It's that time of year again when we make weekly or twice weekly trips to Maryville Missouri to watch Jake play basketball. It's about a two hour drive each way but worth the trip as its great to watch Jake play and have dinner with him or just talk with him after the game.
Usually we have a full van of folks with us including my mom and dad, Sherri's dad and sometimes her sister. I like to break the trip down into shorter segments. It's an hour to Hamburg where break out the food for the last part of the trip. Then its 30 miles east to Braddyville which consists of three 10 mile intersections. Lastly its 23 miles south and east to Maryville. It always feels good to complete a segment as it gets you closer to your destination.
I'm doing the same thing with my cancer treatments. I have 3 rounds of chemo consisting of three weeks each. First segment is 4 hours in the recliner taking IV drugs. The next segment is 4 days of drugs through a backpack encased pump. Then a little over two weeks till the next round. Right now one round is done, and I'm in the middle of the backpack stage of round two. So I'm looking forward to getting this backpack off on Saturday at 5:00 PM to complete another step in my journey.
Right now I'm low on appetite and energy. To balance that, I'm high on nausea. You kinda get used to it after awhile but it still doesn't make it any fun. Sherri does a great job helping me get the right drugs at the right time to limit those oozy feelings. I focus on getting through these short segments and am glad to be almost halfway done with my chemo treatments. Time flies when you're having fun!
Thinking about time flying and segments, what if we set up segments or goals for our faithwalk? I mean what if we really determined to do some things to respnd better to all God has done for us. Remember that cross and free gift of grace thing He did? I put together a To-Do list for the time I am off (2 months) from work. What if we did that for our spiritual life as well?
Here's my idea. Why not jot down a few things you'd like to do to or even just try over the next couple months? Let me suggest 10 things to get the party started:
1. Read a Max Lucado book- I liked 'And the Angels Were Silent'
2. Read a Philip Yancey book - I liked 'The Jesus I never Knew'
3. Read the short C.S. Lewis book - 'The Screwtape Letters'. Very insightful.
4. Don't miss church for the rest of the year.
5. Attend Advent services.
6. Attend at least one Bible study- we have plenty to choose from.
7. Read from the Bible a bit every day.
8. Find your old catechism and read a page or two a day.
9. Find a way to serve others and at church.
10. Develop a stronger daily prayer habit.
OK those are just starter ideas. We don't have to wait for the new year to make resolutions. We can start right now to break down our trip to the end of this year, to the end of our lives. It feels good to complete a segment, a task, and we already know that from experience don't we? So let's complete a few for the Lord! It'll make the trip more enjoyable and satisfying! Plus there's something better than a basketball game waiting at the end!
Blest Regards,
kp
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