Last night, out of the blue, I started feeling wimpy. I was supposed to teach my Leadership Class at Agape Family Fellowship at 5:00 pm in Albany, but I canceled it five minutes before starting the class. Patty drove me home, and I jumped into bed. I fully expected that I would recover with a good night’s sleep so that I could come to prayer this morning at 5:00 am. But I wasn’t any better, so I stayed in bed all day and am now attending prayer via Zoom. Zoom isn’t as good as in person, but I can hear everybody’s prayer better than when sitting in the room.

I love our “Five Days of Prayer,” I love hearing people’s prayers, their hearts, and concerns, and I especially love the powerful sense of God’s presence with us as we gather together as the church. As I sit in my recliner with my electric heating blanket over me, I try to identify every person who prays from their voice and pray with them in my mind and heart. I figure out who most are.

I made a goal to fast during the five days, and I think it will be easier now that I don’t have to resist all the food that is brought to the prayer time; I have to get Patty to keep the door closed between our bedroom and the kitchen so I don’t smell all the food being prepared for everyone to eat. It is incredible how my sense of smell improves when I am fasting.

Someone asked me why I was fasting during our five days of prayer. I do this for three reasons. The first is because fasting increases our power in prayer with God, and I would like all the power I can get when praying for people’s salvation. The second reason is that fasting is a huge factor in my growth in the character trait of self-control, and I need as much self-control as I can get. The third reason isn’t very spiritual but important to me. I have a goal to lose thirty pounds in the next six months, and fasting should help.

I ran a 10k five years ago, but the last half-marathon was ten years ago. From 1998 until 2013, I ran 60 half-marathons, about four per year. My fastest one was 2 hours and 12 minutes, exactly 10-minute miles. That isn’t very fast, but it’s not bad for a fat Pastor. I will run a half-marathon on April 6th, and I did my first official training today. I walked/ran two miles on my treadmill at a three percent grade at a 15-minute mile pace, that is, four miles per hour, and when I was finished, my pulse was 125 bpm. My goal is to run the half on April 6th in 2 hours and 40 minutes, twelve-minute miles, but I will be happy with a three-hour finish time, which is 13.75-minute miles, a fast walk.

About six other people have expressed interest in running this same half-marathon with me, or a better way to say it is running in the same event. I want to form a little running group, and all we would do would be to report to each other what we have done in the way of training, like what I did at the start of this blog.

A fundamental principle is that what we can’t do alone is a breeze when we do it with others. I plan on walking/running on my treadmill three times a week, riding on my stationary bike three times a week, and lifting weights three times a week. So, I would email a report of what I did to those in my accountability group once a week. We can encourage and harass each other so that we are faithful in our training. We might even schedule a couple of runs together if it works out.

If you want to be in this group with me, email me at duke@jbc.church. If you want to just run, walk, bike, or exercise for health and aren’t interested in doing the half-marathon, that would be fine as well; the more, the merrier.

It is December; it is time to start writing your 2024 goals. I would love to get a copy of yours.

I watched the University of Washington play the Oregon Ducks tonight in football. I was rooting for the Ducks to win because they would have a chance at the national championship if they did win. They lost in a very close game but had multiple chances to win. There were so many close plays that could have gone either way. As I was watching, I wondered if God would be involved so that one team or the other would win because of His influence. If He did, what would be the reason? Maybe because one team had more believers, or one team prayed more. I firmly believe that God knew who would win, but that doesn’t mean He influenced the game one way or the other.

We as people have freedom and responsibility, and we make good and bad choices that result in rewards and consequences. We are not simply puppets carrying out our pre-programmed roles. God foreknows all that will happen, but His foreknowledge doesn’t mean it will happen or that He caused it to happen.

1 Samuel 23:10-13 Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.

All of this is to say that whoever plays better wins.

I read about the term BHAG in a book several years ago and have used it ever since. The letters stand for “Big Hairy Audacious Goal.” That is a goal that is nearly impossible to accomplish and will take a great deal of effort to achieve. I try to have one or two BHAGs on my list of goals each year. One of my BHAGs this year is to run a half marathon on April 6th in Corvallis. The last time I ran anything over 10 yards was five years ago when I ran a 10K, 6.2 miles, so this is a monster goal for me; a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

I really don’t want to do this goal; the training time, the pain, the weariness, nothing about this goal is fun. So, I guess the big question is, why do it then? I need something to challenge me and make me work. I have gotten a bit lazy, and I use my age as an excuse to enjoy the comfort of my recliner and my bed and spend too much time resting; after all, I am 75 years old!

Five other guys are running it with me right now, so I have this built-in accountability. I have to do it; if I have to do it, I better do some training.

That is the purpose of goals: to discipline our lazy minds and bodies, to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, and to grow by conquering mountains and BHAGs.

