Pushing Through

Photo Credit: Ricardo Camacho via CC Flickr

“But I trust in Your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in Your deliverance. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for He has been good to me.” Psalm 13:6

Psalm 13 shows us what to do when we find ourselves asking tough questions like this:

* How long will You forget me? (v1)

* How long will You hide from me? (v1)

* How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? (v2)

* How long must my heart sorrow? (v2)

* How long will my enemies triumph over me? (v2)

All these questions make me think that maybe Psalm 13 was written by an athlete or coach going through a tough season, rough injury, personal performance slump, real loneliness, broken relationship, or a long losing streak. And it’s written to an audience that will likely feel the very same way.

BUT Psalm 13 ends with a great 3-Point Play. Let’s take a look at what’s declared to help us push through:

* LOOK BACK AT WINS. One of the best ways to get through a tough stretch in life is to take a good look back. Note a salvation seen in the past, a deliverance experienced, a victory won. Resurrect the win to trust that it will happen again. He has been good. (v5)

* LOOK UP FOR POWER. Make sure there is a strong, real object to your faith and hope – the LORD. Only empowered ones truly push through. In His unfailing love, God delivers. (v6)

* SING OUT IN PRAISE. A last great way to push through is to find a good praise song and start singing it. Sing out about who’s been good to you. Sing in praise. Let the praise build the expectancy to push through again. (v6)

Pushing through,

Coach Mo

New Body Parts

An X-Ray of Coach Rose’s Knee!!

As some of you know, I recently had a hip and double knee replacement surgery. These were the first surgery’s I have had since my appendix was removed in 5th grade! These 3 joints had become more and more a source of pain and anguish to me. They were inhibiting movement to the point where all the activities of my life (vocation, family time, exercise, house projects and simple daily chores) revolved around what my injured joints would  and would not allow me to do. These new joints (the hip is perfect but the knees are still coming along) I am hoping will increase the activity I can do and take away the pain these injured body parts were causing.
However, there are other parts of my body that often inhibit me and affect my relationship to others and to God that surgery (unfortunately) cannot repair or replace. There have been many times in my life I needed eye, tongue, ear, heart, feet and even partial brain (my thoughts) replacement surgery…

My eyes: watching things on TV or movies or the internet that cause impure thoughts
My tongue: which forms my words, certainly has shown it is damaged many times with mean, angry or sarcastic comments  “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” – James 3:8.
My ears have certainly shown they need replacing as well when I have allowed myself to listen to inappropriate stories of friends, gossip or movies, music or whatever that were not “for the use of edifying”
My heart which has often failed God or given its loyalties to other things (idols of sorts)
My feet: which have taken me to wrong and inappropriate places or NOT taken me to places where I should have gone.
My brain (thoughts) which far too many times have been not been spirit controlled. I could go on and on. I suppose some of these body parts could be replaced too.
Jesus was pretty clear about misused or sinful body parts in Matthew 18: 8+9. FORTUNATELY, Christ’s death on the cross took care of our sin and our imperfect body parts! Yes, science has “fixed” 3 of my joints but it is Christ’s propitiation for my sin that really heals these imperfections in my body and he forgives my sin with my imperfect humanness as far as the East is from the West! May we all trust his faithfulness to us and have peace and comfort by it.

Colossians 3:23, “Do everything heartily as unto The Lord, not as unto men.”