I Hit A Speed Bump

Life Without "Bubbles"
Let's be honest; I go to a Bible College and that means that I live in a very, very small bubble. On most days, I have no idea what the top headlines on CNN.com are and usually I don't really care to know. Perhaps that sounds pathetic.

For me, it is so easy to go charging through my day, going about my usual routine, completely unaware of anything thats going on outside my 'bubble'. Contrast that with the life of Jesus and what you'll notice is that He always very aware of His surroundings; He was never off in His own little bubble (Except when He fasting for 40 days in the desert and praying so hard in a garden that He was sweating blood . . .neither of which we'll ever actually do).

He felt the power that left His body when the women with the issue of blood touched Him. He heard the cry of blind Bartimaeus when everyone else was telling Bart to shutup. He knew that Zacchaeus was hiding in a tree. He was just plain aware of what was going on around Him. No bubble.


Look Around
So then, a question must be asked; how 'aware' am I of the things that are going on around me as I progress through my day? If I had to rate my "world-awareness" on a scale from 1-10 it would probably be somewhere around a 1.5 . . .maybe . . .on a good day.

I run to my classes because I'm always late. I eat my food as fast as possible and leave the cafeteria even faster. I drive to work, on average, at 80 mph; I drive home from work at 85. Basically, I live life in that American "bubble" called the fast lane, completely unaware of world issues like poverty and the increasing violence that pollutes the earth I live on.

Slowing Down
Contemplating my stupidity feels equivalent to running over a speed bump at 70 mph, but maybe it's a good thing. Because, while I'm sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck to come, I realize that there's a world outside my bubble. There is a sun in the sky, trees in the forest, people who could use some encouragement, starving children who could use some food . . . There's so much more to the world than just me.

So if your life has just hit a speed bump, consider it an opportunity to slow down and become aware of the world outside your bubble...it's a very humbling feeling, really it is.

Growing Is a Pain

I have to agree with David. Spiritual growth is a lot like physical exercise. It is all about faithfulness, commitment and consistency, and somewhere in there has to be desire.

Consistently Growing
I find that consistency is the key thing in maintaining relationships. For instance, I talk to my husband every day to maintain a healthy relationship with him. I call my mom every day to keep a healthy relationship with her. In much the same way, we have to spend time with God every day to stay close to him. Just think about it. Those people we only talk to once a week or once a month are not very close to us. If we truly want to grow we have to make a concious effort to spend time with God every single day. When I made this personal commitment in my life a few years ago, it change my spiritual walk completely. I went from being someone whose spiritual zeal was "on-again, off-again", to being someone who grows consistently in God.

What is it going to take?
Keeping the commitment to talk to God every day is easier to talk about than accomplish. You can't reach your ultimate goal in one day. It takes time and practice. Somedays you forget to spend time with God or simply run out of time. That's ok. Just ask God to forgive you and keep on trying. So in the marathon of life, keep pushing and keep running. You will eventually meet your goal.

Of course, growth will take some sacrifices. You will have to give up some things, and some times you will even experience growing pains. However, it is all worth the cost and sacrifice. I assure you of that. So...get up and keep on going. You will make it!

The Treadmill

The Evaluation
For the past few weeks, I've been meeting with a teacher here at Gateway about my spiritual life. The first meeting consisted of me outlining my goals for the semester and talking about how I would accomplish these goals.

I feel like I have barely made any tangible progress. I literally feel like I'm on a treadmill and the scenery is the same as when I started. I have tried to love my brother, respect my friends, be humble and exercise self-control. I have forgiven and have been devoted. Yet, there is still a depth I feel I am missing, a certain strength I would love to experience.

The Parallel
Ironically enough, I found my answer just in reflecting on this experience. It has also been in my schedule to workout at the gym with a friend of mine at least four days a week. While it has been partially successful, the results are still small.

In my exercise routine, I've done quite a bit of running. One thing I do not like is running on a treadmill; if I could run outside all the time, I would. Running on a treadmill is restricting and tiring and, well . . .boring! Pain, boredom, and fatigue are three factors that stop most people from running; however, if you keep running in spite of these factors, one day you'll realize that it's not so hard anymore. You find you can run faster and longer than ever.

