Inspirations

For the next few days,  I am going to write some thoughts  about running.   I enjoy running and along the way,  God has shown me in many ways  how what I learned about running  applies to my spiritual life as  well.    Most of it is not new,  but we can often use the reminder  as we walk through life.   I pray it serves to encourage you  and draw you closer to God.

I am often asked, “Do you watch the news?”  or “Did you see this on the news?”  at this point, in the conversation I hang my head in embarrassment and mumble something about not getting that channel.   This is a true statement.  In our house, where we are located, we can get no channels without cable or satellite.  Yes, I am aware that there are ways to get local channels without paying big bucks, but the truth is that I have very little desire to see the news even if I could watch it.  Why?  First, it’s depressing.   News almost never highlights positive and useful things.  It glorifies the bad things that happen.  I can find out without looking at the television the bad things that go on.  Every day I see broken, hurting people without the help of the press.  Second, all the principal news subsidiaries (there’s only about five or six) say the same thing.  Some of you are thinking, “What did you ex...

Prayer is essential to me.  I love, love, love talking to God.  However, lately, God has been talking to me, convicting me of my prayer life.  This morning as I was praying, this question was nagging at me, haunting me as though God were asking, “Are you guilty of praying “safe” prayers?” I pray “God, bless my children…  but I don’t pray that God would keep them from evil. I pray for God to increase my faith…  but I don’t want him to take my job. I pray for God to show me ways to witness…  but I don’t want him to ask me to do something awkward. I ask for healing…  but rarely consider that the illness might be making me more like him.  Yes, I realize I often want safe answers to prayers.  I want sunshine and rose gardens and warm fuzzies.   But I also recognize that, as Christians, what we need to grow is not the safe prayers but the risky ones.  The ones that may involv...

Salt.   Imagine your life without it.   I can’t, and I don’t want to.   Your food would be bland because salt adds flavor to anything it touches.   On top of that, it preserves food and keeps it from spoiling.    It melts the ice in the winter so that I don’t slip and fall in a heap on the sidewalk.    There’s one more thing that salt does.   It can act as an antiseptic.   It can clean out a wound so that it won’t get infected. While most of the uses for salt are painless, salt used to kill germs is painful. God refers to us as salt.  Salt is good.   We are to add flavor to those around us, bringing out the best in the ones we touch.   We should preserve insulate and protect the people that Christ died for. We should also be antiseptic cleaning out the wounds of Satan.   Yes, that can be pain...

The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear Romans 8:15 Lesson number three from Mr. Woodchuck is this:  Don’t let fear paralyze you. Part of the problem is that when Woody saw or heard the car coming,  he got scared.   Fear paralyzed that little guy, and he started reacting rather than acting.   Woody’s fear caused him to dart aimlessly back and forth.   It prevented him from thinking clearly. Sometimes, I am going through life and minding my own business  when suddenly my life gets messy, and I get fear paralyzed just like Mr. Woodchuck.  Fear has a way of paralyzing me.  When a loved one or I get sick, fear can slip in making me panic. When money is tight anxiety can barge in  making me act in a manner that is out of character for me.   When I am alone,  fear can attack me making me reach out to people rather than G...

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  John 10:27 Woody reinforced another lesson that day. Listen when You're Spoken to. As I was driving down the highway that day,  I saw Mr. Woodchuck and his friend.   He did have a friend with him sitting on the side of the road.   I said from inside my car, “just stay there.   Don’t move Woody.  I don’t want to hit you.   But… He didn’t listen to me.   He ignored my pleas and ran into the road. Now, I know that  Mr. Woodchuck couldn’t hear me talking,  but if he could, he would have heard me saying these things.   But maybe his friend that waited on the berm of the thoroughfare told him,  “Stay here. Don’t move.  We’ll be just fine.”   Woody ignored that warning as well. The sad thing is that often I am no better than Woody.    Man...

… for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way and then that.  James 1:6-7 Here is the first of the lessons from Woody. Move forward or wait, but never waver. Woody suffered from a problem that I and maybe some of you have.   He wavered between decisions.   His decision, to cross the road or not to cross the street.   The fact is that neither choice was wrong but being unable to decide cost him his life.   There was time for him to cross the road before I got there,  waiting would have been an ok choice.   However, running back and forth was what caused the problem.   Like Woody, I also sometimes suffer from the inability to decide.   I decide, then wonder if it was right, so I change my mind.  ...