My workouts have been sort of blah lately…I just go, do my thing, and then get on with my day. Which is not good considering I am a workout freak…I want to sweat…I want to crawl out of the gym…and, like I said, here lately I just have been going through the motions.
So yesterday I was looking on my assistant’s desk and saw a interval running plan. I asked her if she had tried it and she said that she had. THEN I asked her did it kick tail…and she assured me that it did. I knew it had to be good because she is a workout freak as well…so I asked her to print me a copy and that I would try it.
So this morning I rolled up into the gym, got on the treadmill and began this new workout. I have to admit that I thought it was going to be a piece of cake…and the first 10 minutes were pretty easy. BUT the last 20 minutes had me calling on the name of Jesus…and for just a minute I thought I was about to go see Him! My body was screaming at me, “Hey dude…what in the heck are you doing?”
Needless to say I got in an incredible workout…all because I tried something new. When you add the element of creativity to anything—it always makes things better.
God is pretty creative, don’t you think. I can just see Him creating the animals…sure, the dog is pretty normal, so is the cat (which I actually believe He created as a pet for satan!) But then He began creating things like the rhino, the giraffe, and the toucan…amazing. (For further affirmation that God is creative—look in the mirror!)
And because God is creative…and we are created in His image—we should be creative as well.
BUT—our problem many times is that we gravitate towards what is familiar—we get into a comfort zone, something that allows us to take no risks and not interfere with the status quo…and because of that many times we reap a boring an unproductive life.
For example—in our marriages, if we are not careful we can wind up doing the same thing every night, come home, watch television, tuck the kids in…and then go to bed. I personally have to guard against this…well…we don’t have any kids yet…but you know what I mean. So last week I announced to ‘Cretia that tonight is “special date night.” We are going to…well…I can’t tell you where we are going or what we are doing because she reads my blog…but I will say that it will be fun because we are getting out of our normal date night routine. (Which usually includes Cracker Barrel!) This will be so much fun for us…and will add excitement to us spending time together.
I had a friend tell me one time that he felt like he was hitting a wall in his quiet times…that he was getting nothing out of reading his Bible. I told him that I had recently experienced the same thing and all that I did was change the place I had my quiet time…I moved from my office to my living room…AND I began reading a different translation of Scripture…and the Bible came to life all over again for me. He told me about a week later that he had done the same thing and was having the same experience of Scripture coming alive all over again…all because of changing the routine.
Church—if we are not careful we can fall into doing things that are way normal…and we get used to it. (For example—many of you sit in the same seats every Sunday!!!) So this week—wow—we have a few minor changes in store…ok, they are NOT minor—they are MAJOR. I promise you that we are taking an incredibly unique approach to this series…and its going to be so much fun. That’s all I am going to say about it now—but I will tell you that you will be able to tell something is different this weekend from the minute you walk into the door.
So my challenge today—change something, change where you do your quiet time, where you go to lunch, how you drive home—be creative…because in doing so I believe we actually become more Christ like. Jesus is a lot of things…but “boring” was never a word anyone close to Him used to describe Him. If God is not boring—then His children should not be…and His church should not be either!