Rainy Tuesday

I think I breathed a sigh of relief this morning when I looked out the window and saw dark clouds heavy over the sun and a comfortable drizzle coming down.  We have been trying to get through some pretty violent heat lately.  Sunday afternoon at a cookout (an outside cookout) I looked at a thermometer that was in the blazing sun.  The thermometer read 112 degrees.  Luckily I was in the shade with a breeze where it was "only" about 102.

I went running this morning after spending some time with the Lord.  It was great to feel my feet pounding the wet pavement while Chris Tomlin was singing "You are the first, You go before, You are the last, You are the encore..."  I pushed through some pain and had a really great time, just me and the Lord.  He is teaching me something about discipline.  I think I am one of the least disciplined people I know.  It is easy to be spoiled here in America.  We have everything we want and more.  We can be lazy and get away with it.  I feel so empty and dead when I am not disciplined.  This is not to say that working to be disciplined is what it takes to earn my Lord's love.  That would be a very presumptuous thing to assume.  His love is much deeper than my ability to love Him back.

There is something so healthy about working hard though.  It is so evident that we were designed for it.  Even before the fall God created Adam and put him in charge of all the animals.  He was to have dominion over the land and rule over it.  He was to care for it.  I have a content feeling inside after a hard day's work.  Nothing is more fulfilling than walking through the day, pressing towards a goal.  I think this is healthy.  The best part about all of this is that Jesus Christ is our true goal.  To become so close to Him that we resemble Him.  It is true that He was spiritual, but He was also very common.  He fully experienced humanity.

I would urge whoever reads this today to press into the Lord this afternoon.  Seek His face despite the frightening fact that it will hurt.  He will not allow us to stay in the same place.  To see Him will reveal the worst in us, and when we think we can no longer bear to look at those horribly nasty places deep inside us, He will remind us that He has already taken care of that.

Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."