Tuesday, December 16, 2008

To run 3 miles...

*I know this is a long post, but please take the time to read it, it's worth it!*

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

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hosea 6:3
Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Anonymous said...

Your sister posted this on her FB...and I'm glad she did. I was convicted!! I saw myself so many times thru your post.
Thanks for the challenge.

Anonymous said...

Got this link from your sister.

Great post! It really made me stop and think about my own priorities. What do I let get in the way of my time with God? What do I place a higher value on. My prayer is nothing will get in the way.

Thanks for the encouragement of your story and the challenge. Awesome!

Anonymous said...

I Timothy 4:8
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Jillian said...

Hi Andrew,
This is Jillian, from church. Just so you know, and aren't wondering who I am when I hit "follow this blog". LOL.
This was a good post with a good messege! Well g2g, see u in a few hours actually, LOL.
Bye, Jillian

Jillian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I have thought the same thing so many times, but i still can't get it through my thick skull that my time with the Lord should be the most important thing in life. I call myself a christian, but i never seem to go through with it. i need to learn just going to church and youth group and praying when things get bad is not enough.

emma jean said...

Andrew, that was a great post!! It really challenged me. Thank you!!

Dawn Davis said...

Andrew,

I can't thank you enough for coming by and showing me Show It Sites! I LOVE the program and I'm so excited to get mine going. But what I love most is you showing me your Barlow Bunch website. I went through it throughly tonight and just fell more in love with your family!!!! You are SO BLESSED...!!!!!!

Thank you again for coming by and enlightening me!!!!

You and your family are an inspiration to me and so many!!!

oxxoxox

~ Dawn