance can be very difficult.  The laws of averages usually pull us back.  The typical improvement for individuals is incremental.  In March, I blogged about my goal to swim a mile in my local 25-yard, City pool in less than 30 minutes.  While I would like to report that I have succeeded, I have not – it is much harder than I had thought.  I swam my prescribed distance this last week in 31 minutes, 32 seconds.  It was 6 seconds faster than the week before.  However, it is an improvement of 2 minutes from March.

I have had monster swims that threatened the 30 minute mark.  I have had wimpy swims with no improvement.  My average improvement always seems to come back to small increments of improvement over extended periods of training.  I am swimming at a gradually descending average.  This is the typical experience of professional athletes and the recreational age-groupers, like me.  I think it is more the norm in the spiritual realm than I would like to admit.

There are many who revert to “Madden Curse” like explanations when they stumble in their sanctification.   Feelings of great spiritual triumph will often be followed by flare ups of indwelling sin.  The zeal of close fellowship with our Savior might be extinguished by a heart that has no passion to pray or study God’s word. (Duguid, Barbara)

We can be tempted to search for explanations of what is happening within us rather than acknowledging that we are not as good as we had thought.  We need to remember that because of the Spirit within us we are not as bad as our melancholy suggests.  We are uniquely progressing in our personal sanctification under the loving hand of our heavenly Father.

There are some who over-react to circumstances.  They function in their spiritual lives primarily in the realm of feelings rather than in the realm of knowledge. They may feel like God is punishing them when He is not.  They misunderstand the events in their lives as God’s displeasure when He is actually leading them to a deeper and richer understanding of His grace. (Duguid, Barbara)

J.D. Salinger wrote in the Nine Stories:

Poets are always taking the weather so personally. They’re always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.

I believe the sentiment of this quote is applicable to many Christians.

Christians are always taking circumstance so personally. They’re always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.

We live in a fallen world that follows the sovereign plan of God.  God has the power to keep us from sickness, distress, and pain.  There are times when He delivers us from the troubles of our fallen environment and there are times when He does not.  As Zephaniah prophesied to the faithful in Israel, “perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord”.  The opposite is equally true; perhaps you will not be hidden from the pain of a fallen world.

Whether He delivers us or He does not, is not commentary on His pleasure in our obedience.  The walk through difficult times is not a Madden like curse.  Equally, the walk through victory does not mean we are ready for a video cover.

A fall back to our progression of sanctification, while disappointing, does not incur the displeasure of a disappointed Father.  God knows what is in us.  He knows the sin that still entangles our love.  We should be thankful when God reveals to us our indwelling sin – it should humble us into repentance and reliance upon His grace.

God loves us enough not to leave our sanctification incomplete.

Therefore, let us respond to all circumstances in the same manner;
by seeking the Lord, seeking His righteousness, not our own, in humility.

Let us praise Him in our victories – for they are all due to Him.

Let us praise Him in our failures – for He is not done with us.

PRAYER: O Lord, you know that I have a tendency of being preoccupied by the condition of my soul.  Thank you for the love that you continue to show me in my victories, defeats, and average plodding.  Lord, continue your work in me to transform my heart and to cleanse me of my indwelling sin.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Resources:
Extravagant Grace, Barbara R. Duguid

“REAL WALLS OF FAITH” – Nov 27

“Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it. And let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.”  Micah 1:2

dbking / Foter.com / CC BY

Masonry commands a certain gravitas in architecture.
Stacked stone hints at an ancient permanence.
The repetition of form in a brick wall assures one that chaos does not reign.

wallyg / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

We cloak our grand structures in the facades of strength and stability.

Our great hospitals are faced with brick.
Our government buildings have edifices of granite.
Our universities are aged by cascading ivy over marble.

seier+seier / Foter.com / CC BY

Many churches have facades to convey strength and stability.

How often do we deceive ourselves by the architecture that we choose?

We hope in medicine to defeat the failure of a fallen flesh.
We trust in laws to protect the righteous.
We are confident of the observable and tested.

jbhalper / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Even our souls can be left to doctrines and traditions bereft of the workings of the Spirit.

I read of God’s warnings to His chosen people throughout the Minor Prophets and the book of Revelation.  I confess to weariness at this point of my plan to read through the entirety of the Bible in a year.  I am reading through these prophesies of God’s judgment upon the disobedient. I feel dullness in my hearing.  I struggle to pay attention through the repeated warnings of a God who proves he is to be so slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, continually relenting from disaster, incredibly gracious and merciful. (Jonah 4:2)

I know that I am inclined to build up stone walled edifices of security and stability.

I long for the certain diagnosis of a fallen flesh healed from condemning sin.
I want certainty of divine rules and assurance of proclaimed righteousness.
My intellect craves the gravitas of the doctrinal memorials crafted through brilliant theologians.

However, the security and stability that I long for in my faith will never be found in the constructs of my mind.  History is replete with examples of those who have relied upon illusionary block walls of faith, painted white with their own righteousness.  Those white washed walled were proven to be built without the mortar of the Spirit.  Those walls all failed when examined under the testing of the Lamb of God.  We are called to examine ourselves.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!  (1 Corinthians 13:5)

We can have stability and security in our faith.  We can know the refuge of God.  We can be assured that the Spirit is building a glorious cathedral within us.  We can know this assurance through testing of the walls that shelter our faith.  We must push against what we rely upon.  We must probe our heart to see what crumbles and where paint peals.

All that fails is not from God.

