Lowering the Bar!
As I was walking this morning, I was tracking my walk on my Apple watch. It shows my distance, time, and even the effort it feels I am putting into my exercise. This led me to a conversation with the Lord; it went like this. “God, how many times do I lower the bar of my expectations of myself and then congratulate myself when I meet that new lower standard?”
This really got me thinking...it happens way more often than I want to realize. When I can’t close the rings on my watch, I lower the goal so that I can reach it. It seems like such a little thing, just 2 less minutes, just 1 less hour in my stand goal, or just 20 calories off my goal. The problem is that I have done it repeatedly. Now my goal may be 30 minutes less, 3 less hours standing, and 300 calories; those small changes add up to more sitting time, more eating and more pounds. Now, this may not be a big deal in the spiritual realm, but honestly it all correlates. I may think I can miss a church service this week because I attend every week. I can miss my bible study today because I always make time for it, one day won’t hurt. Every time we lower the bar, it never gets raised again. We wake up one day to realize, we haven’t been in church in months, it's been a year since I last had a personal quiet time with the Lord, and I haven’t shared my faith with anyone in longer than I can remember.
With the Olympics on the screens of TVs everywhere right now, it seems timely that this would be the conversation I am having with the Lord. Those world class athletes wouldn’t be where they are if they never raised the bar of expectations of their bodies and their minds. They would be right where I am, still battling the same issues, doing the same thing every day and expecting different results.
In the NLT Paul says: “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” In this version, it uses the word work, but I like the word race that is used in the NIV. My life is a race, will I push myself, challenge myself, and raise the bar in my life? Philippians 3:14 says “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (NLT) I pray that we will all press on to the finish line that lies ahead. Raise the bar, reach for something too hard today that will benefit you in all your tomorrows.
I apologize for the long delay in posting my blog; we have been traveling a bunch. I have also been dealing with the loss of my Father on Christmas day.
We just returned from a trip to Pakistan and Kenya to launch our first Jesus School of Discipleship Campuses. We stopped in Ghana for a few weeks to take care of some paperwork and strengthen relationships and right now John is in Belize meeting with a team to see where our next season will have us living.
We are actively planning a National Gathering in August of this year in Ghana. Please pray for us that God will send the finances needed to gather the 2000 students and leaders in Ghana in one location for a week of competitions, fun and growth in the Lord. Thank you for joining us on the Adventure of teaching the next generation how to study the word of God and become disciples of Jesus! Until next time...