I think the same process is true spiritually. Many days, you find yourself stuck on a spiritual "treadmill" of sorts, making no observable progress. Then one day, almost magically, you look back and see a lot of growth.

Waiting for a "Second Wind"
There will be a time when your fatigue will pass, when you will be able to exceed your spiritual limitations and run with purpose and accomplishment. Some might choose to stay on the treadmill, to keep running at the same spiritual level. Here is a lesson that must be learned in any athletic activity: You have to push beyond your limitations to in order to expand your abilities. In other words, you have open the door and step into the room in order to get there. It's painful and perhaps risky, but in the end it's the only way to success.

On The "Circles" of Life and Unclogging Drains

Ever feel like you are running in circles? Exerting much energy but getting absolutely nowhere? Maybe I'm the only one. Recently, I have felt as if I'm running, but I haven't even been making it around a circle-I'm still in the same spot as last week! Wears you out.

One of Those Weeks

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. Between school, work, dorm responsibilities, the everyday stuff can be so overwhelming sometimes. Not to mention all the people that want your full attention at any and every given moment. Oh, plus church involvement and ministry which can include anything from counseling in the wee hours of the morning, to unclogging disgusting bathroom sinks.

Things can start to wear on you, and then little things start to eat at you. Like never having enough hot water, or the wireless Internet going down again, or not knowing if what you just ate was chicken, beef, tofu, or all of the above (ahh, cafeteria food). I have to admit, with all this and more, I find it hard to think clearly, especially about being "spiritual".

When life clutters your way with junk, how do you get anywhere?

Life Unclogged

This past week, I have gotten frustrated, discouraged, tired, even angry. Every morning at about 9:00 God and I discuss the fairness of a cold shower, and I wish I could say I was overflowing with thankfulness for running water, but I can guarantee you that's not usually the tone of our conversation.

Sometimes life happens. We get tired, become drained, and want to throw in the towel. but what I love (yes, really! "love") about these moments is that when all you can do is collapse into a chair, throw your hands up and say, "God, it's all you, cuz I've got nothin left!", you get that feeling, that peace and rest that only comes from God.

A Much-Needed Reminder

It is in those insane moments you remember that God is with you always (even when you're busy), and that He is there to give you rest when you're weary, strength when you're drained, and encouragement when you want to quit. It's in those times He reminds you that He is still God. These are the things we need to remember when life becomes overwhelming. God goes through every moment with us-the highs and the lows. He laughs when we do; when we cry, He cries harder. Simple? Yes. Amazing? Always.

A Sinner's Blog

Isn't this enough, Lord?

So yesterday, the first meeting with my "spiritual growth" mentor was scheduled (ok, ok, I admit that this was supposed to happen weeks ago--but at least I'm finally on the ball...). Beforehand I decided to read back through my "Five Marks of a Spiritual Person" Paper and my "Personal Development Plan" to see where I was in my progress. While reading it, I thought to myself, "You know, I'm actually doing a pretty good job in most areas--wow! I'm doing a whole lot better than I thought I was!"

Then I had my meeting.

I'm a sinner.

Explanation: My mentor made an outline of my "Personal Development Plan" and added certain questions to which I should respond. After working through the "Stupid Words and Ideas that I Wrote While Looking through Rose-Colored Glasses at my Life" Paper (as I now affectionately call it) I realized just how un-spiritual I really am. In fact, I felt like a downright sinner (no doubt, in the hands of an angry God--but I digress).

There are so many aspects in my life that I truly need to work on--and some aspects that I thought were lacking really aren't so bad after all.

The Thorn in My Flesh

Okay, so maybe it isn't an all-out thorn, but it's at least a "Rock in my Shoe" and I need to rid myself of it. The problem? I am the furthest thing from a "servant" as possible.

One of my favorite things to do is watch other people work. That might be stretching it, but at this point, I don't care (remember, I'm a sinner). I don't act like a servant--that mindset (so Christ-like and humble) has never quite attached to my brain...

