Writing on the blog is not the only thing that needs some catching up on the effort. Summer did indeed throw me off so much of my usual duties or habits. This doesn't mean the last few weeks are an abject failure at all. You know as well as I do that life has a way of interfering with our normal routine. My calendar was full of doctor visits as we kicked off the hot season. Most of those visits went well but one got me. My heart shows a little weakening compared to past checkups. It is nowhere near as bad as it was back in 2012 but I could tell a difference. It was a tad weaker plus my leaky valve is still leaking. I did fine for a year or so but something is making it act up. We simply adjusted medicines which helps a ton and now its back to working out better. The problem is at my age it is almost like starting over again. I walked a bunch in Minnesota and am resuming that plan being home.
Exercise used to be somewhat easy. I can recall doing all sorts of running far beyond the walking that happens today. My lifting of weights is a long way off where it was several years ago. Odds are good those days are gone. Working out now includes the new realities of age and health. No one said it is ever easy but it does matter. The aches and pains that come with it are really a good sign. What this old body says is that it is working day by day. The walks should become some jogging before long. The lighter weights should lead to a bit heavier efforts in the days to come. The body can often accomplish only what the mind allows. So if you don't mind some aches then it doesn't matter since you decide to push forward.
Being a believer is somewhat similar. Thank goodness we do not have to remain trapped in the down periods of our faith. They will happen but we can know God just as real then as we do in the high points. Neither do we usually stay in a perpetual high when it comes to our spiritual health. No doubt but those are wonderful times when we feel invincible but that really is not par for the course. Life is often determined in how we deal with the middle areas as we journey along. We have some aches and pains as God delivers us from stuff that obscures our vision of Him. We hurt a bit in our experience of grief over letting the old go so we receive the divine new. Sometimes our mistake is thinking those painful times are bad things when they are not. They are truly a sign that we are alive and growing in our relationship with God. Jesus told us that part of our spiritual life is to carry a cross. We cannot imagine such an action is remotely comfortable. But it is in carrying that cross that we jettison the old, discover the new and keep our eyes on God.
Being a follower of Jesus is never meant to be static. Far too many church members seem quite content avoiding any discomfort in their life. What they forget is they also miss God's presence in the journey. So let yourself be stretched and molded by God's activity on a daily basis. Learn to live with those aches as a mark of growth. It will not be easy as most things aren't but you will be eternally better for the process.
Bro. Trey
Writing this blog during summer became far more difficult than I could imagine. No amount of good intentions can make up for being absent. You know from past reading that writing can be good therapy for me. You know that I don't try to reinvent the wheel or make headlines with breaking news. Most of my aim is just relating God's world to ours as we move along on our journey. We try not to be critical though that can slip in on occasion. Any lack of writing is not due to the blog itself but to this summer. Let me try to put it into words.
A large part of the last few months wound up being awful. Most of my time is being spent going to hospitals or funeral homes to see people. The Ebola virus is not the only bad thing breaking out this year. Several of our church people suffered losses that were both unexpected and the end of a life. My son and I would end up heading to a funeral visitation at one time or the other. Then we also have more than a few who spent time in the hospital for some procedure or treatment. He and I again would jump in the vehicle to go check on those in a crisis. Busy is a four letter word to describe the chaos of these days. As we say, do not count this as whining but simple a relating of part of the havoc of the season. A final straw was a visit to the Cardiologist who informed me of a small setback. I could feel it in my body leading up to the visit so it is a relief to have confirmation. Expect me to move a bit slower for a bit but I will be moving.
The other part of summer is really awesome. There are blessings going around for those willing to receive it. While some are traveling we are holding our own in attendance and such. Some of the messages were a tad bumpy but they are better than usual also. Our baptism pool was used a few weeks ago. The students had a great time in camp. I believe we had a moving worship experience this morning. But all of this takes time away from writing. There are more than a few evenings where my body just crashed in bed before making time to write. None of this is anyone's fault but my own.
School starts in a few weeks here so there will be a new sense of the routine. That will be more than welcomed this year. God still works when school is out if you will let Him. He acts in the awful and the awesome. My hope is He now works to give me more time to write.
Bro. Trey
I wonder how many of us are ever truly happy with our prayer life? My guess is some give up on it because it doesn't work for them. These are people with some element of faith but no living communication with God. Saying prayers eventually overtakes any desire for a real relationship with Him. We should not look down on any who struggle with the divine dialogue. It can and does happen to more believers than we imagine. But the reality is this does not have to happen. Anyone can learn how to build that heartfelt prayer life that satisfies the soul if not the mind.
Our mistakes usually begin with seeing God as the source for whatever we want in life. Praying is little more than taking a grocery list to Wal-Mart. What is missing is the truth that God is far more than that. He is called our father among many other metaphors. One of the keys to a real prayer experience is the gift of knowing Him. Some make the mistake of thinking how you pray matters more than just praying. These are people who hear the words of others and imagine they cant say it as well. Sometimes our struggle is in knowing what we are praying about. We fail to listen as God corrects our approach to Him. A large part of praying is about the listening. This is meant to be a two way conversation after all.
Scripture plays a huge role in a deeper prayer life. It is our God speaking to us through the stories and truths of the past. We discover that what God said can become something He is saying to us now. This works in two ways. We can stand on the given promises of God in scripture. Some of the things we find there are just basic givens for a believer to grasp. Prayer can be taking those truths to give a confidence or clarity to our desires. God may even use those words to redirect us in the process of praying. Our hearts move from just our desires to His will. But sometimes we come across specific scripture that speaks to our heart at a given time. We learn something new about God or our life that we can translate into our conversation. What happens is we take what God whispers in our heart to build a boldness in our praying. We basically agree with God then move that into action. To me this is a serious invitation to Him for real growth and answers.
One of my common models is the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6. You can take that prayer for use in almost anything if not everything that burdens our heart. Always remember it begins with the truth that God is our Father. He is our source for all we really need. It is a reminder that we need not compete for His attention. Any decent father already has a mind to hear his child when called. Our recognition is He is one enthroned firmly in heaven. Now this is not a word that God is distant from us. It means that He can be trusted to have the power to answer our cries. His heart is tender and not cold. We will try to say more over the next few posts about this. I leave urging you to go back to reflect on this prayer of Jesus to allow it to speak to you. Let me assure you that it has much to say.
Bro. Trey
