Last Post for 2nd QTR 100 Mile Challenge

Life has been chaotic for me....too much I want to do and not enough time and energy to achieve it all.  But I did make my 100 mile goal.  It's been hard but fun.  I hope to see another challenge offered for the 3rd quarter. 

Coming down the stretch on the 100 mile fitness challenge

This week, I tried a kick boxing class for the first time.  My neighbor invited me to join for a free class.  It lasted an hour and I barely "survived".  It was a hard but good workout.  For my 100 mile fitness challenge, I managed 10 miles this week for a total of 91 miles.

I still don't really enjoy working out.  I prefer to play a sport and get the workout that way.  But I feel that working out is the only way that I will be able to achieve my fitness goals.  So I need to stick with it.  Plus I have the short-term goal of getting ready for my 5K walk on July 3rd.  I'm not concerned about it, but I feel the more I walk in advance of that day, the faster I will walk on that day. 

What does God call me to?

Today I started perusing through the blogs in my blog reader and didn't get past the second blog, that of Arloa Sutter.  I appreciate Arloa, her ministry, her blog and her point of view.   Her blog entries are provocative, encouraging, and realistic.  At the end of one of her posts was a comment and for some unknown reason, I drilled down on the commenter's name to look at their blog.  Well, WOW!  This fascinating woman, Helen, had a great blog, which like Arloa's, caused me to really think, in this case, about what has God called me to?  (my answer to that will have to be in a later blog).   I then noticed this woman's blogroll.  So, away I went drilling down on some those blogs.  More deep, thought-provoking points of views on a very diverse range of subjects (social justice, racial reconciliation, emergent/emerging church movement, the green movement and environmental responsibility, women's roles in the evangelical church, and even how the TV show Lost teaches us about life and death!)  Some overwhelmed me, some depressed me, some challenged me, some encouraged me, but all made me want to expand my understanding on these issues.  I realize that I can't know and understand everything about everything.    There are a million worthy/interesting causes out there. There are alot of knowledgable, deeply passionate people who are great communicators and can run intellectual circles around me.  So after all my blog-stalking, what I basically learned today was stick to what God has called me to do and do it well.  Okay, so I've gone full circle back to the original subject of Arloa's friend's blog.....what is God calling ME to do, what does that mean to me and how do I do it?  So, I guess I won't wait until a later blog to talk about God's calling.

While I want to be a well-informed, knowledgable person on a broad spectrum of subjects, the reality for me is that I don't have the mental capacity (and perhaps even the heart) to be as well-informed and knowledgable as I would like to be on many of these subjects.  I just don't seem to have the brain power.  But I can work at using my time wisely by focusing on what God has called me to do.  I struggle with what that looks like and have many questions about it.  For example, does God's call involve more than one area?  Is God's call a single, specific thing that we are to do over a course of time?   Does one's call change over time as our circumstances change?  Are we really all called to specific calls or does our call simply entail the call to be a Christian in an increasingly anti-Christian world?  What's the difference between a call and the commandments we are given in the Bible?  The commandments I'm thinking of are:  1.   Love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39) and 2.  Jesus' great commission in Matthew 28:19-20 to "Go and make disciples,.....teaching them to obey everything I have commanded".  Do these two passages constitute a call to each Christian?  Does God call everyone with a specific call, like he did with Moses? 

According to Helen, "If you are unsure of what your calling might be, Guinness gives a suggestion on how to approach the search: “Somehow, we human beings are never happier than when we are expressing the deepest gifts that are truly us. And often we get a revealing glimpse of these gifts early in life.” What did you love to do when you were young? What gifts and talents were evident in your childhood, and have you continued developing those gifts over the years? Perhaps as you think back on your life, you’ll discover talents that were affirmed long ago but that have been laying dormant, buried by the demands and expectations from your subsequent life circumstances or relationships."

"In Scripture, we read the numerous accounts of people who experience God’s calling and whose initial reactions are to deny the calling in one way or another. Moses expresses his feelings of inadequacy. Sarah laughs at the implausibility of God’s plan for her and Abraham. Jonah runs as far away from Ninevah as he can. And yet we see that as God’s servants display openness for his plans, he leads them towards the calling that he intends, despite their initial disbelief or inaccurate understandings."

"We need not worry about outcomes or adequacy. As we keep ourselves open to his calling, we discover that through his strength, we can achieve much more for his kingdom than we ever would have imagined, more than we could ever have done on our own abilities. Who would have believed that inarticulate Moses could lead the Israelites out of Egypt, or that ancient Sarah could have a baby, or that rebellious Jonah’s words could help turn around a wicked nation?"

"Sometimes our calling is clear and we merely have to embrace it. Sometimes, the calling seems outlandish, and we have to have faith to accept it. Perhaps the more improbable the potential outcome, the more evident it is that God is the one who has called us in the first place. Ultimately, our job as Christ-followers is straightforward: answer God’s call. Don’t worry about the outcomes. And be happy for the unique gifts and abilities we have been given to further his kingdom. That is something worth singing about."

Well, it's all good and definitely something for me to "chew on" today and in coming months.  In the meantime, I need to be productive and get some housework and realwork done.  If you read this and have any comments on what is God's call, I would love to hear from you.

Lazy Walking Week

Can I blame it on the humidity and all the rain?   I only walked 6 miles this week.  On the upside, I signed up for a 5K on July 3.  So I need to keep walking to continue to getting fit.