Slowing Down For The Long Run

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

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“Slowing Down For The Long Run”

Psalm 46:10 NIV

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

I know that I have shared in the past year that I got back into running April 2024.  It’s been a great experience as I’ve learned more about running than I ever have before.  For about the first year, I was focused a lot on shorter distances and increasing my speed so that I could improve my 5K time and 1 mile time.  After a while, a running friend of mine recommended that I try slowing down my pace and try running more. 

 

It took a while to adjust, but I found that as I started slowing my pace and increasing my distance more and more, I started enjoying my longer runs even more.  I’ve also learned that depending on the distance I run, I either go faster for shorter distances and slower for longer.  When I practice my 1 mile, I’m usually running very fast so that I can improve my time. When I run the 5K, I have to pace myself a little more, but still decent speed.  When I ran the half marathon in October of this year, I had to really train to pace myself at a specific speed.

 

If I started my half marathon at the speed I run my 1 mile, but mile 2, I would be done and have no steam left to finish.  That would be crazy!  I’d have to take a while to rest before starting up again.  When I started my half marathon, I had to look at my watch a lot to make sure I was keeping a good pace, but also I was running with a pacer, so that helped.

 

So many of us are living our daily lives running at break-neck speeds!  We live in a culture of go, go go!  It feels wrong to slow down because we don’t feel productive.  What if we applied the long race pacing mindset to our daily routines?  Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, what if we were more intentional about slowing down and enjoying life more? 

 

We were never meant to live life as fast as we are living in our modern age.  So many of us are going so fast and then we burn out and wonder why.  We rely on drinks and meds to give us energy and don’t think twice about the possibility of slowing down to a slower pace.  You might say, “Zach, I get what you’re saying, but I just can’t slow my pace down.”  Well, that’s a choice you have to make.  It’s going to take adjusting and some routine adjustments to make this happen.

 

As we close out another year of life, let us begin the new year with a mindset that we are going to do better about slowing down the pace of our lives.  Instead of full-blast mode from the time we wake up till the time we go to bed, let us be very intentional about slowing down and taking the time to really enjoy the moments God gives us each day.  This is the mindset I have on my long runs now.  I just enjoy being out in nature and taking in the beauty of the long time I’m on my run. 

 

Let us make it a goal in the New Year to slow down our daily pace for the long run!

Choosing Gratitude

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/NquqBb34Zoo?si=cg9z5T1varI1V30b

“Choosing Gratitude”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

The past couple of weeks, I’ve had the phrase “choosing gratitude” on my mind and heart.  Recently, after some conversation with others, it really occurred to me and stuck out that I literally have the choice, not only each and every day, but also each and every moment to choose gratitude or to be negative. 

 

For the past week, it’s been heavy on my heart and mind because I’m just naturally a cynical person.  It’s not my desire to wake up each day and be this way, but I’m just more of a serious person by nature.  My wife, on the other hand, is a very positive and encouraging person and I am forever grateful for her patience and love to me for the past almost 22 years of living life together! 

 

There’s two things I want to point out regarding this phrase of “choosing gratitude”.  First, it is way easier to be negative and see negative things around us and to point them out and complain.  Second, it’s often harder for us to focus on the positive and all the wonderful blessings God has already given to us. 

 

If we let ourselves focus on the negative and let those thoughts and feelings dwell day after day, bad things happen with our attitude.  I’m finding myself dumbfounded lately at discovering how a negative attitude can really affect your personal life and those around you. 

 

As we close out this year and look to a new year, whatever your possible New Year’s resolutions may be, I pray that each of us would make it a point to choose gratitude every moment of every day.  I know that this is a challenge for many of us, myself included, but it is possible.  When we choose gratitude, we are focusing on the amazing blessings we already have been given by God.  We choose NOT to focus on what we don’t have or wish we had, but instead focus on the great things we’ve been blessed with. 

 

My prayer for all of us is that we wake up each day and do something to start our day that helps us focus on being grateful instead of letting ourselves go into a negative mindset spiral.  Those spirals are very dangerous and I have a known history for allowing myself to experience those.  They are not fun and give no quality of life. 

 

Let us all strive to choose gratitude!

It's Okay To Ask For Help

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/L6Euvcwo9ks?si=QJSZ0k30Dsg8nPNF

“It’s Okay To Ask For Help”

 

For the past several weeks, I’ve had something on my heart that I wanted to share with you all as kind of a different devotional.  I know that I have shared with you all in the past months about my journey the last couple of years with going to therapy and I wanted to share something on my heart about my experience.  Before I started going to therapy, my wife had recommended it to me and I hesitated a lot.  I was scared of what I might face or have to bring up from my past.  We were also having a lot of challenges in our marriage and I just needed some guidance with things I struggled with in my past.

