Have you ever exercised on a treadmill? I know that most treadmills are different, but I think for the most part they all serve the same purpose- exercise.

I was walking (quite briskly I might add) this morning and doing what I normally do when on the treadmill, I was keeping track of the time, calories burned and my distance. As I was doing all of these things a little moth flew in and rested on the side of the treadmill on the part that doesn't move to the right of the track. I didn't like him there so I attempted to shew him away with my foot- probably not a good idea when going at a high rate of speed (sorry, action lovers, I didn't crash). He wasn't moving so I thought to myself "enough!" I jumped my feet off of the moving track and kicked the moth off of the machine and he flew away.

In my momentary satisfaction of getting the moth off of the machine I realized that since the track was still going even though I wasn't on it, I was still burning calories and covering distance. Wait! I wasn't even on the track? The machine had no idea if I was on or not.

I found this interesting. I could have taken it easy and stood on the sides of the machine and burned a TON of calories without the work. What would that get me? Well...nothing. Or, I could have done what I did and that was hop back on and really burn those calories.

Isn't this like our spiritual life sometimes? We may be on a "spiritual treadmill" we are going to Church, doing quiet times, Bible studies and more but we are totally disengaged. We are standing on the side of the machine. What's the point? In the end we've racked hours of quiet times, we've been in Church every time the doors are open we have held spiritual conversations, but we have nothing real to show for it. We have not grown spiritually, we have not been spiritually worked out.

What are you doing today? Are you standing on the sides of the spiritual growth treadmill or are you on the track and really burning those calories?

I have been going through the New Testament and am really enjoying studying the life of Jesus! It is really cool to see His personality. I cracked up this morning as I read Mark 7:6. The first sentence out of Jesus' mouth is great! (His freedom and authority of speech)

I am amazed by the influence of Jesus. Look at Mark 1:16-20. Can you imagine that? Jesus walks up, sees these two guys, Simon and Andrew, and simply tells them to follow Him that He will make them fishers of men. Then, a couple of boats down, he calls James and John to follow Him. Do they even have any clue who He is? How much dialogue have they had? It doesn't look like much. All of these guys got the call and immediately left to follow Jesus, they left everything behind. Amazing!

What do the disciples see? Lepers healed, eye sight restored to the blind, demons cast out, a paralytic healed and forgiven, tax collectors following Him, phenomenal preaching, great multitudes following Him and two different feedings: 5000 fed from a few fish and loaves, and 4000 fed from a few loaves and some fish!

Miracle after miracle after miracle! Jesus automatically won the approval of most and His disciples saw that. Here is what fascinates me:

After Jesus calms the storm his disciples asked a ridiculous question...after all they have seen, they asked: "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!"

This amazes me because I would have thought that if you followed Jesus that much time and you witnessed with your own eyes all of those miracles and heard with your own ears all of His teaching you would know who He was! If you left EVERYTHING to follow Him!

Three things God is showing me through this:

One is that I need to fall on my face every day and seek His face, seek to know Him, seek to have that intimate relationship with Him. I need to be engrossed with the Word to learn Him.
The second is that no matter how much I think I know Him, He can and will still amaze me with His power!
Lastly: No matter how many miracles I experience even with my own eyes, Jesus will still amaze me and put me into a state of complete awe and wonder like He did with the disciples.

How well do you know Jesus?

A few months ago I saw a commercial with a lady walking down a sidewalk eating a cinnamon roll, the next frame showed her from a distance and half of her body was a cinnamon roll. The point of the commercial was that "You are what you eat."

I am by no means and expert on nutrition or even eating correctly but lets put this on the plate anyway. If we eat unhealthy fattening foods we will most likely be unhealthy and get...well, get overweight. If we eat a balanced diet with plenty of veggies, fruit and "healthy" food we will most likely be healthy, and probably war against the enemy - fat.

I don't know about you but this statement really scares me..."You are what you eat." I know I ate some chocolate chip cookies yesterday that were good...but they weren't that good.
Here is the question God is challenging me with:

If my body is influenced so much by cookies, wouldn't my mind and heart be just as influenced with "unhealthy" mind and heart food?

I understand that I need to be very cautious with what I put in my mouth, I also need to be on a consistent exercise program. I need to do these things to be healthier, happier- to live a full, happy and healthy life.

That is good for my body, what about my heart and mind? I need to be just as cautious if not more with what I put into my mind and heart. i.e. tv, music, magazines, books, associations etc. I also need to be on a consistent exercise program. i.e. daily quiet time with God, prayer, Bible study, Church and fellowship with other people striving for the same thing.

Last question: If cinnamon rolls and cookies can be so visible on our physical appearance, how much more can sinful tv shows, sinful magazines and music be visible on our spiritual appearance?

We need to let God use us to the fullest, good physical shape will give us more time and energy to serve Him. We have to have be in good spiritual shape to be used effectively by Him. Are you in shape?

My 9 month old baby girl has learned to stand up on her own! The only problem is that she is also standing on her own in her crib. What does that mean? Daddy got to lower the mattress part of the crib today. You are probably thinking, "so what" "no big deal." If you are, call me, and next time you can do it!
Cribs are insane! There are so many different screws, places for screws and different ways to do things. It is convenient because it goes from a high crib to a low crib, to a toddler bed to a...a new car! Well the last part is a joke, but it does do a lot.
I started the project thinking that I would be manly and use my drill, good thought, several problems. 1. Didn't have the right size drill bit. 2. Battery was dead. And 3. Drill was too big anyway and would scratch the bed. In spite of the set backs, after 3 trips to the garage I got almost every tool I own trying to make the drill work. I took a couple extra pieces off that didn't need to come off, THEN, I gave up on the drill. I found a simple screw driver in my bag of tools and put everything back together and finally with ease did the work I needed to and got the job accomplished. All the while Lily is playing on the floor and having a good time watching Daddy be so brilliant.

