a new ab machine

I think one of the things I enjoy doing most in life, besides attending GCC, helping out with it's ministries or reading through Ephesians, is exercising. I enjoy it so much because I have so much built up energy that I just need to release. Maybe it's that time of life I'm going through, not quite sure, but it just feels good to vent all of the energy I have on my weight machines. My favorite part of my exercise routine has become my abdominals. I don't know why, but over the past two months, I have become obsessed with toning and mastering the art of ab workouts. I have seen many parallels between my exercise life and my spiritual life. I saw one yesterday that was so blatant that I just have to write about it today.

My gymnasium received a new ab machine last week. It's awesome, you sit in this chair and bounce all over the place while your abs are being stretched . . . trust me, it's cool. When I approached the machine, I thought, "Okay, I'm a professional at abs, have been for years, this machine . . . it is nothing to me". I sat in it, it seemed easy, however, by the same time the following day I realized that I had jumped to an unfortunate conclusion. Yep, my abs were hurting, so bad that I was hardly able to sit down straight (you know how you kind of bend to the side as you sit, yeah that was me).

The point that was presented to me is this: Sometimes I think I am an expert in a particular field, only to realize that I'm not, that it has become a painful process, and God is intent on growing me in that area.

In the past I would sometimes think, "Well, the going's getting tough, so it must not be God's will that I'm here". I have since learned that this is completely unscriptural. Now I believe that Christians should live above life's circumstances, not be guided by them. I once heard a motivational speaker say, "You may have to set sail by the tide, but you'd better be guided by the stars." It's true that circumstances may have an effect on my plans, but I have a far greater accountability to God. I must follow Him, not the tide of circumstance.

Each time I go back to that gym, I face off with that machine, as if it's my arch-nemesis. I have now put that painful machine in my exercise routine three times a week. Hopefully, given a little time, the pain will turn to strength!

I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am
~Phillipians 4:11