Martin LaBar / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

The warnings of old deserve attention.  We need a willingness to expose our hearts, knock down the false walls that are bereft of the Spirit, and let the Lord God be a witness against the sin in our lives.

May the strong walls built by my hands be pushed down
to expose my shameful failures.

May the edifices of personal spiritual triumph crumble
in the ashes of a humbled and broken man in need of a Savior.

May the acknowledgement of my weakness and dependence build
within me walls of assurance in the promises and power of God.

May the finished work of Christ be magnified though
the incomplete sanctification of a child of God continuing to seek his Lord.

PRAYER: O Lord, may my faith be found in you alone.  Break down the walls of my stuborn pride and rebellion.  Lord, I expose my soul to your cleansing love.  May I know only the work of your Spirit in my need.  May I stand only on your sure foundation.  May my triumph come only through the precious blood of Christ.  May my assurance be tested and proven true.  May you be glorified in my weakness.   Complete your work within me, my Savior God.  May my prasie be a sweet fragrance in your presence. (In Christ Alone)    I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“THE GREAT AUDITOR” – Oct 30

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”  Psalm 139:23-24

Mikko Luntiala / Foter.com / CC BY

The current gray days signal not only the coming of winter but the impending end of the fiscal year.  The corporate books for the year 2013 will soon be officially closed and final tax burdens calculated.  Corporate financial statements will be prepared and sent to our accountant.  He will filter those numbers through the various sieves of the tax code, which will inevitably retain more money than I consider reasonable; a gray day indeed.

401(K) 2013 / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

The complexity of the tax code forces businesses to hire professional accountants to guide them through the morass of regulations.  Millions are annually spent on tax accountants for the sole purpose of avoiding the monster of the taxation wilderness – the IRS.  Paying taxes is bad enough but no one wants to incur notice of the government’s intention to audit; a gray day indeed.

DonkeyHotey / Foter.com / CC BY

The IRS is generally the most feared government agency in the United States.  They are feared because they can cast anyone into a financial abyss based on the authority of their field audit, while most are overwhelmed by regulations they don’t understand.

As a result, the IRS probably does not have corporations lining up, requesting to be audited.  I don’t think anyone has sent them a message saying, “Search me, O IRS, and know my financials!  Try me and know my deductions!  And see if there be any grievous way in my financial statements, and lead me in the way of a penalty!”

I am an honest business person.  There is nothing in our corporate financials that worries me but I still don’t relish the idea (cost and time) of being audited.  However, imagine someone engaged in the cat and mouse game of tax evasion.  Imagine their fear of being audited.   They know that their tax forms have lies and deception.  People have gone to prison for tax evasion; an audit for them would be a gray day indeed.

However, the IRS would not be feared if we all had the assurance that our accounts were completely in accordance to the IRS standards.

The majority of world religions and many professing Christians fear God like the IRS.  They are just hoping to squeak past the final audit in the sky.  Concern has to arise regarding some of the more shaky deductions associated with the justifying of unseemly actions.  Uncertainty is the norm when gambling that the assets of good works might actually net eternal life when balanced against the liabilities of sin.

God as the Great Auditor should be feared more than the IRS.

Most are about as willing to welcome God in to do a spiritual audit as they are  the IRS.  Most do not seek God to search their lives and know their heart.  They know what He will find. So, they live in fear of receiving the ultimate penalty.

Therefore, they have no assurance of their eternal destination until the final auditing of the Great Auditor; a gray life indeed.

The Bible is very clear that God the Father is the Great Auditor.  However, He is so much more than a final judge.

Alex E. Proimos / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

He is the Great Physician also.  Jesus Christ came into this world for the sick.

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.  (Matthew 9:12-13)

He did not come to show us how to increase the spiritual assets of our works and decrease the liabilities of sin in the hope of obtaining a profitable balance to squeak past the Great Auditor.

He came to heal people from sin.  He completed that work in all who have been born again in Christ.  For those in Christ, we have been completely healed from the condemnation of our sin.  We have been completely justified by the work of the Great Physician.  Our eternal hope rests assured in the work of Christ, our healer.  I wrote about how we can know that assurance in ETERNITY CONFIDENCE INDICATOR.  Those who have been healed by the Great Physician do not have to fear the Great Auditor; our accounts are completely in accordance to God’s standards because they are basis on the work of Christ, whose righteousness has been credited to us.

However, sin still dwells within me.  I look at my life and I know that  in many areas I fail to live up to the commandments of God.  While my eternal hope is secure, I still need the Great Physician to continue to work in my life, transforming me more and more into the unblemished image of His son.  We call that sanctification.

As with any physician, we need God to examine us.  We need him to search for all the sin buried deep in our heart as an oncologist would search for hidden cancer.  Nothing good comes from ignoring symptoms of cancerous growth.  A physician has to be allowed to search for the cause of all those abnormalities.

The Spirit of God is that physician.  This is the life of a follower of Christ; yielding to the Great Physician.

We live healed from the terminal condition of sin. There is no reason to fear the judgement of God.
We live in continuing need of the Great Physician.  May we live daily in submission to His examination of our hearts, allowing Him to reveal to us anything that is grievous and then removing it.

That is a bright life, indeed.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for not saving me to a gray life of uncertain works.  Thank you for showing me mercy and grace by healing me from the terminal condition of my sin.  O Lord, search me and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  See if there are any grievous ways in me!  Father, examine me completely and show me those areas where sin lingers.  Cleanse me of all my unrighteousness. May I glorify you in all that I do.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.