Category Archives: One Day Diary

My Son sent me a workout plan…

One Day Diary,

Here’s the last item on the list:

* 30 second plank – I’m pretty sure he misspelled this for 1 plate of 30 pancakes, but I couldn’t eat them all.

Morning Workout: (This is Day-Two Update)

10 push-ups – Got 6
10 sit ups – Got 6
20 squats – 1 rep of 1, hurt myself

60 second break, then repeat twice – once

30 second run, 90 second walk for 10 min – walked two miles

10 lunges – yes, by now my lungs hurt

10 tricep dips – I don’t know what these words mean together
30 second plank – I’m pretty sure he misspelled this for 1 plate of 30 pancakes, but I couldn’t eat them all.

Between Jesus and me

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Some people from our church are on a road trip through the Bible – we are praying and reading through the Bible all year – and I’ve joined them. We’re in Deuteronomy and Luke this week and the contrast in relationships is striking. The people of Israel were invited to the mountain to hear from God and get close to Him personally, and they chose a “go-between” to do the risky business of faith: Moses.

The disciples were invited to the dinner table to listen to Jesus and fall in love with Him, and they said yes: they “went there” in faith, believing God is both good and just. Faith was still risky; in fact, each Jesus-followers at the table except John died a violent death representing the Good News of the Kingdom (excluding Judas, but that’s for another post.)

But here is the interesting response from the Lord toward the Old Testament people of God: “I heard what they said and that shows they revere me, and have a holy fear and respect for their Lord and will obey me.” In the next breath, the Lord invited them to fall in love with Him with all they have and are!

Jesus changed things. We don’t need a “go-between” to be in His presence and fall in love with him. But love alongside a deep fear and respect for how awesome He is can go together. The weaving together of love and fear of the Lord God keep the wonder fresh: what will following Jesus look like today?

Between Jesus and me there is no longer a priest or a go-between; a growing love for His Presence and a wonderful respect to listen and follow are there instead.

Happy Palm Sunday, Everyone! Hosannah to King Jesus!

Unsettled Can Be Good for You

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We are moving…once again. Susan counted 27 different places we’ve lived (homes, flats, camper trailers). No yurts or cave…so far. As can happen, closing dates shift and rain delays moving dates, and we are living as nomads. For now, we have suitcases and a borrowed bed, and we are surrounded by life’s flotsam and jetsam.

All this unsettledness leaves me longing for home.

We are twelve months into a pandemic that has transformed how we do life. Mask up, double mask up, careful with what we touch, keep our distance, drive through and eat in the car, get swabbed at the first cough or sneeze, and avoid groups at all cost. That means no concerts, no conferences, and for many no church worship, no funerals, no weddings, no school.

There, again, that unsettled feeling. Nomads in a strange land. Hanging out in our tents.

The Bible names us “sojourners” – travelers passing through. The word means “to stay a day among others.” That means we are not home yet – we are “on-the-way-ers.” Could there be a better image of seeking and serving God? As lovers of God and lovers of people, we pass through lives and give love and hope as if they represent the God we serve, as “sojourners.”

Maybe my unsettledness is a nudge that I’m not home, but today I get to sojourn – I get to be with people, make memories, give hope, laugh, cry, and give what I am to others as an “on-the-way-er.”

Here’s to new places and keeping a bit of unsettledness as we get settled.

Sojourning with you – Rick

Not Mine.

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It takes a lifetime to get and a lot of reminders, but I don’t own my life. The SUV I drive? Not mine. The TV I watched last night? Not mine. The checkbook I paid bills from? Not mine, either. The kids I helped raise? The marriage? Not mine.The hobby I claim? The diversion I make time for? The secret place where no one else is invited? Not mine. The faith I claim? The church I attend? The office I spend time in? Nope. Not mine. The country I love? The world I pray for? No. They don’t belong to me, either.
Jeremiah reminds himself as much as anyone else: “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.”
Sure, I have obligations, even passions for all of the above, but they belong to another. If I don’t own my television, my hobbies, my checkbook, my family, my marriage, or my nation… then, they don’t own me. Freedom.
Property of God.
Rick

When Did the Right Way become the Old Way?

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This is what the lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’ I posted watchmen over you who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the alarm.’                                          Jeremiah the Prophet just before Jerusalem fell

I am an early adopter. I love new stuff and even if I can’t afford it, I want it and admire it from arm’s length. At the same time, I have this unexplained affection for the person who uses a flip phone. And if I stumbled across someone with a phone bag I would think, “how cool is that! I wish I’d saved mine!”

New, improved, next, unveiled, upcoming, and words of this ilk draw me in. But so do phrases like, that works, it’s good, and always right. Just because new is attached to it, doesn’t make it better than right or good.

Jeremiah addressed this when he called the Judahites to follow the old way, the right way. They had chosen a new god and a new morality, and it was me-centered. And the consequences were at the gate.

Every day, I am at a crossroads. I can go “me,” or I can go “God.” I can listen to the lure of the Garden (God won’t mind if you want His spot on the throne) or I can honor the call to decrease while Jesus increases in His expression through my life. I can do what shouts “look at me” (and my life, my way, my ministry, my call); or I can be one of the invisible saints that selflessly impacts today and that one day shouts “Yeah, God” to the field of saints seeking to make Jesus Lord.

If I choose poorly, I trust that the alarm will sound and wake me up.

Alert in Christ,

Rick