ASH WEDNESDAY - First Day in my 40 Day Plan

DAY ONE:

1. Make time every day to pray and meditate. They provide us with daily fuel and meaning for a busy life.

Okay, now I'm not going back into my previous postings when I first started this, because today is a different day and I am in a different place and time.

This first tip actually goes well with a goal set by Sr. Pastor Craig Groeschel in the recent Message Series "The Vow" at LifeChurch.tv. His challenge was to spend time each day just talking with Jesus (aka prayer), preferably with spouse for those who have taken the vows of marriage.

I've been encouraging my nephews to "talk" with God more, especially when faced with difficult decisions. One of them I've asked to stop when he thinks he might be making a wrong choice and just "think it over" with Jesus. He's going through some difficult times right now and yet he's so devoted. On my birthday card he wrote: "Jusus Rocks" - well, I knew what he meant.

So now I have my alarm set for two times in the morning - 15 minutes apart. The first alarm takes me from beautiful dreamland into the arms of my Savior. There I start by thanking him for a chance to spend another day in ministry and for every opportunity he gives me. Sometimes, however, I fall back asleep, thus the second alarm.

But just thinking as I'm writing this, I had the best opportunity today! One of the fellows here at my new job stopped to chat. What an awesome God moment! At the end of our chat he suggested that maybe I'd invite him to my church some time. Well, of course I will!! So my goal is to see if there is a church between OKC (me) and Norman (him) that uses Pastor Craig's series. There's a name for those churches but I just can't think of it. There's hundreds around the world. Or maybe he will travel the distance to South OKC campus.

Ok, so did YOU spend time today to pray and meditate? Did you accept the challenge to do this for even just 10 minutes every day?

My long term goal that I'm encouraging my nephew with is to spend every moment with God. In that there will be no decision made, no word spoken, no thought processed that I haven't consulted with God first. Guess that's pretty much every Christian's goal. And God's challenge to us. Will you accept God's challenge?