Sore Muscles and a Humbled Ego

So I thought I was doing pretty well staying physically fit at 60.  I've dropped a few pounds over the last year.  I swim for 50 minutes every other day, and on alternate days I do 45 hard minutes on an elliptical trainer.  My cholesterol is down, and my cardio strength is good.  I decided I had hit a good level and was pretty satisfied with the level I had achieved.  All was well, I thought.

Then some new friends at our church suggested I might want to look into core training and toning.  They suggested an iPhone app that would guide me through a series of exercises to this end.  So I downloaded the app and looked at the exercise set.  "This looks totally do-able," I thought, arrogantly.  "As good a shape as I'm in I'll barely break a sweat or increase my heartbeat.". And I did the exercise set.

Every muscle in my body hurt.  I could barely move the next day.  I was sore for week.  Imposing ashes on foreheads on what is known as Ash Wednesday, I could barely raise a shaky right arm!

Lesson learned:  If you think you've arrived, you haven't.  If you think there are no next levels to reach, you're not thinking.  While some muscles may be hitting on all cylinders, others are dormant.  If you believe all challenges have been mastered, you're dead in the water.  If you're not improving, you're stagnating.  This applies to individuals, groups, teams, businesses...and to the Church, the Body of Christ, the hope of the world.

Getting better requires humility, or getting humbled.  Sometimes unused, untoned muscles get sore.  I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Don't Move Until God Says So!

What would it be like to start every day by waiting for God to tell you what to do?   How would it be to set your personal schedule and to-do list aside and to wait and pray for God to indicate where you needed to be, whom you needed to meet, and what you needed to do? 

I commend to you one of Darrin Wilson's impacting documentaries - "Father of Lights."  In it he will introduce you to a man in India named Ravi who starts every day just that way.  He prays to God whom he refers to as "Daddy."  He waits until "Daddy" speaks to him, then he does what God tells him to do.  It could be as simple as going to a particular village.  It could be as specific as finding a man with a white beard in an orange robe on a busy city street.  It could be as crucial and dangerous as confronting a local witch doctor responsible for the deaths of several Christian leaders.  And where Ravi goes, the love of God in Jesus Christ follows, and lives change.  What would that be like?  Is that just for specially chosen people, or is that an option or even a call for every Jesus-follower?

I have a friend who has taken a job in a new community and who goes to that community Monday through Thursday to be on the job, prior to the time when he and his wife will move there permanently.  Right now he's a stranger in a strange place.  One morning my friend awoke and felt led to pray specifically that God show him how he (my friend) could join God in what God is doing to reach people and change lives through the power of the risen Jesus.  Then my friend just approached his day waiting for God to speak.  While at work, he noticed a co-worker several desks over reading a Bible.  My friend is like I am, introverted and not prone to invade the space of other people.  He might have just passed off the sight of his co-worker as a comforting indicator that there are other Jesus-followers in his now community.  However, the Spirit of God clearly said to him, "Now!"  Against all normal instincts, he want to his co-worker's desk, introduced himself, and said he couldn't help but notice that she was reading a Bible.  She said that she was completely new to the Bible and to faith itself.  She was just at a point in her life where she was reaching for something.  My friend commended her on her step of faith, and they proceeded to talk.  The conversation gave my friend the opportunity to speak of God's grace, how that grace is fully known in Jesus, and how powerful the Word of God is in transforming lives and the world.  He got to participate in Jesus changing a person's life.

Would all this happened had my friend not started the day asking, "God, show me what you want me to do.  Show me how I can join you in what you are doing, and align my heart with yours."?  How often have I been guilty of making my to-do list for the day/week/month, and then asking God to bless it?  Is this kind of thing something God expects of all of us who claim Jesus?  What do you think?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.