 

After much resistance and hesitation, I agreed to go and I am SO VERY thankful that she encouraged me to go.  I am nowhere close to where I need to be, but I have come a long way since I began my journey with therapy.  It’s been a big God send.  The guy I go to is a Christian and it’s so great that we each share our faith journey and our experiences with the Christian walk. 

 

I wanted to encourage all of you, that if you are going through some hard times and you need to get some stuff figured out, please don’t hesitate and seek out a therapist if you are really struggling.  I would highly recommend a Christian therapist.  If you can’t find a place that practices Christian therapy, then look up someone with a bio that is a Christian and take a crack at it. 

 

Going to a regular therapist isn’t wrong by any means, but I personally believe in having a Christ-centered therapy session.  I know some of you out there are really struggling with things in life and there comes a point when you sometimes just need to talk to someone and get things sorted out mentally.

 

So I’m taking this opportunity this week to encourage you to seriously and prayerfully consider therapy if that’s something you feel you need.  Don’t be afraid and give it a try.  A lot of people hesitate about going and I did for a long time.  But I am so thankful I did and it helps to just talk through things and be encouraged that I’m not crazy. 

 

If you are struggling in life, pray about it and ask God to lead you to someone you can go talk to.  It’s ok to ask for help.  Yes, even us guys need help sometimes!  We all need guidance, whether that’s just a mentor we spend time with or a professional therapist.  I just felt like sharing this with you all and my experience and how God has used this to help me with my issues and my faith. 

He Did What?

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/DmIDSwDCB5g?si=gt2CtnexfOtqma-Q

“He Did What?

Philippians 2:8 NLT

When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

 

We have all had many times in our lives when we are surprised, whether in a good way or bad way, at something someone else does that we would never expect.  We’ve often said, “She really did that?”, or maybe, “ He really said that?”  When someone does something that is totally unexpected, it really leaves us in complete shock and we don’t know what to say or how to react.  The situation can often leave us dumbfounded and with no words. 

 

We all have often put so much energy and emotion into how we react and respond to these times in our lives.  We have easily turned these times into gossip with others.  We can’t believe what we’ve heard or seen and we want to tell others.  It can become the talk of the group or the town.  This could be very good or very bad.

 

This past Sunday, our pastor had a sermon talking about this chapter of Philippians and how Jesus came to do what He did and how unbelievable and amazing it actually was.  What struck me was how our pastor said that we often do routine things at Christmas as we talk about how Jesus came into the world.  And, in general, it’s often easy for us to become desensitized to all the emotion we should have at what Jesus did for us.  It becomes commonplace and we totally miss the real emotion and meaning it should still hold for us. 

 

I pulled up the NLT version and the phrase, “died a criminal’s death” completely captured my attention.  Jesus did not belong on that Cross, we did.  He went up there and died to save us all.  He willingly gave it all to give us a future with Him.  Nothing about what He did makes any sense.  We deserved what He got.  I don’t think I’ll ever read this passage the same again.  He became nothing and died a criminal’s death for us.  He wasn’t a criminal, but He definitely went through all the torture a criminal would experience. 

 

I sure hope that we all experience the real emotion of what Jesus did for us.  It should daily grip us in our hearts and we should take time to remember and be truly thankful.  We should be in awe and be dumbfounded and say, “He did what?”  Yes, He did that for you and for me?  It should leave us speechless every single day.  We should be filled with great emotion and awe for what He did for us.  The world needs to see that raw emotion and gratefulness in our lives each day.

 

What Jesus did should leave us in complete awe every single day and we should be deeply thankful for the life He gives us. 

The Time Will Eventually Come

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

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“The Time Will Eventually Come”

Proverbs 4:20-22 NIV

My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.  Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

 

At my job, we often have computer updates pop up with a message that a restart is needed for updates to take effect.  There is usually an option to either restart immediately or to select a later time in the day instead.  The times that these notices pop up are usually when I’m in the middle of my day and I have multiple programs open, so it’s not very convenient timing for me to close out of everything, restart and then have to open everything back up after the restart.  So, every time the pop up comes up, I keep selecting the longest time I can wait to put off the restart.

 

The options I’m given are usually 4 hours, then 1 hour, then 10 minute segments until finally I am given the notice that I cannot wait any longer and the pop up will NOT go away until I restart.  In the past I’ve tried to work around that pop up and it’s very annoying.  Basically, there comes a point where I can’t put it off any longer and I have to restart my computer.  I’m actually just putting off the inevitable.  I’m trying to wait for a more “convenient” time for me to restart so that it’s not a time that disrupts my agenda. 

