The Last Day

You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the LORD will go ahead of you; yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

Isaiah 52:12 

Well my friends we have made it to the last day of the year!

A few of us have come to this day filled with regret and sadness. We feel like this past year could have been handled a lot better by us. We have made poor choices, wandered through the year with little direction, and want to quickly close the door on the year. The feelings we have are actually a little bit of sadness for time wasted.

Funny thing is no matter the way you wandered through the year you were not alone. As a follower of Jesus you had the Spirit of God with you actually. He has come behind you as a rear guard. This means that you may have blown it in 2016 but it does not have to follow you into 2017. Let the grace of the Lord cover your past and not allow it to rob you of 2017.

The Father is already ahead of you in 2017. He has made the paths for you to follow on your 17 journey. So let's not leave 2016 as if we are running for our lives. We are safe in the security of HIS mercies. Let's not regret the days gone in wanderings. We are secure in the salvation of HIS grace. Let us walk with confidence into the new year with our eyes set on HIM. 

The Enemies Stolen Plans

The Battle of Antietam in 1862 lasted for 12 hours and ranks as the bloodiest day of the Civil War, with 10,000 Confederate casualties and even more on the Union side. "At last the sun went down and the battle ended," wrote one historian, "smoke heavy in the air, the twilight quivering with the anguished cries of thousands of wounded men."

Though militarily a draw, the mediocre Union General George McClellan was able to end the brilliant Robert E. Lee's thrust into Maryland, forcing him to retire across the Potomac. How was this possible? Two Union soldiers had found a copy of Lee's battle plans and had delivered them to McClellan before the engagement.

In some respects, we are no match for our adversary, Satan, whose wiles we are told to be wary of. But as with General McClellan, our enemy's plans have fallen into our hands. We know his usual strategies--to entice us with lies, lust, greed, and the like. With such knowledge, given us by God's Word and God's Spirit within, we too can resist the enemy's advances.

Ephesians 6:16 

taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 

Summer Running has begun

The sun was out and hot. Legs struggled to get moving. Mind was activity in fondly recalling how cool and comfortable it was on the couch. But here I was again - summer training.

The more experience I gain in years of running and the years I have on the old body prove there are more times of getting back in shape than in staying at it. All this may come from injuries and incidents but most of it is from the sheer time commitment of life itself. But getting back in shape is worth it.

Reminds me that our spiritual life is a process as well. We trail through peaks and valleys. We have
times that we are battling through difficult situations, harmful memories of the past, and outright spiritual battles. It is worth it all to keep pushing forward.

Helpful in days like these to remember that there have always been days like these. Our struggles are being accompanied by other Christian family around the world too. In these days we press on because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. These times teach us to depend on HIM.

So, Let's get back in shape!

Workout:
800 warm up, ballistic dynamic stretch, 2 miles, 2 stairs (yea I know I am embarrassed only 2 times), 800 cool down, core burn, long stretch.    

Did you stretch?

There is one thing that I insist on when training or coaching others and that is to stretch properly after your work out. Proper stretching can improve your recovery time, create greater flexibility, and also actually improve your abilities. The value of the stretch is well worth the time investment. 

The amazing thing is that even with a proper stretching routine one can still find themselves fighting through pains and pulls. Have you ever heard of the sciatic nerve? I think it may be what people mean when they say "you are getting on my last nerve." Well, even with a wonderful stretch yesterday that small little lower back nerve decided to make itself known. 

Most of last night and early this morning I could hardly move. Then I did what every man does complained enough until my wife looked it up. Oh yes - WebMD to the rescue. Then a few short searches and discovered some extra stretches. 

Then discovered that it was not a good idea to just sit around. Apparently the sciatic does not like you to be lazy. Amazingly the back did not hurt as bad while moving. In fact, the more I moved the more I stretched and the better it felt. It felt so good after a day of walking I came home and went for a recovery run. 

Yes, this is a story of a small issue that is easy to over come and quickly. It also made me think that the Lord Jesus likes for us to stretch too. He creates opportunities for us to stretch our faith. Remember the story of Peter and the other guys fishing? They saw this figure walking to them on the water. When He was close enough Peter wondering if it was Jesus made a faith stretching request. 

Matthew 14: 28-29

28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, 

walking on the water.”29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.

Stretch your faith! 

Workout: Warm up (slow 800); Ballistic stretch (slow) 3 mile recovery run (actually not that slow) 

Long deep Stretch! 

Let's Get Back After It

Wow! The weather is perfect for getting the old body back in tip top shape. If you are like me the winter hiatus was a little brutal on regular work outs. Plus for me that included the short stint in middle school track coaching. But that tends to motivate me to get back after it.

Today was a wonderful morning to hit the track. And it is spring break so no time crunches in the future just core crunches. So the track was almost totally mine to get myself going. I had to remind myself to take time to warm up the muscles. Always a great idea to warm up.

Sometimes we get in a bit of a hurry and life just jumps in our way removing our desire or realization that we must warm up. It is in the warm up that we set a good practice for the work out and run. This reminds me of how many times in life we get too busy to warm up spiritually for the day. When we do this we rob ourselves of a great day of fresh availability to the Father. Which in turn really means we do not get the most out of our day.

How long has it been since you have held a fresh word from the Lord? Even a Word? Samuel recorded in his story this sad fact "...Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon." (1 Samuel 3:1). Samuel was able to get back after it. And so can we.

Today's Training Log: 800 warm up, ballistic dynamic stretch, 3 mile run, stadium steps x 2, core, stretch. 

Checklist for Growing in Christ

In Rebuilding Your Broken World, Gordon MacDonald suggests twenty-six questions to help develop accountability and invite feedback. 

If we desire to grow, we should submit our selves to a spiritual mentor and answer these questions honestly. (I've highlighted the ones I like at this moment in time...it could be different tomorrow).

1. How is your relationship with God right now?
2. What have you read in the Bible in the past week?
3. What has God said to you in this reading?
4. Where do you find yourself resisting Him these days?
5. What specific things are you praying for in regard to yourself?
6. (Yeah this is missing in the original - so WELL it's 25 things to ask - Good Job Editor). 
7. What are the specific tasks facing you right now that you consider incomplete?
8. What habits intimidate you?
9. What have you read in the secular press this week?
10. What general reading are you doing?
11. What have you done to play?
12. How are you doing with your spouse? Kids?
13. If I were to ask your spouse about your state of mind, state of spirit, state of energy level, what would the response be?
14. Are you sensing spiritual attacks from the enemy right now?
15. If Satan were to try to invalidate you as a person or as a servant of the Lord, how might he do it?
16. What is the state of your sexual perspective? Tempted? Dealing with fantasies? Entertainment?
17. Where are you financially right now? (things under control? under anxiety? in great debt?)
18. Are there any unresolved conflicts in your circle of relationships right now?
19. When was the last time you spent time with a good friend of your own gender?
20. What kind of time have you spent with anyone who is a non-Christian this month?
21. What challenges do you think you're going to face in the coming week? Month?
22. What would you say are your fears at this present time?
23. Are you sleeping well?
24. What three things are you most thankful for?
25. Do you like yourself at this point in your pilgrimage?
26. What are your greatest confusions about your relationship with God?