After the meeting, I was soooooooo (yes, the repetitive "o" is very necessary) convicted. I wailed and I moaned before God begging him to place in me a servant's heart--I was desperate!

Continuing the Journey

Now, I've realized that it isn't going to be an overnight "miracle," in fact this process may take some time (in my case--it may take a lot of time!). But that's what the journey is all about. I have successfully identified one of my problems and now I am working towards a solution--that's the best I can do.

How about you? I know that most of you are quite perfect and have no need for personal reform, but on the rare occasion that one of you might have some minuscule mistake in your spiritual DNA--what's your plan? Sure, you can leave it there, but will you truly be like Christ with that "added perk?"

Will you work on that change with me?

A few more suggestions...

Still struggling with devotion??

For those of you who are struggling, I thought of a few practices that have made my walk with God more interesting. I call them practices because you can't just do them once and give up, but you have to do them over and over.

Grasping the Word

I admit that I have been guilty of reading the Bible, walking away, and not really feeling like I have grown. One thing I found very helpful in avoiding this problem is keeping a Bible reading journal. (If "journal" sounds too intimidating just keep a piece of paper in your Bible to take notes as you read). Every time after I read a chapter, I make some notes on what the chapter was about. This will help you retain what you just read. If you don't understand what you read, DON'T go any further. Spend another day on that chapter with a study Bible or commentary to get deeper understanding of the passage.

Selfless Praying

One major thing I had to learn about prayer was unselfishness. Prayer becomes a lot more interesting when you began to pray for other people and not just yourself. Selfish prayer is a trap for many Christains. Prayer becomes a time to rehearse our problems to God. Yet, prayer is meant to be so much more than this.

To help get a bigger mind about the kingdom of God and prayer, try researching information about countries who need to hear the Gospel and put theses countries on your prayer list. Also, try spending a devotion time without going through your needs and problems; just focus on God and spend time worshiping and praising Him. You will find that this will raise your faith in him and help you fall in deep in love with him.

The Martial Arts Approach to Daily Devotions

Chuck . . .Chuck Norris?!

Chuck Norris reads our blogs!?

So when Bro. Runck said that Chuck (our fictional character) reads his Bible and it feels more like an endurance exercise than a spiritually uplifting exercise, it made me think of Chuck Norris. Don't ask me why, but it did, okay?

Annnnyhow...I can totally identify with Chuck's situation. I can't count the number of times that I've sat down and read a portion of Scripture, only to look back and wonder what in the world I just read.

If I could make a polite assumption/'guess-timation' about Chuck and myself, I would say that he's caught up in the same thing that most Americans are caught up in: Hollywood-itis. Reading is not the primary method of teaching anymore, it's all about visual-aid and slide shows and movies. Our brains have become so accustomed to acquiring information this way that it's robbing the Bible of its richness and depth (i.e. me and "Chuck" get bored reading the Bible after about 5 seconds).

Solution: Karate Chop Chuck Norris

Solution number one: tone down the consumption of visual entertainment/media (i.e. stop watching Chuck Norris action flicks and start reading about Samson clubbing down Philistines with a jaw bone a few times).

Solution number two: stop reading the Bible just to get through it and start reading the Bible to understand it. I would suggest doing some personal studies on topics that Chuck actually finds interesting within the Bible. For me, if I stumble across something that perks my interest, I dive into like there's no tomorrow until I've looked at that particular passage or scripture from every possible angle that I can find (Commentaries, different translations, articles, references elsewhere in the Bible, background dictionaries, Google it!, etc). Go haywire! Organize it into a cool lesson, bullet-point the mess out of what you discover. It's really quite fun...really!

As far as prayer goes, I'm in total agreement with Dustin on the whole prayer journal concept. I tried it for the first time this summer actually and it worked out quite well. Good luck beating the Chuck Norris/Hollywood-itis disease, Chuck!

Soul Food

Throughout the New Testament, Paul gives instruction to both the mature, and the growing believer. Since this is a "walk" we might think of it as a marathon. A more "organic" image may be a seed matauring into a plant. In reality, our walk with God is similar to most kinds of growth we see in the natural world.

