June Newsletter
Hi all! Can you believe June
is here already?
I blinked and May is gone! It
must be old
age creeping up on me. I remember
when I
was a kid, the lazy slow days
of spring and
summer took forever to go by.
Except of course,
the end of August as school days
approached!
I fondly remember getting together
each day
with the other kids on the block
and trekking
down to the junior high to play
baseball.
We played half field where from
second to
third was in play for the righties
and second
to first for the lefties. Two
fouls on the
second strike and you were out.
We played
for fun and we played all day.
We weren’t
thinking about making it to the
pros, we
lived for the crack of the bat
(we used wood
back then) and made Willie Mays-type
basket
catches and Brooks Robinson lunges
on the
line. We went home dirty, tired
and looking
forward to the next day when
we’d do it all
over again. If you didn’t do
well that day,
no big deal, you got another
shot at it tomorrow.
I’m grown up now and the only
crack I might
here would be my joints as I
do a set of
squats. The only lunging I do
is with dumbbell
in hand. However, one thing is
consistent:
my love of what I am doing. I
will never
turn pro, don’t care if I do.
But at the
end of a workout, tired and sweaty,
I turn
out the lights, and say goodbye
until tomorrow
when I will joyfully do it all
over again.
I love this weightlifting sport
of mine.
Our walk with God is similar
in that we have
that joy of knowing Him and we
get to do
it all over again tomorrow.
It’s 11:00 at night and I settle
in with
my family as we prepare to retire
for the
evening. I kiss my beautiful
wife good night,
smooch my little guy on his forehead
cheeks
and chin, tell them how much
I love them
and lay back on my pillow. I
say some prayers,
and then my mind replays little
snippets
of the day and I finally turn
to the question
that I ask each night: "What
am I training
tomorrow?" Well, tomorrow
is Thursday,
so it is my power day. I smile
as I think
about dragging the weight up
in a heavy deadlift,
or the power cleans I will be
doing. "I
must be mental," I chuckle
to myself.
What do I gain from all this
moving of iron?
Yes, there is the muscle mass
gain that comes
from lifting, but if I had only
one word
I could use, it would be joy.
It brings me
joy to be able to do this every
day. I am
thankful to God for putting that
joy there.
No, it isn’t easy to get up early
and start
slamming out reps with this battered
and
aging body, but boy oh boy, do
I love doing
it! It’s challenging and enjoyable
for me.
The challenge of me against the
weight. If
I fail at a lift, it‘s no big
deal. I get
a second chance the next time
I do this routine.
Now some may say that that is
no way to think,
but listen and read carefully:
I do this
for the joy of it! No, I don’t
lift light
weights and do 100 reps. I lift
as heavy
as I can for the prescribed reps,
etc. The
key here is, I don’t want it
to ever become
a chore, something I no longer
love, but
look at as something I HAVE to
do. Then I
would grow to hate it and I never
want that
to happen. When that happens
and the joy
is taken out of it, why do it?
Just like
when we were kids, we played
for the joy
of the game.
Before we are saved, we are in
darkness,
unaware of the salvation that
is there for
the asking. As human beings,
we search for
the things that will satisfy,
and fulfill,
or so we think. This is one of
the reasons
people turn to drugs, alcohol
and promiscuity
just to name a few. However,
that empty feeling
never goes away with all these
things; the
darkness remains constant. Why?
Because the
only way for you to be brought
out of the
darkness is by accepting Jesus
Christ as
your Lord and savior. ("Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying,
"I am the light of the world.
He who
follows Me shall not walk in
darkness, but
have the light of life."
John 8:12) Now accepting Jesus as your savior brings
on a whole new set of rules.
You can no longer
be the person you once were,
that person
is dead. Now, you know better.
("When I was a child, I spoke as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought
as a child;
but when I became a man, I put
away childish
things."1 Corinthians 13:11) You answer to a "higher authority."
We have salvation, a spot in
heaven reserved
for us! Tell me, doesn’t that
bring joy to
your heart? Yes, life can be
hard at times,
we all know that, but in the
end we are called
home and we will be with our
Lord in heaven!
I don’t know about you, but just
having that
knowledge in my heart replaces
anything that
can be used as a poor substitute!
Here’s
another thing to think about.
Nobody’s perfect
and this is a fact of life. We
sin, every
day in one way or another. BUT,
we pray and
ask for forgiveness and we are
forgiven!
We get another chance! That sin
is taken
away! (As far as the east is from the west, So far
has He removed our transgressions
from us.
Psalm 103:12) Yes, we get to do it again tomorrow. No,
not sin, although we will, we
get to try
and be a better Christian! We
get to have
a "do-over." How awesome
a gift
is that? Our Father in Heaven
never gives
up on us. Tell me there is no
joy to be found
in that.
And now our prayer. Dear Lord,
thank you
for the awesome gift you have
given us through
your son Jesus! We pray for strength
in times
of adversity and to never lose
sight of the
prize, our seat in heaven. In
Jesus name
we pray, Amen.
Until next time all! Go with
God and Lift
that iron!
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