Eagerly Await

I'm sitting down, getting ready to watch the NFL season opening football game, and I was watching the crowd. They were jumping around, yelling, enjoying the pregame festivities, and it is only going to get louder as the game starts. There was an eagerness to it, all across the country, with a new season beginning. New hopes, renewed determinations, passionate fan-dom. And I'm no different, I have my teams that I root for, that I am passionate about. So why is it that this is so easy to eagerly await, so easy to defend your team, and still we shy away from this with God. How can I make myself this passionate on a daily basis, where I'll converse with fans of other teams (beliefs) and defend my team (Jesus) whenever the subject arises.

And to eagerly await the new season: Christ's return! Just like kickoff, now only a few minutes away, our passion and eagerness should continue to build as His return comes closer and closer! And who knows, it could only be a few minutes away.

A lot to think about, how to make this change inside us, to make us this passionate. I think that God wants us to, to give Him the glory, just as fans give glory to a team through their passionate praise and cheers. So let's be God's fans and get passionate.

Wilderness

So I have been unable to post for a couple days, as this Labor Day I spent a tremendous amount of time out in nature. All told, 3 days, 34+ miles on foot, 2 fourteen thousand foot miles, 2 creeks, 60+ Elk, mountain goats, sheep, and more. So what did I learn?

I learned that even when in such beauty and enjoying so much of God's glory, you can still get yourself in a bad mood at times. But I also learned that it really can help to just focus on God during those times when you realize you just got into a bad mood, and it will help you. It sounds easy, or even naive, but honestly it did seem to work. I truly felt at times that I would let other thoughts enter my head while out hiking that I started to dwell on, and then realize that such thoughts were detracting from my enjoyment of what I was doing, and what God had in store for me. So simply reciting, in pace with your steps, "I will rely on God" or "God loves me" over and over helped to overcome those attacks of the emotions. Others sing songs, or recite verses, or do many numerous activities. But it isn't the activity themselves that is the focus, or that will help you. It really is just getting your mind back on God. Now the challenge for me is to find that rhythm, that way to recite "I will rely on God" in my normal workday...it is a challenge.