Spiritual Health and Exercise

This past Sunday, I spoke at a Sunday night service about Spiritual Health and Exercise. This mental image came to me when I started to recognize how many individuals around me were becoming heavily involved in dieting to lose weight and exercising to get in shape. How much do we do this with our faith though?
In the scripture of 1 Timothy 4:1-16, we are taught about three main categories of the good servant and his/her progression. We can break it down to the good minister, the godly minister and the growing minister of Christ. Within these breakdowns, we can take it a step further to think about the way these categories are represented and can relate it to the following: Spiritual Nourishment, Training in godliness, and Missions.

Spiritual Nourishment: Especially in verse 6 of this passage, we are told to be nourished by what is right, and that is the word of God. You must choose to accept the nourishment that God provides for you to be healthy in your faith, and use it to be fed. To sustain nourishment, one must habitually take in the word of God and not go to Him only in times of need. To be fed to know that His word is needed no matter how hungry we are for God. Typically, those involved with ministry become involved so intensely with their programs, that they assume the work they are doing and the feedback they receive are all they need to see Christ moving in their life. Even with our other jobs, God's word is often neglected for other priorities on our to-do lists.  I know this to be wrong. Personal time with Christ is how you develop a relationship and learn to be fed with the wisdom God has called you to receive. Those who are fed can feed others, so much cannot be done as a Christian if we are not taking in Christ as our nourishment.

Training in godliness: This is like your exercise routine, except with the focus on making everything you do be worthy of Christ. Genuine godliness is the life of faith strengthened by the training in the word of God. As individuals, we fall into the depths of sin, but by training in godliness, we become aware of those sinful natures and turn towards the only way we should live. In 1 Timothy 4, we learn that some will try to sway us to believe that their should be complete abstinence from food and marriage is not permitted, but this is not the true way of life. As 1: Timothy 4: 8 tells us, these physical temptations can be of some value over time (in the form of general sacrifice as a form of worship), but godliness is the only thing valuable in every way.

Missions: Is this not an urgent matter? How are others to be fed and be able to exercise their faith if they do not know what to believe? In the NRSV version, we are told we will toil and struggle, which means to make every last effort with all of your being to see, feel, and be one with Christ in all that you do.

Good Physical Exercise has many positive effects on the body, but some that are most well-known really relate to how we live out Christ more once we Spiritually exercise. Our breathing becomes more efficient to help us endure longer workouts and this can truly relate to us breathing in Christ more deeply. How can we have a healthy breath? Our bodies will also grow stronger in muscle strength and bone density. This provides a more solid foundation for us to move further with our exercise in places we were too weak to carry on before. God strengthens us when we exercise in our faith. We learn to believe in Him in ways we were too weak to say we could before. Lastly, recovery rates after injury decrease if we consistently workout. During our times where we need healing, do we turn to God to make us stronger? If we build up this foundation in Christ and can cast out physical temptation and sin, and we know Him on a completely personal level, will we know to turn to Him, in times of good and times of injury? The answer is yes.

We are given the fuel and the ability to exercise our faith, so how do we walk as a servant?

Measure our walk- Know the preaching and practices you use to challenge others and be challenged yourself.
Mandate your walk- Reject those philosphies and teachings that do not reflect godliness or speak out against God.
Maintain your walk- Be constantly exercising in your spirituality, through nourishment and practice.
Manners for your walk: Study and read the word of God continually, do not neglect the gifts you have been given by Christ, and never cease to stop loving Him and devoting yourself to God.

Take time to be nourished and exercise. You will be stronger with Christ.

Lots To Do

Sharing my experiences in Miami has been a strong desire, but my ministry agenda has taken me away from the ability to blog. However, it should have been a top priority, because sharing the kingdom of God in whatever way I can should always be on the forefront.

Ministry amazes me. I go into Branches everyday, knowing that I can never prepare fully for what God has in store for me there. How many other places in our life do we feel that way though? As human beings, we continually compete with the clock and with others, in thinking the faster we get things done and the more things we get done, the greater our accomplishments are. I have come to think differently. 

Completing the work God provides for us should fully consume the fibers of our being, and should be delegated by the amount of energy He provides for us each day. Yes, there are earthly deadlines to attend to, but God will not permit those deadlines to exist unless He knew that we could handle it. From my point of view, if deadlines are not met, or work is not completed accurately, it is because we did not let God into it from the start. God wants to be involved in all we do and by dismissing or not acknowledging His presence in all of our words and actions, we can lose sight of the truth within our deeds.
This weekend, I will be in silence for 24 hours with the other DOOR dwellers, on an intentional silent retreat. During that time of silence, we are encouraged to be focused on the words that God has set in our heart, and spend time getting to know why they are there. Take a few minutes this weekend and shut off your phone, close down facebook, and sit quietly, knowing that God is with you, even during those moments of silent action.

