Thursday, November 06, 2008
This needs to be three blogs but I didn’t want to write three and there is a common thread that will tie all these seemingly different subjects together, I hope.
Turkey Trot – I’m going to run in the 10k on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thinking it would be fun and I could eat more pie and not feel guilty. However, I was watching some turkeys run at the church the other day and they have a fast trot! In order to run a good pace (to stay up with the turkeys) I need to get in shape. So, I’m running again.
Running and Praying – I never really noticed it before but I pray more fervently when I run. If I’m on a thirty minute run I pray with zeal for 30 minutes. I made note of my praying today and would like to share it with you. The first 10 minutes are mostly comprised of giving thanks. For instance, “Thank you Lord for today, for this run, for the Bible, for our country, for the great church I pastor” etc… Now I’m getting close to the 10 minute mark but still thankful, “Thank you Lord that I only have 20 more minutes to run.” The next 10 minutes of the run my praying turns from thanksgiving to supplication. I begin making requests, “Lord, please let these cramps go away.” A little further into the run I would cry out to God, “This burning in my lungs, is this what hell feels like?” Right at the 20 minute mark I beg, “God, can’t you make time go any faster?” The last 10 minutes is when prayer gets intense. This is what I call crisis praying. This is praying that comes from the depths of my soul. It goes something like this, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Somehow, in the last few minutes of the run I switch to Old King James Version. That’s weird, isn’t it?
I’ve also noticed that not only do my prayers get more intense, my pace picks up in the last segment of the run. I guess I’m like a rent-a-horse. The closer I get to the barn the faster I run and the harder I pray.
President- elect Obama – So today, in between feeling forsaken and wishing time would pass more quickly, I prayed for our newly elected President. What a historic election and what a critical time. The Bible makes it clear that it is our Christian duty to pray for those who are in authority over us. Read carefully these words from 1 Timothy 2: 1-4,“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
It’s very clear to me that we are to pray for everyone but he points out a particular group – kings and those in authority. And I stopped at that word “thanksgiving”. So, today I not only congratulate President-elect Obama, I thank God for him. And I pray that we might live peacefully and godly and that the culmintating effect of our prayers is that people would be saved. No matter what party you’re affiliated with, the Bible calls us to pray, to intercede, to make requests and to offer thanksgiving for our President. I’m going to do that, will you?
Finally, the closer we get to home the more intensely we should pray. We need to pick up the pace a bit. I don’t know how close we are to the finish line, but I know this: we’re closer today than we were yesterday. And the finish line is the best part of any run.
This blog is like the Trinity – three in one.
Pastor Tim
Turkey Trot – I’m going to run in the 10k on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thinking it would be fun and I could eat more pie and not feel guilty. However, I was watching some turkeys run at the church the other day and they have a fast trot! In order to run a good pace (to stay up with the turkeys) I need to get in shape. So, I’m running again.
Running and Praying – I never really noticed it before but I pray more fervently when I run. If I’m on a thirty minute run I pray with zeal for 30 minutes. I made note of my praying today and would like to share it with you. The first 10 minutes are mostly comprised of giving thanks. For instance, “Thank you Lord for today, for this run, for the Bible, for our country, for the great church I pastor” etc… Now I’m getting close to the 10 minute mark but still thankful, “Thank you Lord that I only have 20 more minutes to run.” The next 10 minutes of the run my praying turns from thanksgiving to supplication. I begin making requests, “Lord, please let these cramps go away.” A little further into the run I would cry out to God, “This burning in my lungs, is this what hell feels like?” Right at the 20 minute mark I beg, “God, can’t you make time go any faster?” The last 10 minutes is when prayer gets intense. This is what I call crisis praying. This is praying that comes from the depths of my soul. It goes something like this, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Somehow, in the last few minutes of the run I switch to Old King James Version. That’s weird, isn’t it?
I’ve also noticed that not only do my prayers get more intense, my pace picks up in the last segment of the run. I guess I’m like a rent-a-horse. The closer I get to the barn the faster I run and the harder I pray.
President- elect Obama – So today, in between feeling forsaken and wishing time would pass more quickly, I prayed for our newly elected President. What a historic election and what a critical time. The Bible makes it clear that it is our Christian duty to pray for those who are in authority over us. Read carefully these words from 1 Timothy 2: 1-4,“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
It’s very clear to me that we are to pray for everyone but he points out a particular group – kings and those in authority. And I stopped at that word “thanksgiving”. So, today I not only congratulate President-elect Obama, I thank God for him. And I pray that we might live peacefully and godly and that the culmintating effect of our prayers is that people would be saved. No matter what party you’re affiliated with, the Bible calls us to pray, to intercede, to make requests and to offer thanksgiving for our President. I’m going to do that, will you?
Finally, the closer we get to home the more intensely we should pray. We need to pick up the pace a bit. I don’t know how close we are to the finish line, but I know this: we’re closer today than we were yesterday. And the finish line is the best part of any run.
This blog is like the Trinity – three in one.
Pastor Tim
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