Practice Makes Perfect
Practice makes perfect was a mantra in my household, and practice I did. I can remember shoveling snow off of the driveway, and eventually the basketball court out back, in order to shoot basketball. It could take twenty or thirty shots before the ball would fall through the frozen net without help. I would imagine being at the free throw line needing to hit two shots to win the game, or shooting half court shots at the buzzer. Sometimes I would even practice the celebration after one went in.
While I keep resisting the fact that I am getting older I am afraid that my basketball playing days will soon be behind me, sadly, but my kids still can play sports. One year my kids needed a soccer coach, and I knew very little about the game, but I was willing to learn. Now I enjoy playing and I even enjoy watching. I appreciate the technical difficulty of the game as well as the physical fitness necessary to play. Having five children all playing the sport I continually try to encourage them to practice. When I see a kid do what Iya does in this video I can only imagine how many hours went into perfecting each trick.
When I think about the effort it takes to draw near to the Lord, and how often when people need to experience His presence they struggle. Many times it’s because they expected to play the game of life without practicing life with Christ. We try to call upon the talent of faith without ever trying to perfect it. It’s like stepping up to the line with the game tied and time expired, but we’ve never shot a free throw before. What might we expect the result to be? Where in your life are you failing to practice?
Why do you work?
Why do you work?
It may seem like a simple question, but there are multiple layers to the answers we give.
Answer 1: Because I can. I work because I can work. Somehow someone saw me as valuable and they hired me to do a job that was worth doing.
Answer 2: Because I should. God interpreted man’s existence quite simply in Genesis 2:15. He was to work and care for creation. A few thousand years go by and God commands a nation of former slaves, who undoubtedly worked long days every day, to work six days and rest on the seventh (Exodus 34:21). And in Thessalonica Paul instructs the church that he who does not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). I earn a living and this should be a testimony to the redemption that has taken place in my life.
Answer 3: Because I am. I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ. I am an adopted son of the Most High God. I am bought by the blood of Jesus to do good. I have been reconciled with God to do what God originally intended. So, in the use of my skills, gifts, and talents I glorify Him who gave His life for my sake. Creating, serving, working are acts of worship because I am Redeemed.
Thoughts inspired by Ann Voskamp’s Do You Feel Broken And Fragmented?
Normal
Lately, I have been meditating on that word…normal. What does it really mean?
Why are so many people pursuing it?
Why are so many more running away from it?
When life exits a crisis why are we in search of a “New Normal?”
Normal is a word you want to hear after a medical exam, and is a word you hope to never hear in show business.
What about all of the normal people in the Bible? People unlike Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually rose to be second in command to Pharaoh, or David who killed Goliath with one shot and became King of Israel only to eventually commit adultery and murder a friend.
What about the men who fought with Gideon? Or the men who were sent away because they chose to drink from the stream instead of from their hands?
What about the elders of the churches that were started by Timothy and Titus and Paul? What about the people Peter, Paul, Jude, James, John and the writer of Hebrews fail to mention?
In the day and age where great leaders are celebrated and even worshiped I find myself wondering if everyone is supposed to strive to be great, or are most of us just supposed to figure out what it means to be normal Christians?