Well I've started my effort to get back in shape. Way back in high school I used to jog around the Missouri Botanical Garden five days a week. When I attended O.R.U. I could run a couple of miles easily. I loved running. I kept at it for a while even after the church got started in St. Louis.
Running was relaxing and therapeutic. I tried to get back into it again after we moved to Pennsylvania, but the trauma of the last few years was overwhelming. I stopped completely and just gained weight and got flabby and heavy.
After my youngest brother's heart attack, Carol and I started taking walks around the neighborhood. It was very therapeutic and healing. We talked and vented. We connected again. That trip to St. Louis to see my brother had been very difficult. We felt raw on the inside after that trip. Walking and talking was healing for us.
Now we've entered a new era in the ministry. We're in a very nice facility for Urban Life Church. We finally have some stability and a regular schedule. I love it. We've had a couple of visitors and we're going through the What NOW book.
We still aren't seeing a leap in attendance, but something profound is happening to me. I feel the presence of God on me all the time. I've started walking again and it's just wonderful. I just walk and pray in the spirit the whole time. There's a trail that goes around a pond in our neighborhood, so I just walk along the trail praying.
As soon as I get home from work, I change clothes and go for my daily walk with the Lord. I can't explain it, but it's like God is downloading into me when I walk. It's too much to try to grasp it all at once. I just know that I'm being filled up.
I know it's physically healthy to walk everyday, and I plan to pick up the pace and eventually get back to jogging and then running. But this is spiritually and emotionally healthy for me as well. I feel the Lord is pacing me. We have a lot of decisions to make. So I look forward to my daily walk with God.
Running was relaxing and therapeutic. I tried to get back into it again after we moved to Pennsylvania, but the trauma of the last few years was overwhelming. I stopped completely and just gained weight and got flabby and heavy.
After my youngest brother's heart attack, Carol and I started taking walks around the neighborhood. It was very therapeutic and healing. We talked and vented. We connected again. That trip to St. Louis to see my brother had been very difficult. We felt raw on the inside after that trip. Walking and talking was healing for us.
Now we've entered a new era in the ministry. We're in a very nice facility for Urban Life Church. We finally have some stability and a regular schedule. I love it. We've had a couple of visitors and we're going through the What NOW book.
We still aren't seeing a leap in attendance, but something profound is happening to me. I feel the presence of God on me all the time. I've started walking again and it's just wonderful. I just walk and pray in the spirit the whole time. There's a trail that goes around a pond in our neighborhood, so I just walk along the trail praying.
As soon as I get home from work, I change clothes and go for my daily walk with the Lord. I can't explain it, but it's like God is downloading into me when I walk. It's too much to try to grasp it all at once. I just know that I'm being filled up.
I know it's physically healthy to walk everyday, and I plan to pick up the pace and eventually get back to jogging and then running. But this is spiritually and emotionally healthy for me as well. I feel the Lord is pacing me. We have a lot of decisions to make. So I look forward to my daily walk with God.
