"Throw Up" Your Rawkfist

So, I evidently have way too much time on my hands because I caught myself pondering the meaning of life yet again. Only this time, I wasn't thinking about it in terms of some significant destiny I have yet to fulfill. It was more like the complexity and construction of the human body. The amazing way that the human body works.....it really is the trademark signature of our Heavenly Papa.

Last week, I came down with this wicked-nasty stomach virus. It was so bad that I literally could not stand up straight. Without going into too much detail....there was a lot of nastiness involved with this wretched thing.

My wife is seven months pregnant and we have a four-year-old little man, so I was quarantined from my house for two and a half days for fear that I would make everyone else sick. Needless to say, I was hurting. I was sick, I was away from my wife, away from my son, away from my bed, my dog wouldn't play with me, I was throwing up everywhere, I looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame 'cause I couldn't stand up straight........and I had nowhere to go................. So, I went to the only place that has to take you in........I went to my mom's and she made me chicken noodle soup and it was good.

So, I'm on my way to my mom's where my dad was supposed to have left the front door unlocked, as I have no key. I get there and slowly crawl to the front door only to find that the door is locked.........pooh! So, I decided I would lay down in the driveway and wait for him to get there. As I was laying there, I remember thinking......."I'm about to yak." Now, in my youth, I would've been terrified. I hated throwing up. In this case, I hurriedly crawled to the grass and started the process of preparing to vomit. In the midst of releasing my dinner from the night before I was struck with the reality that this is how the human body works. It stinks sometimes - no pun intended - but in all reality, when we have a virus, our body is built to defend itself. Vomitting is a defense mechanism for our body - it gets rid of all the "yuckie's" (as my son would say).

As a child, I used to despise throwing up. I would cry and pray for God to keep me from "being sick." As an adult, however, I'm able to look at things differently. Now it's like, "Look, if we're gonna do this, let's get it on so I can get back to bed." Don't ask me why it hit me when it did - but now I look at it in a very different light.

It really is crazy-wack-funky if you think about the way we, as humans, are able to perform certain tasks. Look at our hands with fingers that just happen to wrap around things enabling us to grab hold and grip. Look at the way our muscles are constructed. The way our lungs work - the fact that we use oxygen. Take the human eye for example......what an amazing mechanism that can only be accomplished by an inventor like my God. Look at pregnancy or child birth....you cannot tell me there's no God.

So, the next time you get sick......don't look at it like it's the worst thing ever.....look at it as a refining process. Your body is refining itself and defending itself from all the "yuckies."

I hate to ask.....but, any thoughts?

Holy Cow, I'm Stuffed.....

I may not be a smart man....but, I'm pretty sure I'm not a complete idiot. Although, I could be wrong. I'm learning more and more each day how stupid I can be. Maybe it's age....perhaps the loss of hair.....or possibly even a pregnant wife. But, regardless, I can tell something is about to give and I'm not sure how it's all going to go down.

It's exciting, I must admit, that I feel in my inner-most being a movement of some sort....I don't think it's gas. It feels more like a time of training. If you've ever played a sport perhaps you'll recognize this feeling. It's like right before a football game and your the quaterback. In pre-game warm-ups, the adrenaline is pumping so much that you have this axious feeling....a prompt to just scream out at the top of your lungs....not out of anger, but out of sheer adrenaline. It's sort of like butterflies but in no way like a nervous feeling! Your self-confidence isn't being tested. If anything it's complete confidence in what you can bring to the table.....but more like a readiness just to get out there and start cracking some heads. It's actually really exciting. There's no pride or self-service involved - it's simply a willingness to put it all out there for the world to see what you've been gifted with. Now, once you're on the field - it's time to rely on instincts and training to pull you through to victory. But, just before the game, that feeling of anxiety races through your veins pushing your very limits to exhaustion.

That's currently where I find myself.

Over the last few months, I have been consumed with a few "missions" I feel God is calling me to be a part of. One is a mission trip to Meru, Kenya in January of '08. The other is a ministry that is still in the praying and planning stages. But, there is a readiness just to be used by God to minister to the needs of people. I've been spending a lot of time just reading scripture and taking note as to what God is speaking into my life. I feel full. I feel stuffed. I feel like I've just spent four hours at a buffet and have eaten everything I can. It's a great feeling.....but then there has to be time to lay back and let it all soak in.

I realize I am probably rambling - it's difficult to keep up with my thoughts on all this. but, as I was reading a few weeks ago, I was struck with a passage out of the Psalms. I've read it a million times and have taken quite a liking to it. But, as I was reading over some notes I had written, this same verse hit me like a ton of bricks. The passage goes as follows: (forgive me, I don't have my Bible in front of me as I am at work, furiously trying to type and keep up with my thoughts)

"Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn; the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." - Psalm 37:3-6

This just seems to speak to me in such a way that leads me to the pre-game feeling of a battle between two rival teams, warfare on the football field - in this situation; spiritual warfare against the darkest team you've ever seen. The epic battle between good and evil.

I guess where I am going with this is that, in order to do your absolute best on the football field of life, you have to work out (read, study, fast, pray). As I look back at my football days, I remember many times working out to the point of collapsing - being so physically tired that I couldn't take another step. Only to go back out the next day and be pushed further past my previous limits. It's the same on the spiritual football field; soaking in as much of the Lord as you can until you have to take a step back - regroup - then hit it hard again - pushing yourself further and further until your spiritual muscles have been trained to the point of being able to act instinctively. When you reach exhaustion it means that you're almost where you need to be - KEEP GOING! Man, there's no feeling quite like pre-game "jitters." Regardless of the final score on a physical football field, you're a winner because you trained like a winner. On the spiritual football field - you're already victorious because, not only did you train like a champ, you have a coach with a phenomenal winning record (having never lost a game), and a winning team behind you, rooting for you, praying for you, and wanting you to accept the authority the coach has given you.

Train hard and win big.....

Thoughts?