Sometimes you don't realize all that you have to be thankful for until it's taken away. That happened for me at CMI. I was away from my family, my home, my girl...and yet all of it had it's purpose. I'm very thankful for all of the classes I was able to take at CMI, for all of the instructors and students I was able to meet, and for all of the helpful things I was able to learn. And yet...I'm also thankful that I was able to come back. And coming back...well that was something else entirely.
And that brings to my family and my girl, Karis. Turns out they had been planning a surprise for my return for quite some time...and I wasn't expecting it at all, which made it all the more enjoyable. And then, as if that wasn't enough, I got to spend all of last weekend with my family, Karis and her mother. And that was a blast. Karis, her family, my family, my friends...they have made my life a real joy to live in. And each one of them has been placed in my life by my savior...Jesus Christ.
There's so much to what Jesus has done in my life that I don't think I would even be able to begin to explain what He has done. And really...everything that I have in this life is because of Him, and so to say that I'm thankful for His presence in my life is really an understatement.
This last year that I've had this blog has changed a lot in my life. And my thanks go out to all of you who have had a hand in changing it. Can't wait to see what the next year holds!
Becoming the man God wants me to be...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Shadow Boxing...
Did you know that shadow boxing is in the Bible? It is. No really, it is! Paul talks about shadow boxing in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 24 through 27.
As some of you know, wrestlers and boxers can talk a big game, but what really matters is if they can bring that game into the ring and defeat their opponent. They train beforehand with their coach, they exercise, eat a proper diet. Every boxer strives to keep his body under his command and prepares for his match so that he can come out on top. In the same way, we must be like boxers. No, that doesn't mean talking a big game. It means that we need to keep our body under our command and prepare to win.
How do we do that? We eat a proper diet: the Word of God. We exercise: we use the Word in our lives. And we train with our coach: we work with and talk to God. And then we step into the ring with our fleshly desires. Its coach...is Satan. He's observed you. He knows your patterns, your weaknesses, your strengths, and he's telling all of that to your fleshly desires. Your enemy knows you as well as you do, if not better. But, you have something they cannot undertsand: the power of God.
As you train with God, you begin to here His voice better, to learn what He sounds like. Then, when you're in the ring, amidst all the sounds of the crowd, you can hear His voice helping you know what to do. God knows what punches are coming, and He'll tell you how to dodge each one, if you'll listen to Him. Of course, you can't always dodge the punches, and when you get hit, it's then you learn to get back up, keep on fighting and watch more carefully for that type of attack.
In my own "match" I've found an interesting truth. Every time you get hit, and you let yourself think you are going to lose, your flesh gets bigger. But when you dodge punches and land some blows of your own, because you're following God's guidance, your flesh gets smaller. Over time, successful rounds can reduce your fleshly desires to a really diminutive size, but that takes a lot of two things: 1 listening to God, your coach, and 2...you guessed it...time!
Your fleshly desires and mine will never disappear this side of Heaven. But we can beat them down to a manageable size so that we don't have to fight as hard to keep them in check. And when we do, it's amazing what wondrous things God will show us. For me that includes how the girl sitting next to Him, the one rooting me on, is actually more amazing then I first thought. And you know what, after the match is over...I get to spend time with that amazing girl. But in order to finish the match, I have to continue to refresh myself with the water of the Word and listen to my coach's instructions.
I could go into a lot more concerning how the Christian life is like a boxing match, but I think this post has done a good enough job of making that point. I'll leave the rest up to God.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring itinto subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."Not as one who beats the air." Paul was not a man who beat the air, what we would call shadow boxing. Rather, he fought a very real enemy, two in fact: Satan and his very own flesh. Paul constantly strove to keep his flesh into submission so that when he was in the world his walk would match his talk.
As some of you know, wrestlers and boxers can talk a big game, but what really matters is if they can bring that game into the ring and defeat their opponent. They train beforehand with their coach, they exercise, eat a proper diet. Every boxer strives to keep his body under his command and prepares for his match so that he can come out on top. In the same way, we must be like boxers. No, that doesn't mean talking a big game. It means that we need to keep our body under our command and prepare to win.
How do we do that? We eat a proper diet: the Word of God. We exercise: we use the Word in our lives. And we train with our coach: we work with and talk to God. And then we step into the ring with our fleshly desires. Its coach...is Satan. He's observed you. He knows your patterns, your weaknesses, your strengths, and he's telling all of that to your fleshly desires. Your enemy knows you as well as you do, if not better. But, you have something they cannot undertsand: the power of God.
As you train with God, you begin to here His voice better, to learn what He sounds like. Then, when you're in the ring, amidst all the sounds of the crowd, you can hear His voice helping you know what to do. God knows what punches are coming, and He'll tell you how to dodge each one, if you'll listen to Him. Of course, you can't always dodge the punches, and when you get hit, it's then you learn to get back up, keep on fighting and watch more carefully for that type of attack.
In my own "match" I've found an interesting truth. Every time you get hit, and you let yourself think you are going to lose, your flesh gets bigger. But when you dodge punches and land some blows of your own, because you're following God's guidance, your flesh gets smaller. Over time, successful rounds can reduce your fleshly desires to a really diminutive size, but that takes a lot of two things: 1 listening to God, your coach, and 2...you guessed it...time!
Your fleshly desires and mine will never disappear this side of Heaven. But we can beat them down to a manageable size so that we don't have to fight as hard to keep them in check. And when we do, it's amazing what wondrous things God will show us. For me that includes how the girl sitting next to Him, the one rooting me on, is actually more amazing then I first thought. And you know what, after the match is over...I get to spend time with that amazing girl. But in order to finish the match, I have to continue to refresh myself with the water of the Word and listen to my coach's instructions.
I could go into a lot more concerning how the Christian life is like a boxing match, but I think this post has done a good enough job of making that point. I'll leave the rest up to God.
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