Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. - Romans 12:11-12 Pick It Up! A member of our chapter loaned me a motorcycle "Master Class" training video. This video contains all kinds of lessons on riding, including police riding skills. I decided after watching the video to try out some of those skills, so one evening I went out to the church parking lot and took my best shot at the lessons. The first one I tried was making a sharp turn from a stopped position. In the video they cranked the handlebars all the way, turned their heads all the way (in the same direction as the front wheel) and then started off. I cranked my handlebars left and my head left and I gave her some throttle and slowly released the clutch. I immediately had the opportunity to try out another lesson from the video, how to lift your bike up off the pavement without breaking your back. I also got to try out my mechanical skills with a crowbar by bending the shift lever back into position. Some lessons are easier to learn, such as picking up the bike, and others are not so easy to get right. I believe this is also true about our journey in Christ. Recently, some of the inmates at the jail were sharing some of their struggles. One had been struggling with doing his Bible study lessons, another with prayer and a third with spending time reading the Bible. We all know that it is important to pray and spend time in the scriptures, but there are times when those lessons seem harder to learn than others. It is easy to let stuff get in the way of our relationship with God. It is easy to forget what we have already learned. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "Never be lacking in zeal . . ." Sometimes we will fall off our bikes, but it is important pick it up and keep riding. The same is true with our spiritual life. If we get knocked off of our prayer and bible study time, we have to get up off the pavement and keep growing in Christ. What was really gratifying, as we listened to the inmates, was that each of them was working on solutions - discovering that prayer is simply talking with God, getting help with the Bible studies and getting rid of all the novels that were being read rather than the Bible. I still haven't completely mastered the sharp turn (though I have managed not to fall down again), but I did manage an 18' circle and a really nice U-turn and I have a newly practiced skill of picking the bike up off the pavement. But, more importantly, are the skills I am developing by reading my Bible and spending time talking with God. |
| Pick it Up! |
| Kevin, H.S.M/M |
| “All scripture passages are NIV unless otherwise noted.” |
| Chaplain |
| JESUS IS LORD |
| Heaven's Saints M/M Windsor Ontario Canada |
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