Uncertain Time, Certain God

Have you prepared for a journey, studied your map and still made a wrong turn…finding yourself in an unknown place? Confusing, wasn’t it? Maybe even a little frightening.

"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." - Daniel 9:3

In Babylon, the Jewish people were in exile and Darius had just become king. Change, confusion and probably fear were in the wind. Yet Daniel knew the Scriptures; he knew what the prophet Jeremiah had foretold. He had the road map for the future of the people of Israel.

So Daniel did what was his norm. He turned to the Lord. He interceded for the Israelites from his own determined depths. He fasted and put on the clothes of mourning. He petitioned the Lord for His own sake to have mercy on the people and on Jerusalem.

Perhaps change has you befuddled; maybe your neighbor is frightened. Won’t you be a Daniel in this time? Make God’s Word and prayer your norm. As Daniel interceded for Israel, you can intercede with determination for God’s mercy on our nation.

Spend some time today praying for God's hand to be upon our nation, leading our leaders, and reviving the church to rise up and lead our nation back to God and His Word.

Love you all,

Roger

TOE NAILS ARE FOR SISSIES!

That seemed to be the theme for the week as we traveled to the Willamette Valley, more specifically Eugene, OR for the Eugene Marathon, and all the surrounding activities in Eugene.With all the training Sherrill did, with her good friend Judi Brooks, it became a reality; toe nails do take quite a beating in walking or running 26.2 miles in a short period of time.
I also got a chance to stretch my lets out a little, I participated in a 5K run (related to the Marathon festivities) on Saturday, the day before the Marathon. Yes, it took me 35 min. and 43 seconds to run 3.1 miles, but I was glad to have done it under 36 minutes.

But the main focus of the trip, and the majority of our time was dedicated to Sherrill and Judi completing the full marathon (lots of people do a Half-Marathon that same day). It started out a very rainy Eugene day as Sherrill and Judi took off from the starting line.As they progressed through the distance and the day the weather got better and better.
It even finally got so much better that the ground dried out and and they were able to get down to their normal walking clothes.
Finally they came across the finish line in record setting time (for them). They had hoped to finish in 6 hours and 30 minutes. But they did better than that, they finished in 6 hours and 12 minutes, which figures out to about 14:12 per mile. What a great accomplishment!
They were very pleased and excited (especially glad to be done), and we were all very proud of them too. Way to go ladies!It was a fun day, and with all these runners and walkers around, and all the dedication to physical fitness it reminded me of the what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-ff,
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."

With all the hard work it takes to be in the physical condition to do a Marathon, it makes you stop and think of how hard we should all be working to achieve the "spiritual fitness" we are called to be in to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe we can't all get into the physical condition to run a marathon, but we are all called to be spiritually fit, and to work hard, through "strict training" to prepare ourselves for the ultimate crown, the crown of life!

God Bless,
Roger