“We are prisoners of time and space, tied to clock and calendar, scrabbling for dollars and cents, limited by feet and yards.  But the uncreated God transcends all time and space.  He is everlasting and moves through eternity with unhurried tread, for He is “the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy” 
-J. Oswald Sanders-

Mine and Josh’s new year’s resolutions got off to a slow start.  Mine was a legitimate resolution and Josh’s was somewhat forced.  We are on journey to lose weight.  My goal is to get to 175 pounds and Josh is to get to 180.  So we decided to start a little exercise program with an incentive at the end if Josh loses his weight.

The problem I have with exercise is not the exercise itself. It is being contained on a treadmill.  For some reason I don’t feel like I am going anywhere.  In fact, the little chart on the treadmill shows that I am going in circles.  Sonya prefers the treadmill but Josh and I are unmotivated by it.  So at 8:30 last night, we took to the streets and walked close to 2 miles.  We mixed a little jogging in there and it felt great.  It was my favorite jogging weather. Chilly and drizzling.  Josh did good and I think I can convince him to go again.

Exercise is not easy to fit in to the schedule.  Like alot of life it is a choice of what you deem important.  The older we get the more we need to get in shape.  Not to mention.  I am almost 36 with a 17 month old.  I need to be in shape for the years to come.  There is something about kids; they either keep you young or make you old.

Just as we need physical exercise to keep our bodies in shape, so we need spiritual exercise to keep spiritually fit.  Spiritual disciplines are not always easy to “work in” our schedules but they are vitally important.  Paul wrote that bodily exercise profits little and he was not saying that because he didn’t like to exercise.  His point was that at the end of the road, when life is finished, how “fit” we are physically really doesn’t matter.  It is the spiriutal things that will have counted.  Our new year’s resolutions are not just to get physically fit but also spiritually fit.  To grow closer to Christ through our spiritual exercise of prayer and the Word.

Today, Hannah had one of those days.  This afternoon she was on the ceramic tile floor, slippped and knocked her head pretty good.  This evening she was walking by the coffee table and slipped.  Man, did she get a big goose egg on her forehead.  Two bumps in one day.  Then a little later she was picking up a picture frame and it slipped and hit her on the goose egg.  Boy, did she cry!

Have you ever had a bad day like that?  Where everything seems to go wrong?  Sometimes it is better to go to bed and wake up the next day.  That’s what Hannah’s doing, Sonya is rocking her to sleep right now!

Even when we have bad days, we still find that God is there.  Life is not a bed of roses, but God helps us through the tough days.  There is a reason the Scripture says, “Weeping may endure for a night but joy coumes in the morning.”  If today is bad, you always have tomorrow.

I have been reading through the book of Nehemiah and it seems that the church is in the place where Nehemiah was. In the need for rebuilding. Nehemiah had been serving in the king’s palace but got a leave of absence in order to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 

He began with a vision and pursued people to help him with that vision.  Along the way they faced many hardships and opposition only to prevail and rebuild the wall in 52 days.  At one point they had a tool in one hand and a weapon in another but they finished the wall in record time.

In building the church, we face obstacles and setbacks but we must press on.  The enemy of our souls does not want us to build God’s church so he tries to slow us down.  We must build with a tool in one hand and the sword of the Spirit in the other.  We must declare the Word of God that no weapon formed against us will prosper.  The Word of God tells us that God will build His church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  Let’s press through and build His church.  If God be for us who could be against us.

I am trying to develop Hannah from a young age to be a Daddy’s girl and it seems to be working!  We have a daily ritual now that includes a Route 44 Iced Tea from Sonic, my recliner and a little bit of wet clothes.  Every night, we sit together as she dives her hand into my cup and pulls out ice to feed her and me.  We both wind up a little wet but it is a way that I try to make her like me and teach her the importance of Sonic Iced Tea.

Then tonight, I was ironing my clothes for tomorrow when she wanted to wear my shirt.  In fact, she wore my shirt all over the house and I cannot tell you how proud I was to see her walking in my clothes.  I am training her to be like me!

As I was thinking on training her to be a daddy’s girl it made me think about how I need to train her to be like her Heavenly Father’s girl also.  Children are impressionable and we must instill in them godly values and teach them to be like their Father in Heaven.  The Bible declares that we are to train up a child in the way they should go and we must seek to make them more like Him and not so much like us.

Our Rao’s bakery, just 2 miles from the house, will be opening in February.  Rao’s is a locally owned coffee shop that is alot better than Starbucks. (Sorry to all of you Starbucks fans.)

People swear by Starbucks coffee but I have never aquired a taste for their coffee.  On the other hand, Rao’s has a good blend of coffee as well as a good deal of specialty coffees.  My favorite is their house blend with Splenda and powdered creamer.  Sonya loves their Sugar-free Hazelnut Kona Mocha Frozen Coffee.  Josh likes their Sugar-free Carmello Frozen Coffee drink.  He really doesn’t like sugar free but it is all we will let him get.  Hannah is not allowed to drink coffee yet.  We told her not until she is two.

All in all, Rao’s beats Starbucks.  Coffee is God’s great creation, it has the smell of Heaven. 

If you are wondering, their Mid-County location is in the Old Novrosky’s across from Central Mall on HWY 365.  ENJOY!

Whew! We survived last week. Last week was filled with meetings and preparation for our Sunday School re-launch. School 4 LIFE went off without any glitches and it is good to be back to our schedule. The last four months went by quick but I believe that we have enhanced our minstsry by taking a few months off.

Yesterday we began our ELEVATE series. We talked about Elevating in our relationship with God and looked at the four levels of the spiritual life as seen in the Old Testament story of Moses, Joshua and the children of Israel. I was challenged to go to another level in my spiritual life. In 2008 I want to draw nearer to the Lord and elevate to the place He has for me. All of us should seek to go higher in our walk with God. I encourage you to take time this year to fast and pray. Whether it is a day or 21 days. Set aside a little time to press in closer to Him.

Next, Sunday we are going to look at Elevating Our Church’s Prayer Life. It will be a glance at the early church as well as the Life of Jesus, our great example. The Bible says, “He went a little further to pray.” We need to go a little further also!