The New Testament especially relates our spiritual lives to the nutrition of the body. For example, 1st Peter speaks of the Word of God as "milk", and even Jesus uses refers to itas "bread".


Two Too-Obvious Truths
Two points are obvious: everyone eats differently, BUT everyone eats.

1. Everyone knows that there are just some foods that nobody likes. I mean, how could anyone like coconut? It's just impossible! And what about anchovies...wow. Disgusting! Now these are just my opinions; others may love coconut, or absolutely obsess over anchovies, but personally I have issues with these foods.

This is what our devotions are like. Each person eats differently, but as long as we are receiving the nutrition we need, we are fine. Your devotional life maybe different than someone else's, but the important thing is to figure out a good way for you to do it. I could give specific answers to each question for "Chuck" but those answers wouldn't be the same for someone else. The same applies to "Susie" or "Ronald". Devotion to God is just that, we are devoting ourselves to God by our "acts of devotion", and in turn our souls are fed. One suggestion for anyone would be to get a personal mentor who has a strong daily devotional life to help you come up with "creative", sustainable ways of "doing" devotions.

2. I wonder how many of us have fasted for more than a day or two? However long you have fasted, eventually, if you are reading this, you must have begun to eat again. It is absolutely essential to our spiritual well-being to eat spiritual "food". You may not have to eat a hardy meal of steak and potatoes. (Personally, I really enjoy eggs and toast.) The point is not only to live but to grow as well.


For Dessert . . .
Just a couple side notes before I'm done. For those that see no point in prayer, trust in God and let prayer become conversation rather than a to-do or wish list. Also, as Penuel mentioned, it is about a relationship with God. He firstly desires intimacy with His bride. Whatever way it works for you, then do it. Talk with someone with experience! Work inside your personality; if you work on a schedule, then schedule it, if not, then flow with the day. Above all else, God wants us to act like His bride...if we do, we wont be disappointed.

The Only Two Times You Should Pray

It's very simple with me. I just determine in my mind that I am going to read my Bible and pray everyday. I know it's not as easy as that but I've been told that there are two times that you pray: when you want to and when you don’t want to.

That's a very simple thought I keep in mind. When I really don't feel like praying or reading my Bible, I always ask myself, "What happens if I miss something powerful?"

(Note: I am headed on a mission trip to Singapore. Please pray that God would use our team mightily!)

Lessons from the Piano Player and the Quarterback

80%

80% of Christians would fall into the same daily devotion like Chuck. We get bored when we pray, we don't have a certain time of the day where we spend time with God on a regular basis, and we don't like reading the Bible.

Solution?

There's no magic formula. We as humans are subconsiously lazy; we don't want to do mundane things that bore us. But no piano player would be good at playing piano just by thinking about playing the piano all day long. No footballer would be good in playing football just by holding onto a football 8 hours a day. For both of these people to be any "good", they must practice.

In the same way, daily devotions is sort of like our "practice" time. And we will always be bored when with it if we lose focus that we are investing our time and energy into a relationship with God! But the outcome of this "new" mindset ("investing" time in God) would be that we won't find "devotions" boring anymore but rather a very natural part of life.

My suggestion
Invest your time in God, and you will see a fruitfull outcome. But you've got to invest first to reap a benefit later. Daily devotions is a process of delayed gratification. At first it will seem "boring" and probably fruitless, but it will become a habit and, eventually, a vital part of your way of life. I'm personally struggling through this process right now. Once, we've/I've crossed that certain point, we/I will see things in from a different perspective.

What is your focus?

Beginning With the End in Mind

I would have to say that Chuck has fallen into the same hole as many Christians today. I have to admit that I find myself in the same spiritual condition sometimes. What do you do?

You have to stop ask think, "What is my goal?" So often we step into our routine of devotion and do it the same ol' way as always. We go down our spiritual check list to get spirituality out of the way for the day. I dare say prayer is much deeper than a checked box on a checklist.

Chuck has been reading his assigned Bible reading. He has been praying for his brother. This is all good, but somewhere there has to be a goal in mind for the devotion. In other words, the most important question for Chuck to answer is, "When I am finished with my devotions, what do I want to have accomplished?"

