Sunday, March 03, 2013

Tough Sledding Feb.

My experiment into an 'unplugged' February didn't work out as planned. January had gone so well, that I most likely suffered from unrealistic expectations.

A 28 day month can fool you- you think "it's such a short month, I can do it"- but it is a rough ride regardless. I liken the month of Feb to the Bible books "Leviticus/Numbers"- you know how you do on that Bible reading plan....and then you hit Leviticus and eventually die in Numbers.

That is why I am always saying, don't start serious goal stuff until April, where at least you will have some weather cooperation. April is closer to the Hebrew idea of new year anyway.

My 2013 plan is to take a goal for each month and focus on smaller things. Jan. was a 30 day 'whole food' eating plan that went well. It wasn't about losing weight, and I did discover some super foods that I enjoyed.

It took a while to set on a Feb. goal. For a while, I though about 'flexible Feb.' and even checked out a book on Yoga- but decided that wasn't going to be it.

So that's when I thought of a 'Feb. Facebook Fast' and had a good slogan- 'Take the month to seek His face and read His book without social media- like an unplugged... no posting, no reading tweets, no blogging- I even suspended my facebook and twitter accounts.

It had a good start, I took a good amount of time reading - Tozer's Pursuit of God and spent about 10 days deep into prayers in the Old Testament. I do believe that Tozer is right in a lot of his statements- especially my life:

"Every age has its own characteristics: Ours is an age of religious complexity.
We have programs, methods, slogans… among a world of nervous and frenzied activities- which occupy time and attention but never satisfy the heart."
“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His Presence.”
"The type of Christianity which happens now to be vogue is one that knows the presence of God only in theory."
"It is one thing to know the presence of God positionally- it is quite another to experience His presence in actuality."

But somewhere along the path....about 10 days in- I hit a dead end.

The weather wasn't my friend- cold/rain/cold/rain/- a few nice days in between. I didn't feel well. My exercise was half hearted and I perceived some signs of mild depression. We had some financial squeezings and some family tension as well.

I finally got where I was desperate to just end the whole thing and I actually celebrated the last days of the month....good riddance!

In the end, I'm no worse off...but can't feel like I moved into a better category either.

I think there are several things to consider:

God resists programs/formulas and He refuses to be an expedient.
Sometimes He allows shortcoming and it makes me cling to mercy and grace.
I'm a great sinner.

March is now my pursuit of a half-marathon I have signed up for on April 13. I have some longer weekend runs that I need to push through.

There are some great positives as well:

I'm enjoying coordinating the Briarwood offense again. Found some great technology helps to aid the teaching aspect.

I feel very settled.... there were 3 or 4 job inquiries that came my way this month. I was pleased to say "I'm honored, you have a great position, but I'm not going anywhere"- I didn't even mentally rehearse it for a second.

I'm enjoying the growth of the Briarwood Bass Team- even if it is just baby steps..... I pray that it will get better and better.

It has been good for me to get back on the Sunday School teaching circuit again.

But I would be lying if I said that I don't have some strong visions of things to accomplish....
But these things are in God's good timing and will happen only according to His will.

So I am happy to wait and hope to do much better in March.

February wasn't so much......

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