Day 7!!

Welcome to day 7!! Still hanging in there.  Yesterday was tougher just because it was a long day.  Upside, I am down to 230 this morning.  I have an exciting day ahead.  Jr high girls play for the county championship at 10 (Go Eagles) Then Buck has a rec league game at 12:30, but the exciting part is I am having burger and fries for supper!!!!!!!!  Now hold on, it is going to be a homemade veggie burger and herb roasted sweet potato fries with a homemade dipping sauce.  I also plan to attempt my first ever smoothie. That could get scary. 

I had and awesome run this morning. I listened to the first book of Daniel this morning during my run. It gave me some good insight on fasting and motivation to keep going.

Daniel and his buddies were brought in to Babylon, given new Babylonian names, and instructed to eat the Kings food. Daniel stood on his faith and asked to eat pulse and drink water for a trial period. At the end of the trial they were the best looking ones of the groups, the wisest ones of the group.  Isn’t that just like the world we live in.  We are children of God brought into this world, given worldly names, and fed on worldly food. Can we (I) stand on my faith and put Gods will first?

Day 7 Devotion - Joshua 1:9

Today’s devotion was on fear.  How many times do we get scared in life from some problem and we ask God to take it away.  God tells us he has already made a provision for this problem.  I tell my kids I coach all the time, practice aren’t supposed to be fun, but games are.  You work hard in practice, going longer than you will play or run; so that when the game or the meet arrives, you are prepared.  God does the same with us.  He prepares us for life.  If you said Gus go run in the Boston Marathon, I would fail. Who am I kidding if you said Gus go run a 5k, I would fail.  I have not prepared for either. You can’t just roll out of bed and say Hey I am going to do…… We must be prepared. Whatever problem you have been blessed with, just stay the coarse God is preparing your reward.

My prayer for the day, Lord grant me the strength to serve You even under the names and labels the world puts on my Amen

Day 6

So an early day and a late night equals running a day behind on my blog post. So lesson learned, add another 10 min to my day and I will get it done.

My running is coming along. The weather has been great so I have been going to the gorge and running my teams cross country trails.  During my runs, I am trying to focus my mind on the things of God. While running the memory of salvation came to mind. 

I still remember the Sunday morning when I made the walk down to the front of the church. I had gotten saved two weeks before at church camp. It took two weeks to make it down front because I got stung by a bee upon arriving home and my foot swelled up to about twice its normal size.  That may have been the longest church service I have ever been to. When Mrs. Buford played the first note of the song I shot out of my pew and made a bee line to the front (no pun intended….well maybe) I could not wait to be baptized. I was 11 and I had just gotten my address in the Kingdom of Heaven!!!!

It has been 33 years and I still haven’t moved in.  Luke 17:20-21 tells us the Kingdom of Heaven is within us.  Now don’t get me wrong, I visit my address, I just never seem to stay.  I’m just like the children of Israel; I was set free from the bondage of my sins only to wander around in the desert just outside the promise land.

This fast is part of my journey to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, to live with in Gods power and grace.  I have made the first steps with the 3 goals I have set for this fast. I am making progress towards each one. Just think where I would be, the kind of person I would be, the kind of Christian I would be, if I had moved in at age 11. Oh the time lost with God. Now am I saying that I would have had no problems in my life? Absolutely not! That is one of the biggest lies Satin puts out there to make us feel defeated when something bad happens in our lives. I think we can all agree Jesus was a pretty good guy and He know God better than I do, and he was killed. So just because we live in the Kingdom of Heaven we still abide in the world. There will be failures, but praise God we have His power and grace to help see us through

My prayer: Lord let me reside daily in the Kingdom of Heaven that you have placed inside of me. Amen

Day 5

Day 5: 

I want able to get my run in at the gorge yesterday, but I did get a good 30 min in today.  If I didn’t hurt so much I would feel good!  

1^st set back of the fast yesterday, I left my lunch and snacks at home.  I had my regular breakfast at home, Fiber one and almond milk, I has an apple for my 10 o’clock snack ( I left it at school the day before)  then lunch rolls around.  I ate ½ a chicken finger  and 6 tater wedges I figured better to each a little something that get a headache the last part of the day.  Then I came home….oooo not good. I ate my lunch I had fixed for that day, my snack I had fixed for that day  all while fixing supper. Then I ate supper. On an unrelated note, I gained 3 lbs. 

I stumbled and fell, but I got up with more resolve to be better organized with my lunch and snacks. 

