Java for the Spirit: Fueled by Faith, Fitness and Coffee Grounds

Read: 1 Kings 19:9-13   " “ Be   still , and know that I am God. I will  be  exalted among the nations, I will  be  exalted in the earth!”  Psalm 46:10 ESV   Sometimes, when the pace of life overwhelms me, I just step outside, close my eyes and open my ears. To gain a measure of calm in a frenetic world, it is a comfort just to let the soft sounds carried on the breeze wash over me like a breaking wave.   In the pre-dawn hours, I listen to the chirping of the crickets and the birds singing their sweet songs as if to welcome th e new day. In the afternoon and evening, as the waning sunlight sweeps over me, I listen to the Kansas wind sweeping through the grass, rustling the trees, and flapping the flags high on the poles. At any time of day, in  Kansas, too, it  is not  unusual to hear livestock calls in the distance, whinnies, moos, and bleating,   even  in more populated areas.   In these...

By way of confession, in the midst of a project where I set out to write one piece a day, this is actually the third piece I have written today. And it is not even 11 a.m. Why? As I have often said, writing is my way of working through complex issues I am chewing on mentally and emotionally. It’s how I process stuff. This morning, though, I am writing to process a thought that my book-writing project has actually triggered – again. As I have previously written, the marathon – a daunting 26.2 mile race – is the one distance which has always gotten the better of me. Even on the two I actually finished, I felt woefully unprepared for what I encountered during the race, and the one I did not finish a few months ago left me wondering if I was even capable of successfully accomplishing the distance. It has always been my “big picture” goal as a runner – for me, it is the running equivalent of publishing a book as a writer. Finishing – more to the point, finishing strong – has always...

SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP Read: 2 Samuel 12:1-15 "For I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine."  Romans 1:11-12 This morning at 4:15 a.m., I had a minor disagreement with my alarm clock. That disagreement? It told me to get out of bed, and I did not want to. “If you didn’t want it to go off that early, why did you set it for that early?” you ask. It’s a perfectly reasonable question, and one I spent the next five minutes sitting on the couch in a dark living room asking myself. The answer is a very simple one. About 8:30 p.m. last night a friend of mine sent me a (mildly) joking four-word message: “Suck it up, buttercup!” It was because of those four words ringing in my head I chose to listen to my alarm instead of crawling back under the covers. See, the friend who sent me this message invited me to begin taking a 5 a.m. fitness c...