Chuck's possible answers might be, "I want to pray for a certain need. I want to pray for lost souls. I want God to give me a job." But these may not be the best goals.

Searching for Better Ends

May I suggest that the first goal we need to have in mind is to seek the face of God. This is when our prayers really come to life. When we push our needs and our agendas out of the way and seek first the kindgom and a relationship with God, our devotion time cannot help but get "interesting".

The Daily Dustin

Here Goes . . .

Daily devotions for me come in two different ways (generally). The first is a very simple, regular way for me to get my thoughts on spiritual things. When I get up in the morning (usually about 30 minutes before class--morning prep time is always a harried, hurried experience) I get out my little handy-dandy "teen prayer calendar" which is distributed by the World Network of Prayer.

Now, I realize that I am not, in fact, a teen and I haven't been for some time but this small pamphlet is a great tool that anyone can adapt to their own life. Each day it presents a scripture (that is conveniently typed on the calendar so you don't even have to look it up) and a corresponding prayer focus. Just reading the scripture and the prayer focus allows me to begin to delve into the spiritual. Throughout the day, I often recall the scripture and offer small prayers up concerning it. It's not much, but it is a way to work scripture and prayer into everyday life.

Continuing...

The second devotion-esque thing that I do is a bit more on the "formal" devotion side of the spectrum. I read my Bible--usually only one or two chapters (and rarely in KJV...heresy, I know), but then I think about them. That's right, I actually meditate on them. For some reason, I value quality over quantity--I know, it's crazy.

After that, I move on to the "prayer part" of my devotion. Now, I understand that sometimes it's hard to pray and it's even harder to pray meaningful prayers so I use a prayer journal. In my journal I write a scripture that impacted me from my reading and then I write a letter to God. In my letter, I am able to strip away all the cliches and simply write to my Friend. (My letter writing does not replace my "audible" prayers, it merely enhances them.) When I write, I pray Scripture over my life and the lives of others, I pray for the Kingdom, and a few select needs about which I feel deeply. This devotion time is usually ended by some intimate prayer and listening time with God.

The cool thing about writing prayers down is that you can go back and read them later. You can see the way that your prayers have effected people and things. You can see how your prayers develop over time. Etc, etc...

Wrapping It Up...

There you have it. Two devotions--yay! But what is neat is that by utilizing both of these methods, my devotion time is always interesting and always changing. His Word is no longer distant--it is applied to my life, and my conversations with him are no longer irrelevant--they are effecting his Kingdom.

And We're Back!

Oops! My Bad . . .

For those of you who thought this blog had "disappeared" for good, we didn't-we just went on General Conference break. (We won't speculate about whether 90&9ers were overjoyed or saddened at our mysterious hiatus, we'll just assume that you missed us and are happy to have more delightful reading!)

Anyway . . .

I think so far we all agree that "spirituality" is a way of living life rather than a specific set of ritualized actions. So far, so good. But I also sense a reservation (which I share, by the way) about completely tossing the idea of a time of "daily devotion". So, let's ask another real basic question . . .

Another Hypothetical . . .

Ok, so our reader Chuck has been checking the Walk blog everyday for the past week, absolutely dying to see some new post. He is in total agreement with the "all of life is worship" philosophy; so he doesn't have a hang-up where he must have 32.5 minutes of devotions everyday or he loses the Holy Ghost.

His is a much more secret shame. He gets bored with prayer. The main reason he doesn't pray longer is that he can't think of anything else to pray about. And, oh yeah, there's his brother whose backslidden. It's been over 10 years and, frankly, he is still asking God, "Lord, save my brother." He knows his prayer should be more, well, "detailed", but how does he get there?

Furthermore, reading the Bible makes his head hurt. And even worse, he's done the BREAD program through 4 whole times but it was more an endurance exercise than a spiritually-uplifting experience. He hates to say it, but he gets more out of Max Lucado than good ol' King James. But we all know that we must read our Bibles every day (Bible Reading Enriches Any Day, right?).

So, he's been dying to ask--how do you do your daily devotions? Why? How can I a liven up the routine so it isn't so "routine"?