WHEN IT’S 28 DEGREES OUTSIDE your front door it is difficult to think about putting on the old running gear. The winter months are more given to sitting inside by the woodstove and curling up with a good book, or better yet, just curling up.
Running in the winter takes extra effort. It takes more self-talk to get going, it takes more determination, it takes wearing more clothes, it takes longer to get the blood pumping and the legs warmed up. Sometimes I have to wonder if it is worth all the extra effort. But all I need do is to step on the bathroom scale, or take a look in the mirror, and I realize I need to be out there running. And of course each day I delay a run my endurance lessens and my speed slows. Thus, it’s out into the cold shadows I head.
Running is a great mirror of the life of the follower of Jesus Christ. When we find ourselves in a “winter time” in our lives it’s difficult to run as we should. When our hearts and spirits are cold, it is difficult to get our spiritual muscles warmed up. We would rather pull the blanket up a little higher and hide from the winter chill. Believe me I understand the feelings, but I also know that the longer I remain curled up, hidden away, the more detrimental it is to my spiritual health. My endurance lessens and my speed slows.
I have learned that in order to maintain health, both physical and spiritual, I must workout, even when the elements around me would drive me to barricade myself inside the warmth and safety of my home. I have also learned that once I have forced myself to put on the layers of running attire and head out the door, it’s not too long before I get warm-up from the inside out.
Maybe you’re experiencing a “winter-chill” in your spirit; I would recommend taking the effort to get back in the race. It might be as simple as moving forward in the sanctuary this morning, or covenanting with God to pray for a missionary everyday, or joining a weekly Bible study group. But whatever it is, it’s time to get moving.

AS A NATION WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE OPEN and available to one another, shown by the number of MySpace profiles, (now standing at 145 million) and yet, almost 25% of our nation state that they have no one close enough to confide in.
We have never had so many time saving devices and yet we find ourselves under an ever-increasing time crunch. We have more “stuff” (Houses, cars, toys, gadgets) but are no closer to a sense of contentment. Church attendance is dwindling across the board, and yet people show an almost insatiable desire for the spiritual. I suppose on one hand, we could say we’re living at the extremes, and have little comfort of a place to call home.
The Apostle Paul found that place to call “home” and it was in the person of Jesus Christ. The Apostle stated that he had learned how to be content in every circumstance, and this powerful contentment came because his very strength for living came in and through Jesus Christ. (Philippians 4:11-13) Later, in the letter to the Hebrews, it is written that we are to be content in what we have and that contentment comes not from some drummed up sense of self-transcendence, but through the knowledge that God has said, “’I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Maybe it’s time to come in out of the extremes and find a place to call home. It is a place where you can find acceptance for who you are. It is a place where you can find rest. It is a place where you can develop a heart of contentment. It is a place where your spirit is nourished. It is a place where you are loved. It’s time to come home to Jesus.
The door is open.

WRESTLING WITH YOUR FRIENDS during grade school was great fun as long as everybody knew the secret word. The word that was uttered when you found yourself pinned to the ground with no hope of escape. The word that sometimes came forth as a shout and at other times was expressed in a windless whisper. The word? Why “uncle,” of course. I don’t know the etymology of the word to end all wrestling matches, but I am sure glad I knew it. I am sure it saved my life.
It is a word that I still utter when pinned down by the strong opponents of life. Sometimes it still breaks forth with a loud shout and at other times as a barely audible whisper of a prayer. I must admit that the word has changed form for me. As an adult I very rarely cry “uncle,” but I use its biblical cousin, “mercy.”
When I find myself weighed down by the worries of life, or overwhelmed by the events that seem to be shaking our world to its very core, I cry out, “mercy”. When I am overcome by the deaths of loved-ones, or the seemingly incurable disease attacking another, I cry out, “mercy.” But now, instead of speaking this word to one who has me pinned to the carpet, I cry out to the One who can lift my burden, and set me free. I call out to the One who sits upon His throne of grace, and who bids me to cry out to Him whenever I am in need (Hebrews 4:16). I cry out and I find mercy and grace.
Do you find yourself today with your arms bent behind you and your face shoved into the dirt? Then why not cry out for mercy, for the Lord is here. He is in your corner. He is ready to help.
Cry out!

MY MOM USED TO TELL ME, “Randy, you need to find a hobby.” And being the good dutiful son that I was I went out to find a hobby, and I have been hobby hunting ever since.
As a kid I collected things, like snow globes, Matchbox Cars, and even a try at numismatics (coin collecting). Growing up (a debatable term in some people’s eyes) my hobbies turned to such pursuits as model railroads, model rockets, stamp collecting, fishing and various sorties into the field of sports, from racquetball to weight lifting to golf, and of course let’s not forget geo-caching! Some might say I am a hobby schizophrenic, I rather see myself as kind of a “renaissance man of hobbies.”
The problem with hobbies is that they can become consuming. They can consume our time, our energy, our focus, and certainly not least, our money. If I could recoup the resources spent on my past hobbies I would be a rich man, or at least I would have more coins to collect!
The purpose of a hobby is to give us a release from the regular pressures of life. To give us time to re-gather our thoughts and to engage in a creative outlet. All good things. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that each of us find a hobby for 2007, and I have one to suggest. Here is a hobby that will give us release from the pressures of life, to re-orientate our thoughts and to give us a place to pour our creative energies. That hobby is the serious study of God’s Word.
We spend hundreds of dollars on craft items, fishing supplies, paint brushes, sporting equipment, etc. and yet shudder at dropping some bills in order to buy a good study Bible, or heaven-forbid, a Bible commentary! We shrink back at having to spend money, or time, on a Bible study book, but we think nothing of acquiring the latest tool of our hobby. I maybe wrong here, but I think there is something askew with this.
Hobbies are good, that’s for sure, but why not take up a hobby that is truly life-changing. I challenge us this year, as followers of Jesus, to get serious, and to put our time and resource where our heart is said to be. The cost benefit is well-worth the effort.

IT’S TEN MINUTES AFTER ONE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING as I type this Shepherd’s Staff. I can’t sleep because the wind is blowing and I am not comforted by its sound. Allow me to explain why.
A little over twelve hours ago my neighbor’s house got hit by a rather large section of a Redwood tree. Less than an hour later a huge Fir tree went down across the street, fortunately missing everything but the power lines. But in hitting the line it pulled the power pole in front of my house to a crazy angle and pulled out the line from my house and the power meter off the wall of my neighbor house next door. Call me a worry wart, but sitting in the dark with wind still howling outside has left me just a little frazzled.
“But you’re the pastor,” you say, “you’re supposed to be great at trusting and resting in the Lord.” OK, you found me out. I’m not always good at that trusting and resting part. Feet of clay I guess you’d say, or better yet, house of sticks. So, here I sit laptop on battery power, stoking the fires to warm the house, Bible open, trying to work on Sunday’s message, and oh yes, praying for God to be merciful to my neighborhood and to grant peace to my other nerve-frazzled neighbors.
Once again I am humbled by just how small I really am. How powerless I am against the forces of wind and rain (thankfully it’s not raining). I cannot control its direction or its path, I can only sit and pray and read my Bible and trust, however weakly that trust may be, that God does know, and that God does care. Much like Elijah in 1 Kings, I hear the rock shattering wind, feel its power, and I huddle deep within my cave, longing for the gentle breeze and the still small voice of God calling me out of my hiding place. To know I am not alone.
Speak, O Lord, for your servant is listening.