What is the main point here? I am glad you asked. As I was doing this wonderful project I realized that if I would have only just grabbed the simple screw driver in the first place I would have saved myself a LOT of work, trips to the garage and frustration. Why didn't I? I wanted to use a "man tool," I thought the battery operated drill would be faster and on and on. I was wrong. I should have simply done the simple thing and grabbed the simple screw driver.

Isn't this how us Christians are a lot of times, God gives us task or projects and we over think them, we go for the biggest baddest way to do it? Some of us even over complicate simply following Christ, we think we have to wear all the right "Christian" t-shirts and caps, we have to have the right cross necklace, we have to use all the right religious language, we have to go through some ritualistic process for repentance and on and on. What we sometimes may forget or neglect is the simplicity of following Christ.
God made it so easy for us, He gave us the instruction manual (the Bible), He gave us a communication device that allows us to communicate directly with Him (the Holy Spirit).

God has challenged me to forget all the "manly tools" and all the great ways of doing Christianity and simply follow Him. (emphasis added).

Picture these 21 year old girls:
Girl - long natural hair maybe in a bun or braided, long skirt down to feet, blouse tucked in.
Girl - buzz cut hair, multiple earrings, nose ring, denim jeans, converse shoes, tank top, tattoos.
Girl - shoulder length hair, highlights, hoop earrings, trendy t-shirt, seven jeans, cell phone.

I could go on and do the same for men. As you were reading the descriptions you were probably forming judgments in your head about people, you may have even thought of some people you come in contact with.

I went to lunch yesterday and the girl who took my order could be described like girl #2.
I was walking my neighborhood with my family last night when I saw girl #1 walking as well.
I see girl #3 almost on a daily basis, as this is a real popular look.

When I saw girl #1 walking on my street I immediately formed a judgement in my head that she was probably strange, that she is more than likely ultra conservative, doesn't do anything fun, and has a weird personality.

When I saw girl #2, I immediately formed a judgement in my head that she was probably a lesbian, she probably partied and smoked, and was probably more manly than myself.

When I see girl #3, I almost pass her by because I see her type so often, but I still manage to form a judgement that she is probably a daddy's girl, secretly rebellious, has a good girl cover around parents and teachers but is really a party-er, her self worth is more than likely based in her looks or lack of.

WHAT!!??!! Philip! Did you really just put all that out there? Yes, I did! You are probably thinking that I am some kind of judgemental, self righteous super conceited Christian. Guess what? You are right. I hate this about me, I have battled this all of my life. I want it to go away. I HATE judging people, #1 because it is a sin, #2 because judgements are rarely accurate. God has brought me a LONG way, I have not totally gotten over this sin, as soon as I think I have I do it again..........Is this you?

Girl #1 is a Christian lady from a nearby baptist Church and I'm sure is great.
Girl #2 is turned out to be really nice, was very friendly and was quite feminine.
Girl #3 is striving to be accepted and truly wants to please her parents.

Matthew 7:1 tells me to not judge others. The Bible speaks of this other times as well. Why do we do it? (yes, WE) I can't answer this question, but I can tell you what I am doing to attempt to overcome. #1 PRAY. I have been seeking the Lord, and will continue to seek Him on this issue. #2 Accountability. We have to have people that are around us help us. Why? We are so used to judging others that we don't even recognize it anymore, we need help.

IMAGE DOES NOT REVEAL THE HEART! Besides that, how great is your image, how great is my image? Let's let God decide that.

Back to the grind stone today. I am coming back refreshed and renewed. I believe that God has some great things in store, I can't wait to see what they are.

I am reminded of the need for a sharp mind and work ethic when reading Matthew 25:14-30 "The Parable of the Talents." The Master gave a certain amount of money to each servant, each returned, two had invested and worked well with their own, one was scared and just didn't want to lose it so he simply buried it and brought it back. What are we doing with what God has given us?

I think about this as I head back to the office today, God has given me a call, a mission, gifts and talents. How will I use them?

I will return to "life" with a renewed work ethic. God has given so much to me. My favorite part of this parable is when the master says to the servant who has done well with his money: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter in the joy of your lord."

WOW! What a statement! We have all been blessed with "talents" how will we use them, no matter how few we have?

I pray that I may permanently enter into the joy of The Lord!

It seems that every day holds challenges for me. I am on a journey with discerning a call that the Lord has given me. The problem is...well, it's me. I enjoy rash decisions, I like to move. Sometimes I move too fast though, getting ahead of God.

Yesterday I was reminded and challenged to wait on God. I was reminded that not waiting on God and His timing yields negative results. How? Abraham.
In Genesis 15:5 we see that God promises Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars! What and extraordinary promise! Then the problem happened...Abraham. He got inpatient and took it on himself as we see in Genesis 16. Thankfully God still honored his promise to Abraham as we see in Genesis 17.

I have to ask myself, "Do I want to move ahead of God and possibly pay a great price, or should I wait on God and have the great reward?" I immediately answer with "I will wait." But, it is not easy.

Scott Crawford shared "The 5 C's for knowing God's will" and I believe that these will help me to not be rash. We need to have all 5 before pressing on.

1. Gut Conviction
2. Godly Conviction
3. Godly Counsel
4. Circumstances
5. Scripture Confirmation

I am missing one of these C's, I am asking God for it, but I know not to move on this call until God has given it. I am excited for what God is doing in my life. I am challenged to live 100% to His will and plan.