A Job or Work?

Most people wake up each morning with schoolwork ahead of them, a 9-5 job with a fixed hourly wage or salary, or are unemployed, about to spend hours searching for that perfect job. My question is, is it all for the right reasons?
In my phone conversation with a lovely friend this morning, she referenced "good work," "a good kind of busy" and "work that was worthwhile" as a description for what I was doing in Florida City currently. I do not think she could have been more correct.
When I first arrived here, I had a job. Now, after 2 and 1/2 months of being here, I have work to accomplish.
When we set out to do the work God has given us to do, it is the work of a servant to Him. God has no set hours to be confined to, but will provide us with the energy we need for that day to get His work done.
I am a big person when it comes to lists, planners, and planning for the future. Recently, with the scheduling I have had, God has shown me what it means to be humbled in doing His work. While I continue to make lessons for phonics, figure out recreational games for the Kindergarten through second grade, and strive to make the high school group a great environment, God has made it clear that I am not supposed to see further than what the light He shines makes visible. His work is timed perfectly, distributed evenly, and encouraged by faith.
So, when your work has its moments of frustration or can seem like it is too much to handle, refocus, and consider asking God for strength and assurance that you can complete what He has given you to do.

The Good Choice Desk

So, patience has been a continued location of growth for me since school began in the end of August. My honest self-evaluation at this point is that I have grown to be more patient, but still have a great amount of work to do in that department.
One first grade boy has been the true test of that patience, in a way that has permitted me to get to know him on a level I did not know could exist. He has shown anger, frustration and sadness towards me many times these past two months, but has yet to go one day without running into me to provide an excessively large hug to start the afternoon. How does a boy of such struggle and internal pain show love so easily?
I wanted to be patient with him, so I had to come up with a way for him to express his anger effectively, without hurting himself or others in the process. With this in mind, I created the "Good Choice" desk, based on the art therapy principles that someone who has pent up emotions should release them in an artistic way. This desk was officially put into effect last week and has changed the life of this child. Typically, playground time ended with sand being thrown or kicked because he did not get the same amount of time on a swing as someone else, and classroom time would sometimes become disrupted with this boy kicking under the table because his blocks fell or he did not like the snack that day and wanted something else. This boy had plenty of great moments in my classroom, as he worked hard on homework and did his best to participate when he could, but these strong, negative emotions seem to give him a bit of an image most of the time. This "Good Choice" desk has changed him.
Instead of throwing sand, he goes back into the classroom and rolls play doh on the desk. Instead of kicking a desk, he puts headphones on for 10 minutes to relax. Instead of throwing toys, he colors pictures of how he feels and shares them with me. This child is making his positive emotions finally outweigh his negative ones.
If I did not have patience with him and faith that this would work, I do not know where I would be. Patient is definitely a virtue and I have a great respect for all those working with children.
So my challenge for those who read this is, instead of assuming the worst of those around us when they appear to be a certain way, ask them why they appear that way instead.

Church Shopping

How do you define your worship style? It was not until I started exploring the churches in Miami that this concept really hit hard.
Since being in Miami, I have been to Branches United Methodist Church, Christ Fellowship Church, Miami Vineyard, United Methodist Church of Coral Gables, and Calvary Chapel. Not one church was the same, which is to be expected, but all of them brought out a different style that made me question how God was speaking to me in a church setting.
When I walked into a church building years ago, my positive or negative impressions would come from the aesthetically pleasing environment, the friendliness of the individuals there, and if coffee was served, it was an added bonus. Wrong motives for finding comfort right? Well now, my main focus above all is the message provided. How is the pastor preaching the word? How is he inviting me into the service? But most of all, how is God speaking through the pastor and the congregation in the service?
This is where style has come in. Each church had a pastor that yelled, or cried, or made jokes, or gave life story examples, but all of them were lacking something for me. No matter how much I was feeling the Lord's presence during worship music while amazing bands were playing or how welcoming the congregation was to newcomers, the message was not there. This is not to say nothing sunk in or there was no depth to the messages, but I was not understanding how the Lord was communicating during that time.
So my question is, do we worship expecting a message that speaks to us, or do we worship with willingness to receive a message that may not be to our "expectations" but could possibly provide a challenge? Coming from the perspective of only worshiping with the narrow-minded viewpoint of everything relying on the work of the message, I plan on revisiting these churches, and allowing myself to receive them with open eyes, open ears, and an open heart.
So, the next time you are at church, be open to the message, and try your best to not be overcritical like I have chosen to be very recently.

