The date was January 2nd and I had arrived at my local gym: the place was packed and firing on all cylinders.
Shannon, one of the fitness trainers, remarked :
"It's busy today but it will be a lot quieter in February."
She added:
"That's about the time it takes for all those New Year resolutions to wear off."
Jesus pinned it down when He said:
"The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
Today is January 6th. You're feeling good. You've not raided the 'frig, you've put time in at the gym and you've read your Bible.
But how to keep it up?
Well here are a few tips:
1) Write your goals down.
2) Share them with a good friend who will keep you accountable.
3) Reward yourself at the end of each month.
4) Begin each morning with Jesus.
When you get to the end of March write and tell me.
Jubilate
Ian
Yesterday I was speaking of the internationally acclaimed Mallory family who live in my city here in Canada.
George Mallory was immortalised as the man who may have conquered Everest in 1924. We don't know if he did. He was lost on the mountain and his body was discovered, marble white, at 27,000 feet 70 years later.
Dan Mallory is related to the original George, so there must be the same blood flowing in his veins.
When I asked Dan if he had seen the T.V. documentary on the search for Mallory, he replied:
" No,we have never had a T.V. Our family has always been doing other things!"
Yeah, right, Dan. Like climbing Everest and travelling the earth in search of fresh challenges.
Of one thing I am sure. If you and I are to reach those new goals for 2012 we will need to find the "OFF" button on the channel changer and the "ON" button to the destiny of God for our lives.
Keep dreaming but keep climbing.
Ian
This morning the city of Barrie is under a blanket of snow, bathed in sunshine and with a crackling temperature of -20 C: a good time to drop in and see Dan Mallory at his down-town insurance office.
The Mallory family are absolutely unique and have made a magnificent contribution to the rich history of our city.
Dan himself, has scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents and, three years ago, summitted Everest with his three children.
Truly an epic achievement.
How did it happen?
By setting goals and then working to see them accomplished.
His business card reads: "Making dreams real."
Look at the photo of the family approaching the summit of Everest.
Almost there, but getting there ONE STEP AT A TIME.
Let's set ourselves to climb some peaks in 2012, goals that will challenge us to go beyond ourselves in faith; faith that, like Dan Mallory, will take others with us that WE MIGHT ALL STAND ON HIGH GROUND TOGETHER.
That's what its all about folks: not just me, but WE!
Jubilate.
Ian
How about this little cutie? A baby dragon and to grow up he must be fed.
I said in my New Year's post that dragons are a figment of our imagination.
Nobody has ever seen a live one and nobody ever will but to millions of people they are only too real; as real as the fears and phobias they wake up to each day.
Blaise Pascal said: " Many terrible things have happened in my life; most of which never took place!"
What is in the bottle that cutie is drinking?
Well its "Dragon Baby formula".It has some rich ingredients.
Irrational thoughts, groundless anxieties, residual guilt, subliminal anger, worries of every hue and stripe, all shaken up and agitated by today's newspaper headlines.
This formula contains everything but the "Milk of the Word" and the strong assurances of the promises of God.
Here's a New Year's resolution:
"Daily I will read a passage from the Gospels of Jesus Christ."
Do that for a month and I promise you that instead of feeding dragons you'll be trampling on them.
Jubilate.
Ian
The thing about dragons is that they can proliferate. Yesterday I asked whether it would be the Year of the Dragon or the Year of our Lord.
Today we'll briefly look at some of the Little Dragons that are produced by the unfounded fear-mongering of the media and other such types.
Climate change will be one of the big issues in 2012.
Like most dragons it has hot breath, so much so that it is melting the Arctic Sea and the Greenland ice cap.
Of course, if we devote ourselves to even a brief study of history, we will know that Greenland was given its name by the Vikings who settled the South during a two hundred year warm spell between the years 850 and 1050 AD.
A spell that was before the advent of gasoline engines and power stations and can only be attributed to solar forces.
Before everybody rushes to get their life-jackets, remember that the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. His is the Hand on the thermo-stat not the hand of man.
You and I are commanded by Christ to "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" and leave the rest to Him.
The real rise in temperature will come AFTER this present system is concluded.
Jubilate.
Ian