 

This reminds me so much of our walk with God.  There are changes that God wants to make in our lives and He wants to improve how we go about our daily lives.  However, so often, we are content with what we are doing and we just want to put things off until we feel like changing.  Or, we keep saying, “just a little longer and I’ll do it”.  Yeah, how’s that working for us???

 

We are all so guilty of putting off the inevitable.  We procrastinate, make excuses and keep going until we absolutely are forced to make a change.  Man, we are stubborn, aren’t we??  We sure are!  Friends, we need to understand that the time will eventually come to make changes in our lives that God needs to make.  These changes are vital for us to live better lives.  We get convicted by a message at church or a song we hear on the radio or by something someone else says to us and we know we need to make the change.  However, so often we just keep going and say we’ll do it later. 

 

Often, later never comes.  And, just like the computer pop up, eventually something will come up in our lives to remind us that we cannot avoid the inevitable.  It would really be better if I just closed out of all the programs, restarted my computer, and went with the changes to avoid future program issues.  Just like life, we need to heed when God says we need a different route or we need to make changes.  Putting it off usually won’t help us at all and can even hurt our relationship with Him and others in our lives. 

 

The time will eventually come, so why not just stop putting it off and make the change? 

Do We Give Our All?

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/-wCfAPMGp1s?si=OkPrwR_9fiKluXtg

“Do We Give Our All?

Mark 12:41-44 NIV

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

 

Recently, for our family devotion time, we read this passage about the widow giving all that she had.  I have read this story numerous times in the past and am reminded of how powerful of a message it is showing us that giving our all in life is so important.  I’m reminded of how crucial it is for us to truly give our all in every single thing we do in life.  So often it’s easy for us to just give minimal in our efforts to various commitments. 

 

I think about the religious leaders and other rich people who felt a sense of pride for throwing large amounts into the offering.  I’m sure they had a puffed up ego feeling all good about their so-called generosity.  However, the widow is amazing not only because she gave the least amount, but also that she gave everything she had and ended up giving more than them! 

 

This makes me consider how often I honestly put in 100% effort into the things I do each day and how much I commit to my relationship with God, my family, church and friendships that I have.  When I consider the widow, I often wonder how God wants me to give more in certain situations. 

 

Guess who else gave their all?  There’s many other examples in Scripture, but the best example every is Jesus Christ Himself.  He literally gave it all.  Just like the hymn, “Jesus Paid It All”.  No one in history could ever give what Jesus did.  Jesus gave His life to give us life. 

 

I think we all need to start asking ourselves each day, “Do we give our all in our relationship with God, in our family, in our church, and other relationships?”  In our commitments, where are we failing to give our all?  Others are busting their tails often to help us and to provide for their families, so we definitely need to make sure we are giving our best effort in everything we do. 

 

Like the widow, do we find ourselves giving our all and being as humble as possible or do we just give a little and feel prideful for at least giving something?  We need to ditch the pride and take a good lesson from not only the widow, but Jesus Himself.

He Wants Unlimited Access

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/Nsd4Nm6Fpa4?si=p4a1uxXd0KR5Icu5

“He Wants Unlimited Access”

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

 

In this day and age, we have so many different subscription plans offering us unlimited access.  When we sign up for a membership, I think most often we are looking for the most perks we can get for our money.  Most phone plans nowadays all include unlimited talk, text and data.  I remember back when you had to pay extra for going over certain amount of calling minutes, texts and data caps.  That’s becoming a thing of the past.

 

So much of what we pay for these days usually provides unlimited access.  We like paying a price and getting unlimited access to the plan we’ve paid for.  We don’t want any hindrances to what we can do.  We don’t want to be restricted.  And, if there’s ever an issue, we are sure to contact customer service to get things straightened because we are a paying customer.

 

At church Sunday, this passage was used and talked about how Jesus charged His men to take His message to everywhere in the world.  He wasn’t just sending them through their town, but to other countries and all over the world.  He didn’t want them limiting themselves.  He wants full and complete access to their lives and to send them wherever he needed them to go. 

 

God wants unlimited access to our lives.  His desire is to send us wherever He leads.  However, so often, we limit Him and give excuses because we don’t feel like doing what He wants us to do or going where He wants us to go.  We always seem to have an excuse to not go certain places where He leads.  We get selfish and don’t want to leave our comfort zones.  But it doesn’t work that way if we are committed to the Great Commission.  Jesus told His men and tells us to go and make disciples of ALL nations.  There’s very inclusive! 

 

Jesus asks us to give Him all access to our lives so that He can send us wherever He chooses.  Are we giving Him all access and saying to Him first, “Yes!  Lord the answer is Yes!  Now, where do You want me to go”?

 

He wants all access of our lives.  He wants to send us wherever He desires for us to go.  Are we willing, ready and available?