Short-handed Ministry

Have you ever worked in a setting and all you could think was, what would I do without my co-workers because I could never get this done on my own? Well, this week was a true test of that. Illness has been spreading like wildfire through my building, and somehow, I have been lucky enough to stay healthy through it all. However, that meant when one of my co-workers was in the hospital, and there were only 2 of us working with the high school kids instead of 3, I had to pick up my game.
This was also a big week for others that I work with to travel. My boss was conferencing until Wednesday, the other head honcho left for a wedding on Thursday morning, and two other co-workers are on a retreat and a vacation. The one co-worker is just getting discharged from the hospital and will not return to work until next week. So, when it comes to elementary school, we have a short-handed staff to oversee the energy-filled children when they come this afternoon. This is where I ask, what am I going to do without this staff?
It reminds me of a quote from Mother Teresa that my mom has framed in her office. It reads "I know God won't give me anymore than I can handle; I just wish he didn't trust me so much!" Do we sometimes or often times think we cannot handle what God provides for us to do? This week I was definitely worried, but even Mother Teresa was worried in her day. God knows how he made us and knows what are particular bodies can handle. He also states in Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." With this kind of reassurance, it should be known to us that whatever we accomplish throughout the day is what God gave us the energy for and knew we would be capable of handling . This week, there were plenty of times where I didn't know what I was capable of doing, knowing I had less of a co-worker resource on my hands, but I challenged myself to go to bed every night, satisfied with what had been done throughout the day. I encourage you all to do the same, in knowing that you were not intended to accomplish any more than that.

American Sign Language and Cramping Hands

Yesterday, I got to experience open house at one of the high schools in our area. This building was unlike any I had been in before, because its hallways were outdoors, and its buildings were labeled by number, which made finding classrooms pretty difficult. My main purpose however, was not to enjoy the scenery the school provided, but start a relationship with the two teachers my Deaf student (well call him Jay) has throughout the school day.
When I first came to Miami, I knew one of my main missions while being here would be to invest a great deal of time in a youth named Jay, who moved from El Salvador in his early teens. He is now 16 and is in his  3rd year of schooling. He is also Deaf. Needless to say, my job was not going to be easy; then again, when is our task for God every easy? This was going to be a true test of my patience and spiritual gifts.
I met Jay in my first week of training and he completed disregarded me as a human being. I started to see how much ASL he knew, and that made him frustrated, to the point where he stopped looking at me and walked out of the room. This is when it got serious in my mind. My challenge was not simply to teach him or tutor him, I had to get him to trust me and my knowledge first! When gearing up for this mission well before I even arrived in Miami, this was a major aspect I overlooked.
Since this first encounter, I have eased my way into his life. He now looks at me when I sign to him and acknowledges the sign he knows, but has illustrated a signing level of a kindergartner or first grader, so my mission is much deeper than I thought.
Meeting his teachers was the final preparatory step that I needed to complete before administering work or tutoring sessions to Jay. Both of Jay's teachers are Deaf and have an interpreter in the classroom just in case. When I entered the classroom last night, and was the only representative for any student in the Deaf Education program present, I almost cried. How could parents not care? How could these kids not get attention at home? That's when it hit me. I am Jay's attention provider and can make even more of an influence on him if my relationship with his teachers and with him grows even stronger outside of the workplace. I spent the next hour signing and not verbalizing anything, except when I forgot a word and had to ask the interpreter what it was. My gift of ASL knowledge was used more than I have used it in quite some time, and led to the teachers asking me to come into Jay's classroom in the mornings, so I can be encouraging to him throughout the whole day. How many times have we needed that attention in our lives? How many times have you said, I just need a constant, or someone who I can turn to for help anytime? We have it. It's Christ. As servants of Christ, we are made to be like Christ, and strive to do as He would in any situation we encounter. As I go about my time here and continue to be in Jay's classroom and his after-school time, I am going to be a constant. He needs it, just like we need Christ. I will make it my mission to be that earthly reminder to him, and hope that he learns to identify with that aspect of me.
After this hour long signing conversation, my hands started to cramp up, and it threw me off because that had not happened in quite some time. But, those cramped hands were a reminder that the work I do as a missionary may not be easy, and it may cause some discomfort or pain, but the end result will be within God's will for me, so it is all worth it in the end.