Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Matthew 17:20 if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

John 14:12 the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do;

There is a number of areas that the mature and wise follower of Jesus must have balance in his life. When the Bible says I can do “all things,” it doesn’t mean “everything“ or “anything,” it means those things that are God’s will for me. God has put us in a world with gravity, with weeds, and He has put us in bodies that get tired, and sick, and old.

I have a limited amount of time. I have a limited amount of energy, I have a finite amount of wisdom, a finite amount of resources. A very hard truth for me is that I am limited in what I can accomplish. What is an even harder truth for me to accept is that I am now more limited than I was a few short years ago, I am going backward in what I can do in a day.

The acceptance on my part of the fact that I am not God, not even close, doesn’t mean I am going to roll over and resign myself to doing nothing. I will press on, work hard, set goals, dream dreams, and go to bed tired every night. But it does mean that I will steward my time wisely, take care of my body, plan my days well, take naps when needed, take time off to fish, and spend time with family and friends just talking and enjoying fellowship not getting uptight about not getting something done. Every person is a package of God-given gifts and abilities and of God-assigned limits. Any person who denies the limits that we have will live in frustration, they will struggle with feelings of being a failure, and will eventually burn out.

An area of life that is opening up for me more and more as I get older is mentoring and training men for ministry and coaching some who are already in ministry. As I teach being faithful and disciplined to keep the basic spiritual disciplines, to write goals, to press on and work hard, I will also teach the importance of running the race God has given us with endurance and wisdom, and recognizing that the three “R’s” , rest, relaxation, and recreation will be a key part of the endurance factor in our life.