Day 5 Devotion

"Our battles are not of the physical world but spritual"

Worldly problems must be solved through the Word! What does Gods Word say about our problem?  The world will cause fearful thoughts to enter our minds. The world will tell us we are no good, we are defeated. The world will tell us we are a failure.  For every situation, God has an answer to the lies the world tells us! Great, but where are the answers? How do I find them?  Easy, with the oldest of ways……Goggle. I don’t know the Bible well enough to know where to start to look, but I googled the problem in the Bible and I will find scripture to begin with.  As I do this study, I struggle to find strength. Yesterday, I goggled and found my 5 stones. I now have them to use when I falter.

One of my main struggles in this fast is keeping my focus, controlling my thoughts during my quite time. All the stuff from my upcoming day just screams for my attention.  I am trying to give God the first fruits of each day. I want them to be pure.  If during these 40 days I can purify my quite time, I believe God will help me keep my thoughts captive during the day.

As I continue, I want to be able to compare every thought that comes through my head to Gods Word. When a problem comes into my life, I am going to ask 3 Questions: 1) What does the Word say about the probem? 2) What does the world say about the problem? 3) What will I say about the problem?

Our thoughts control our actions. Pure thoughts = Pure Actions. Paul tells us in Phil 4:5 to meditate on pure and noble things. Media promotes anything but pure and noble things.  Everything we are bombarded with from radio, TV, magazines and the internet is a challenge to deal with.  All those things are the “l” that gets us out of the Word.

My prayer for the day: Lord, help me keep only pure thoughts in my head and heart Amen.

Day 4

Welcome to day 4.  Lots of things happening today.  First day back to school with my students, first afternoon run in the gorge and first big step on goal 1.

No I didnt run this morning yes I know I am a big sissy!  I did however give the first part of my day to God.  It was harder to do that today than yesterday.  Lots of worldly thoughts kept running in my head during my quite time, most of them ever bit as loud as I normaly am. 

Day 4 Devotion 5 Smooth Stones Samuel 17:39-40

How many times have I used this story of David and Golith as a pregame speech.  I have always coached as small rural school and we always seem to play a larger school for a championship.  I like to use this story, because in basketball you have 5 players and one of them must step up and help us beat our "Golith"

In all my years I have never looked at the five stones a verses from the Bible to use in my daily life to slay my Goliths.  The world armor is to heavy and slows me down.  All I need is 5 verses from Gods Word to defend myself against what the world brings against me.  I will search Gods word to find my 5 verses of encouragement and faith.  When the world attacks and I feel weak and on the verge of being defeated, I will get out my 5 stones and recite them, Yes out loud, I feel quite confident over the next seveal weeks, I will be saying them often. 

Can these 5 stones be used to help me reach my 3 goals?  hmmmm Only if fatih in God is apart of reaching my goals.  What I have to remember is I can do all things THROUGH Christ, not with Him or occasionally when it gets to dificult for me.

My prayer for the day: Lord give me wisdom to find 5 stones in Your Word to use against the world so that I might defend my heart from the attacks of the world.

Day 3

Good morning!  Wow is it cold outside.. No I did not do my morning walk. the wind yesterday gave me a wretched headache so no cold for me this morning. 

What is the most important meal of the day? According to the experts, breakfast.  Breakfast gives you your energy for the day and just give you a good kickstart.  What is the first thing you put into your mind in the mornings?  I have talked about giving 1st fruits each day so I have decieded the first thing that I put into my mind will be Gods word.  When I woke up, instead of running, I just had 30 min of quite time, where I read a short passage from Psalms. It was about cleansing my heart.  Each day I will ask God for a factory reset on my heart. As babies, we have the purest heart we will ever have. No worldly influence, just Gods perfected plan.  Then we grow and the world begins to tarnish our hearts.  We develop a tough skin and a calloused  (?) heart to keep us from getting hurt. If being hurt by the world allows me to hear God and to draw closer, then so be it. I want a cleansed heart to start my day.

Day 3 Devotion: Mark 10: 41-52

This is the story of the blind beggar that cries out to Jesus to be healed.  I have read/heard this story countless times and I always hear the part about Bartimaeus recieving his sight.  As I read it today, I noticed 2 things; first the crowd kept telling him to be quite as he called out to Jesus and second he threw his beggar cloak to the ground and went to Jesus.

The world has us convinced that our problems are not worth taking them to Jesus. Bartimaeus could have just ask Jesus for food, water, or money, but he had faith that this man named Jesus could restore his sight. The crowd was trying to quiten him, but he refused to stop calling to Jesus.  The crowd in my life is not external, but internal.  The voices of pride, of fear of intellect cry out to be quite, dont call on Jesus. You can handle this yourself or this problem isnt big enough or important enough for Jesus. How many times has the voice said what have you done to earn Jesus helping you?  So many times I listen to them and stay silent.  I am going to cry out to Jesus for the smallest problem to the largest problem.  He is in control.

