Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies
The Great I AM
I AM with you
I AM says you are OK
I AM the Good Shepard
I AM your healer
I AM the rod and staff that protects you and guides you
I AM with you in the valley
I AM going through with you
I AM in you
I AM faithful
I AM your anchor in the storm
I AM your strength and refuge
I AM your peace that passes understanding
10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” (Psalms 46:10 NLT)
Every once in a while when I’m reading something a sentence or couple of words really grab my attention. I’ll typically stop dead in my tracks and re-read the section several times and ponder the impact I’m feeling.
This can happen when I’m reading a book, a devotion, or more frequently when I’m reading a Bible passage.
Today, while reading Psalm 147 I got to the end of verse 7, the last few words “… for You are good to me.”.
Yesterday and to a lesser extent this morning I’ve been in a bit of a funk. When I read this and reflected on how good God has been to me over the years it really lifted me up and raised my spirits. I felt significantly better after reading those 6 simple words.
God, you are good to me.
41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” (Matthew 26:41 NLT)
I read some things about goal setting a while ago that goals should be like a Lighthouse, something to guide you, to help you make course corrections and not as a destination. One analogy was if you had a goal to “run a marathon” that might be considered a “destination”. Once you achieve it you’ve “arrived”. Verses “get healthy” more of a Lighthouse goal, that may well involve running a marathon, but would allow for other options to achieve the goal and for “course corrections”.
It seems like a “course correction” is in order these days.
Earlier in the year I set a goal when I was feeling awesome and the world was more normal. Maybe not a pure Lighthouse goal, but something I really wanted to try to do and something I thought was within my reach to achieve. It was about my cycling. 2018 was not a good year for my cycling but 2019 was pretty good. And, over the 2019/2020 I was training indoors quite regularly and doing the Wednesday FROG ride outside through the winter, regardless of the tempertures.
I was using a combination of Zwift and then some Sufferfest for an additional challenge. Then I discovered Xert (Canadian eh!) and started getting serious with a formal training plan to reach my goal.
So, what was the goal? “To ride with the FOG “B” group by April 15, 2020, full distance (~95km) and not get dropped on the 206 hills”. That last part was the challenge, “not get dropped”. Once upon a time I could do it, and I wanted it back. With this in mind, I set my Xert training plan to get there:
Here is the setup for being ready by April 15 for the first potential group ride, which is totally not happening this year. Fairly aggressive training for me anyway.
And the modified goals thanks to Covid-19 and my current health challenges. A more relaxed training plan that I’m hoping to maintain. More course corrections may be required.
Basically this is a switch from “peak” training to “maintenance” and planning for some good relaxed group rides late in the season, in town and hopefully around the Kenora area.
Wishing all my ride buddies all the best during these challenging times. Ride On, and be safe.
A sky shot I took at the lake last summer combined with a little Photoshop work, nothing fancy.
A while back in March 2019, I started to get some ads for Inkbox in my Instagram feed which caught my attention. I’ve never been interested in getting tattooed myself, but this #tattosfornow seemed like a way to experiment without the big commit. So I tried one out.
The tattoo was fun and it looks quite real and I didn’t tell people it wasn’t, at least not right away. 😉 It faded away in a little over a week. Experiment over.
Fast forward to March 2020 and I’m doing some bible devotions and come across this scripture.
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
Hebrews 6:19 New Living Translation
For many reasons, now is an extra important time to have my hope anchored firmly in Jesus Christ so this scripture really hits home for me. Perhaps for you too during this Covid-19 pandemic. And, as the mind does, one thing leads to another and I remember a song.
More that 20+ years ago some good friends introduced us to the singer Ray Boltz and his Concert of a Lifetime. In the concert he performs “The Anchor Holds”. The concert was back in the mid ’90s but still worth a watch.
As a relatively new Christian at the time all the songs in the concert were quite impactful, especially “The Anchor Hold”
Flash forward to the present day and now I’m thinking about getting some more Inkbox tattoos. On their web site I had previously “favourited” a couple that I thought would be potentially good to “try on”. Here are a few I’ve considered.
Turns out the with all my thoughts around my anchor, Jesus, I’m test driving this one.
I’m strongly thinking of making this one permanent when the world returns to whatever the new “normal” will be post-Covid-19 and tattoo parlours are once again open.
I think it will be a great reminder for me that my hope, faith and trust is anchored in the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
I’ve had some interesting times experiencing the lowly highlighter. Let me explain.
Remember your school days when you might have used one of those yellow highlighter pens to markup your notes with things you though we’re important to learn or remember? Perhaps you used a pencil to underline stuff for the same reason.
Skip forward a few years, quite a few years in my case, or perhaps you’re a digital native, and you’re used to highlighting electronically in an app. My most recent experience with highlighting is with the awesome youversion. Go ahead check out the app right now, I’ll wait ?
So, for a while now I’ve been reading the Bible and doing devotions with associated bible verse readings using youveraion. When I hit a verse that was especially impactful I’ve used the tool to highlight the text like this.
Over the last few days some of the devotions had reading to support the devotion writers message with the truth of God’s Word. As I’m doing the reading some of the verses pop up with highlights that I added months or years ago. This has been surprisingly helpful and encouraging as I’ll take extra time to reflect back on why I highlighted this particular verse.
I used to think marking up the Bible was just a so-so thing to do, not anymore! Give it a try! You’ll like it. Give it some time, at least a few months, long enough to have the highlighted verses pop up. Or, alternatively you can choose to review your highlights at anytime. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
“You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.”
Psalms 119:73 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/psa.119.73.nlt
Rejoice because of the Lord, even in the midst of the storm. It does not mean that we do not care about our problems, instead, we are strengthened to face them so that God can open the ways and lift us up.
Psalm 37:4-5