I was watching some video footage of rioting and looting in Chicago, and I thought, “Those people have no common sense, no morals, no sense of what is right and wrong; they are basically half a step above animals.” I wonder what God thinks? If, while I was watching a video clip of looting and rioting, I recognized one of the looters as a son of mine, what would I think? Would I save the video and show it to my friends? Would I try to rescue them from that lifestyle?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

What does God think of me now? I mess up a bunch. I do so many stupid, prideful, and selfish things.

Hebrews 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

The best thing about the new and modern compared to not that many years ago is the cell phone camera and the picture album I have on my iPad with the “cloud,” saving billions of pictures if I like. Occasionally, for no apparent reason, I start going through my pictures as I did tonight. I have pictures of our kids as young adults, some of their wedding pictures, pictures of baby grandkids, bicycle trips, parties, fishing trips, hunting trips, vacations, selfies, and just crazy pictures of whatever.

As I scanned through them, I became aware of how much I have experienced and lived through and how old I must be to have experienced all of that. Interestingly, the oldest date I can find on any pictures is 2008. I am only looking at 15 years, and it still seems like a long time ago. When I look at those pictures I get a distinct impression that my life has not been a meandering journey with no plan or direction, but that God has been very much involved in my life from the beginning, and that He must love me very much.

Psalms 139:13-15 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. . .My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Hebrews 12:6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.

Because Patty and I have raised eight children, I get asked to teach classes on how to raise champions for Jesus successfully. In the classes, I am always asked about our view on spanking. I responded, “We tried to parent our kids the same way God parents us.”

Another question I get asked is, “What does it mean to fear the Lord?” I often respond by saying, “Believing that God is a good father and will discipline us severely if we need it.”

One of the pervasive beliefs in the Church today is that because God is gracious, compassionate, and forgiving, there is no consequence for breaking His rules. Because of that common belief, there is an extreme apathy to pursuing holiness as a lifestyle. And because of that lukewarmness, few Christians accomplish anything with their life that really matters for eternity.

2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Proverbs 20:19 He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, Therefore do not associate with a gossip.
Gossiping and slandering are mentioned in the Bible a lot as a sin and are referred to quite harshly. But I bet the average Christian rarely mentions gossip and slander as he confesses all his own known sins to God. I know I rarely think about it as I go over my day in the evening, confessing my sins to God. Why is it that gossip is that sin that we all commit dozens of times each day but rarely think of or remember as a sin that we have committed?

I think slander is so readily accepted in our behavior because it is a major part of our culture; everybody gossips and slanders others all of the time; we hear it constantly, non-stop, every day; it is our national pastime. What we hear non-stop daily becomes the norm, and therefore, not a sin, at least not a very big sin.

If gossiping with our mouths in our conversations with friends and acquaintances wasn’t bad enough, now gossip and slander are a significant part of social media and the news.

A critical command of God to us is to love one another. Gossiping about and slandering another person, tearing down their reputation to others, is about as unloving as possible. However, we do it frequently and easily with little to no remorse.

Psalms 101:5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy.
Proverbs 10:18 And he who spreads slander is a fool.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Conquering this sinful habit would be a good goal.

Proverbs 25:21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

The Duke translation of this Proverb is “Be nice to those who are not nice to you, and God will bless your life.”
The problem is that this is so opposite of what the world teaches, and our flesh believes that we can hardly make ourselves do it as a lifestyle. The result is that we have a lot of conflicts, irritation, anger, bitterness, hurt feelings, and a whole lot of used-to-be friends.

The way to successfully make this behavior modification in ourselves is to memorize Proverbs 25:21-22 and meditate on it every day, and pretty soon, we will start to exercise self-control over our conversations and responses to people all day long, and God will keep His Word; he will reward.

This trip to Idaho to our son Seth’s place for Thanksgiving was a fun event. We had great fellowship, great food, and lots of snow. I went out driving with the boys, and we saw several hundred deer, some of which were monster bucks. Tomorrow morning at 6:00 am, we will return home to our everyday lives and responsibilities.

I look forward to these special events that are a lot of fun. They happen just about once each month, and I kind of focus on the next one when the present one is over. Most of these events include family, fishing, hunting, or just something out of the ordinary.

The ultimate event, though, is entering into eternity with Jesus when I get my new, glorified body, and this life as I know it is over for eternity. With all that is happening in Israel, it could be soon, or on the basis that I am 75 years old and I could die any day. I anticipate my death and look forward to it with great excitement. I continue to exercise and eat right every day, and I have goals set for my life until I am 88 years old, but I would much rather head for heaven than stay here. I will serve Him well and as hard as possible with all of my energy, but if Jesus asked me my preference, I would be out of here in the blink of an eye.

With so many people, their impending death is an ominous and scary event that they fear. I am so thankful that because of my faith in Jesus, my death is the most incredible single fun event coming up in my life.