What is the big deal about the beggar tossing asside his beggars cloak? Everything!  His cloak was his idenity, his literal meal ticket.  Without that cloak, he could not beg for food water and money.  His faith was so great he rose up, threw aside his cloak and went to Jesus.  Nowhere in the passage does it say Jesus prayed for him or touched him. Jesus said his faith healed him.  All of the problems in my life are readily solveable if I can only have the faith of a blind beggar

My prayer for day 3; Lord cleanse my heart so that I may draw closer to you and drown out the voices of the world Amen 

Day 2

Ok so I am a little late on todays blog!!

Day 1 was a success!! No cravings or hunar AND I lost 4 lbs!! You wouldnt think NOT eating like a fattening hog cause you to lose weight.

As I did my 30 min this morning, I used that time to talk to God. I tried to focus my mind on God and talk with him about my 3 goals. As I talked I began to realize I am no more mature as a christian than I was at age 13 when I was saved. I still feed on the manna. I am 44 and still a baby in Christ. I have not grown. All of my 3 goals would not be goals if I would have matured in Christ.  I guess I became sastisfied with my fire insurance and have sat still for the last 30 years.  I hope as I do my fast and study I will be able to move from the manna to the meat of God's word.

From Day 2 Devotion in John 17:16-18, Jesus has sanctifed us. Great what does that even mean? Jesus set us apart for a Holy purpose.  I believe anybody who is searching for the meaning of life is not walking close to God.  He gave us our purpose.  We are in this world but not of this world. We are strangers in a strange land.  That all sounds great and good things to say in church, but do I stand with the world or apart from it? Can a lost person tell any difference between me and them? 

People always know when I am around. I have been told I am loud.  In face when my daughter looses me in Walmart she just tells her mom just listen we will hear dad.  Do I have that loud of a voice for Christ? Do non christians know when I am a christian when I'm in a room? 

My prayer is; Lord show me an area that I can seperate myself from the world. Help me remove the l and live in the word  Amen

Day 1

Happy New Years!!!

Well here we are, Day 1.  I am both nervous and excited.  If you are looking for great writtings or deep insites, you are probabaly at the wrong blog.  I am just going to write things as they come in my head.  Thats the way I talk, so that is how I will write. Also you can expect a lot of spelling errors!!! Lets see where this jouney takes us.

I had a good walk this morning and was able to get finished just as the rain set in.  I did get my goal of 30 min of walking with 2x 1 min of jogging. My focus, however, was not where it needed to be. I could not get my mind out of the physical world and into the spritual.  I will do better tomorrow in the cold!!

Came in house and drank my warm water and lemon juice mixture.....just cant see why that has not been more popular!  Ate my 1/2 cup of Fiber One Cereal with 1 Cup of almond milk which btw is pretty dang good!

As I begin my fast, I want to learn how to write my prayers. I know this sound simple, but for a first timer I am stuggling.  One thing I have learned is I can talk a lot faster than I write.  Why do I even want to write my prayers down?  I think it is a good way of documenting my walk with God during the next 40 days.  I belive it will show how I am growing spirtually.

Day 1 Devotion "First Fruits" Ezekiel 44:30.

So I read the first 2 lines of this devotional and it slaps me in the face.  We in modern times tend to think of first fruits as our tithes. God doesnt need our money. The first fruit God wants is us. Here is my opening prayer for day 1. Lord, today I give You the first of me. I will put You first in my life Amen.  So simple but so hard.  My priorites and not where they should be.  The devil is a sneaky fellow. He has found the simplist way to steer us away from God.....the letter l.  Thats right the letter l. See look how small it is, really not very noticable at all. He can just slide it right in our lives and we never even notice until one day we look up and BAM we are far away from God.  How did this happen? How did I drift away from God?  The letter l.  Dont believe me just look.  We are in the Word walking with God then we get slipped the l. We are so busy in our daily routine we just never notice it. Word + l = World. See we went from being in the Word to in the World.  The Devil likes to keep us busy, yeah we tithe when we think about it. When was the last time we gave the first fruit of ourselves?  I must, during the next 40 days repriortize what is important in my life and live accordianly. Can this be done in 40 days? According to the Bible, God can change the world in 40 days !! Just ask Noah.

I hope each of you have a blessed 2012 and lets give the first fruits God really wants this year