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