THE ART OF SLOWING DOWN

So my camping trip and alone time with my family has come to an end and I'm back to the "real world", or was that the real world that I just came out of. So much of what God is speaking into my life right now is so counter cultural (meaning that it goes totally against almost everything I see and here in this culture). As I examine the life of Christ I see a man who accomplished so much in such a short time and yet never seemed to be in a hurry. I think in this world we live in that slowing down and learning to move at a slower pace really is an art and most will never even give it a chance.
While camping one of my highlights was cooking almost all of our meals on an open fire. (You should try it sometime) I found that it really takes some time and made me enjoy both the cooking and eating that much more.
One of the questions that Carey and I came home with was, "How do we learn to apply our experiences from this week to our everyday lives?" This week at least once I will spend the evening in the back yard with my girls cooking over an open fire. Maybe we've started a new tradition! Wait, that's not new, our ancestors did that every night. I wonder if their stress levels where lower than ours?

EARTH DAY

So today is officially "Earth Day" and I am loving it! This will be one of those posts that makes my friends on the "right" a bit uneasy but we'll just go for it and figure it out along the way. It's hard for me to not comment about earth day as I find myself sitting in a campground on the GA/AL state line. We are set up right next to a beautiful pond where we watch the sun and moon come up each day and cast their reflections on the water.
We are feeding ducks and geese almost from our hands and this morning a squirrel ate a hole in our brand new "day pack" trying to get to the trail mix. What's not to love?
At this place in my journey I'm learning to embrace the beauty of creation and recognize myself as part of creation. God has placed all of THIS in front of me for pleasure and enjoyment.
This morning gave me a new appreciation for the creation story in Genesis where, "God saw all He had made and declared that it was good!"
David declared in Psalm 24, "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therin." (That's me and you!)
On this "Earth Day" I declare that the Earth is the Lord's and He has given it to me for my enjoyment and His pleasure and praise. Wow!
Stop what you are doing right now , walk outside, look up and say "Thanks God!"

THESE ARE THE MOMENTS

"These are the moments I thank God I'm alive..." (lyrics from a recent popular song)
As I write this blog I am sitting outside my camper next to a beautiful lake and watching my youngest daughter play in the fire. She just said, "Dad I love these times!"
How many of us miss the moments? We are never more alive than right NOW! We seem to spend most of our lives waiting for tomorrow or waiting for a certain set of circumstances and yet God has given us THIS moment. What if we could learn to live in the NOW? To recognize that as David said, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be gad in it."
May you experience the fullness of God in this moment and in this day. He has created it for your enjoyment!

RISK

I think it was a game when I was a kid. Maybe it's still around? I know that in real life it's no game at all but rather something that we have a tendency to run from. Why? As I read through the Bible and come across the stories where God did amazing things in peoples lives and as I think of stories in my life where God has shown out it seems like there is a consistent them. RISK! Any time God calls us to trust Him there will be great risk involved. I'm asking God today to help me be a person who is willing to take the risk, make the leap and go for it. I am convinced that most all human beings will get to the end of their lives and look back with some regrets. However, the more I walk with God the more convinced I am that our greatest regrets will not be a result of the mistakes we made but rather the result of the things we didn't try. The times when we knew God was calling us out on the water but we were afraid of the risk. We're is God calling you out of your comfortable environment? Take the risk!

Training

It's training time again! I am about 8 weeks away from my next fitness event and so I have kicked the training into high gear. Over the last few years I have discovered that the best way for me to stay healthy and disciplined with my fitness is to keep events on the calendar that help to keep me motivated. Last year I participated in my first ever triathlon and in a few months I will be doing a duathlon (3 mile run, 14 mile bike ride, 3 mile run). It will be a new challenge and adventure and time will tell if I am up for it. This training coincides with a new series that we are starting this Sunday called God and Your Bod. We will talk about the importance of taking care of the body that God has given us but also discuss the reality that how we use the different parts of our body really is a spiritual issue. If you're in the area come and hang out with us and you may want to join us for the God and Bod challenge! Details coming Sunday.