February Newsletter
February is here already? Yikes how time
flies! I look forward to Valentine’s
Day
for many reasons. One is that,
of course,
it is a day to share with your
loved one.
Another, is that it is my beautiful
bride,
Valentina’s own day! The third
and most important
is that this is the day I gave
my life to
the Lord! For me, I couldn’t
think of a better
day!
I cannot believe we are moving into the second
month of the year already! Where
does the
time go? I could swear that only
a moment
ago I was in third grade art
class and thinking,
"Wow! In the year 2000,
I will be 40!
I’ll be so old!" I know,
why is a third
grader thinking like that? Well,
let me tell
you, 40 isn’t old. Time, however,
does fly
by very fast. Today’s technology
was supposed
make life simpler and provide
us with more
leisure time. It has done just
the opposite!
I am sure that many of us have
heard, let
alone said, "I don’t have
time!"
a guy I work with told me that
his doctor
said he needed to lose some weight,
eat better
and get into some kind of exercise
regimen.
Could I help him out? "Sure!"
I
responded with much enthusiasm,
I love this
question! I had visions of workout
routines
and super diets already worked
out in my
head! As I whipped out a piece
of paper,
wiped the anticipatory drool
from the corner
of my mouth and began to map
out a serious
training routine, I heard from
somewhere
far, far away, "Whoa! Hey
Bobby, what
kind of time do you think I have?
I don’t
have time to train like that!"
Now,
before you all jump to any conclusions,
the
routine I was writing up for
him allotted
a half hour to forty-five minutes
a day!
Not a 30 set per body part routine!
"No
time?" I asked him, stepping
back as
if I’d been slapped, blinking
unbelievingly.
"How can you not have time?"
After
considering his day, we came
to the conclusion
that his health was more important
that watching
reruns of Gilligan’s Island,
my apologies
to Gilligan fans. You see it
all comes down
to time, doesn’t it? It also
is a matter
of what we are willing to sacrifice
as well.
In this case, a half hour of
Gilligan verses
a healthier lifestyle. No-brainer,
if you
ask me!
Sadly, the excuse of no time is also applied
to our devotions. Can you imagine?
It can
be acceptable to say I don’t
have time to
exercise or eat right. But we
should never
shove our devotions time aside.
It is how
we commune with God, it is how
we learn His
Word, what He wants of us, what
our rewards
are, how we should serve Him.
We should never
say we don’t have time to pray.
Praying doesn’t
just mean getting down on one’s
knees at
bedtime and offering up a few
words. Prayer
can happen at any time, every
time, any part
of the day, at any given moment!
Prayer can
be the great calming influence
in a hectic
situation. Businesses promote
these "breathing
exercises" that you can
do at your desk
to relax your nerves. Hey, I’ll
go one better!
Close your eyes, take a deep
breath and say
a quiet prayer to God! Only God
can give
you the inner peace that you
need. All these
other ways are bogus attempts
at diverting
your attention to what really
matters: God!
No time to pray? How about in
between sets
during your workout? Isn’t your
focus intense
at that time? What better time
to pray than
when you are seriously focused?
Need a quiet
time to pray? How about when
you wake up
while the house is still quiet?
Give up the
Simpson’s for a little Bible
time. What about
bathroom time? Instead of taking
in the newspaper
or a magazine, how about the
Bible? Try posting
some verses to your bathroom
mirror. You
can’t help but read them and
reflect on God’s
word. I have Bible verses pinned
to the wall
in my squat cage as well! Just
like "there’s
always room for Jell-O,"
there’s always
time for prayer!
And now our prayer. Dear Lord please help
us in recognizing that there
is always time
for You. Help us reorganize our
time and
be better at time management
so that we may
devote time to You, our Father.
In Jesus
name we pray, Amen.
Until next time all! Go with God and Lift
that iron!
" For a day in thy courts is better than a
thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in
the house of my God, than to
dwell in the
tents of
Wickedness."
Psalm 84:10
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