12-16-08
10:45 PM: …it had been a somewhat typical Christmas break day for me, until now…
7:30: woke up to get the trash out in time and take Johnny to school. Came back home, crashed back into bed.
12:15: Mom wakes me up asking when I was gonna get up.
She then said “did you see that?” and pointed next to me. On my office chair right next to my bed was a tray of what HAD been a hot breakfast in bed about 30 minutes prior.
She said she didn’t wake me up for it because I was in such a deep sleep. J
Well she warmed up the omelet for me, and I ate my breakfast, then rolled out of bed, threw some gym shorts and a shirt on and left for work. (Work being at my desk that is 4 feet from my bed…)
Worked for about 3 hours at which point I had to leave to pick up Johnny.
Well I went outside, and realized that a full scale blizzard had begun, leaving about 2-3 in of snow on the driveway. So I took about 15 min and cleared that, then fishtailed my way over to get John.
Came home, back to work for a few hours, then the kids came in, begging to watch an episode of MacGyver. We took an hour and watched that, then had a family meeting, then I went back to work.
Back to 10:45…
I knew I needed to go over to X-Sport and get on a treadmill, my normal 2-3 hour a day work-out schedule hasn’t been the same since thanksgiving, and I was really feeling the long hours at a desk, and big meals with no way to burn it off. So I decided to get my butt over to X-Sport and put 3 miles in.
Now I just FINALLY got my own room, (which I’ll post about later) so while my room is clean, I’m still missing a few things. One of those things being my running headphones. (they are really nice because they don’t fall out of your ears from the impact of running). And I REALLY didn’t want to be on the treadmill for 30 min with no headphones. So I took about 20 min looking all over the house for them, to no avail.
The thought ran through my head a few times “just run tomorrow…”Then, very determined, I finally decided, heck with it, I’ll run and just pray while I’m running.
11:15: …I make my way out to the car, and as I approach the door, my heart sinks, the in dash display read “Key in ignition”…
Sure enough, I had left the key in, and totally drained the battery.
My car didn’t even TRY to start! I then realized that to add to the problem, I had parked my car at an angle in the driveway turnaround, making it so that there was a snow bank about 3 feet tall to the right of my car, and 2 pine trees to the left. But I was DETERMINED to get over to X-Sport and run!
So I grabbed a shovel, cleared out the area in front of my car, put it in neutral and tried to push it into a better area so I could get a car next to it to jump it.
Well after 15 min of grunting, pushing, pulling, and slipping the whole way, I gave up on that idea.
Now this whole time, the thought kept attacking me “Is all this really worth 3 miles?” But, I was DETERMINED to get my car going and get over there!
I then decided to attack the snow bank to the right of my car.
So I shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled… and after about 15 min on back breaking shoveling, I managed to make enough room on the grass so that I could get a van within range of my jumper cables.
11:59: Finally on the road for X-sport.
When I looked at the clock, I was amazed. I looked back at the hour that had just gone past, and thought about how much effort I had put into getting over to X-Sport! To tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure what could’ve stopped me from getting over there one way or the other…
I then thought about the level of determination that I had been functioning at. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me!
But then, as I fishtailed my way along on my way to the gym, I had a thought that made my heart sink…
How much effort and determination do I put into having my personal time with the Lord every day for a significant amount of time?
How small does something have to be for it to take precedence over that time?
Is it a text? An important work email? A phone call? Hunger pains? Sleepiness? Video games?
I realized how caught up I can get in my “life”, and how sometimes I let that take precedence over the one who gives me LIFE.
I mean COME ON! If I wouldn’t let ANYTHING get in the way of me and the gym (which is such a trifling thing) what on earth have I been thinking, sometimes letting tiny things get in the way of the absolute most important thing there is?!
Looks like I need to get a better grasp on priorities eh?
This leads me to my question to you…
What is it that prevents YOU from getting alone with God? From having that 1 on 1 personal, intimate time with Him? What are those distractions that pull you away from that?
I challenge you to take an introspective look at your life. Your priorities. Your level of determination.
I know I will be taking that look.
If I can do it to run 3 miles, I KNOW I can do it to spend time with my very best friend…
Thanks for reading.
-Andrew
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