Hey, everyone!
Hope your day started as awesomely as mine! Tuesdays are so cool up here under the water tower at 100 Ogden! But if you didn't know what was happening, you might ask the question that some have asked themselves…"What IS that?!"
Here's how it goes most Tuesday mornings…
I usually roll into the parking lot about 6:10 am-ish. There is this thing I want to witness…which if you didn't know what was coming, you could ask yourself the question, "What IS that!?"
First you hear it. It's still dark. Many mornings, it's foggy. And you hear these steps. Several steps. And talking! But it's guys saying to each other, "C'man, dudes! We can do this! 13 more seconds! Almost there! By His strength…! Three…two…one...Down!"
Then you hear clanging and clunking of…you're just not sure what.
Then some huffing, puffing, grunting, and lifting! More walking and exhorting! "Let's do this!"
"What IS that?!"
Then it all steps out of the fog! It's dudes! Several of them! All in a line! Like ducks in a row! 'Cause they're kinda waddling! And sweating! And huffing! And encouraging each other! And you still ask yourself, "What on earth IS that?!"
Then you realize that they're carrying things.
Kettle bells!
"What ARE they?!"
Well, kettle bells are weights people use to work out. Picture a bowing ball. But it has a flat bottom. And instead of three little holes, it has a handle on it you hold on to. And instead of weighing 10 pounds, they weigh 40! Or 75! Even 100!
So far, we know that…it's a row of guys walking (and waddling sorta) along Outer Drive, huffing, puffing, grunting, and encouraging each other…
And then… they turn in the parking lot of Triple C at the green n' white sign! But we still haven't really resolved the question, "What IS this!?"
It's a group of awesome brothers in Christ who meet every week day morning in the Morgan's driveway at the "cultural center of Oak Ridge", 104 Dixie Lane. They meet to work out, physically and spiritually. They lift weighs, throw tires, pound punching bags, read some Scriptures and pray for each other and for the day!
On Tuesdays…and here's the answer to the question, "What IS that!?"…they do the "Farmer's Walk", which is walking up to CCC with varying weights of kettle bells, for an appointment we've had every Tuesday for over four years. We all go in the Triple C office…both the sweaty and non…and we bow our heads and we pray! For each other…for our town…for the troubled…for the weary…for upcoming events…for special problems…and for Triple C…and for you!
A room full of guys who lift up their stuff to God for help.
And I know that there are people who STILL would ask this question: "What on earth is THAT!?"
Well, it's what people who love our Lord…
men and women…
early or later in the day…
all around the world…
who have needs and problems…
and who are often very strong, but not strong enough to handle life on their own…
and who can't solve things or change hearts without God's help…
and who love and need our Savior…
do.
…"What IS that?!"
It's men of God doing what men of God do!
That's what IT is!
This Tuesday @ CCC, for whoever wants to come, we're gonna worship and pray for ministries and for Triple C…
6:30 PM (!)
…Join Us!
(Kettle bells not required.)
A note from Tom: June 18th
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having a day FULLLL of thanks, praise, and just…you know…a day that’s a happy one! “Cause we have a million reasons to be thankful all the time! If you just count all the stuff God has forgiven us for on a day-to-day basis, it comes out to an average of about a million reasons to be thankful per month! Plus, all day today, no matter where you go, in ways that go beyond our mind, according to the letter Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters who lived in Ephesus, you’re “seated already in heaven with Jesus”! I don’t fully understand what that means because it’s too awesome to comprehend! But I AM thankful to be sitting there!
Everything looks better from up here!
For all the reasons Jesus gives us to be thankful, we oughta be dancing down the hall at school, cart-wheelin’ out the door to work, and jumping on the desk, doing the tarantella when we get there! It oughta keep us up at night like Christmas eve used to do!
And yet, it takes amazingly little to put a kink in that dance step. The other day I had this jagged-y toenail that somehow was digging into his neighbor. I could feel it when I was walking down the street. Like every step. You know how it is…
…Step…”mmm”…step….”hmmm”…step…”yikes!”…step…”uuhhhh, I need to fix that”…step…”owww! That kinda hurts!”…step…”wonder if it’s bleeding”…step…”That’s gonna drive me NUTS!!”...step…”DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!!”...step…”HOWAMISUPPOSEDTONOT THINKABOUTIT!??”...step…
Just takes a toenail to dominate your thankfulness!
Last week, I was thinking about how little it takes to deflate my praise because I was reading some stuff by Joni Eareckson Tada., whose heart knows how to praise no matter what! Maybe you know who she is. You should. She is amazing! At seventeen, she broke her neck, diving into a too shallow Chesapeake Bay. She’s been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair since ’67. At the beginning, she didn’t know how…or, if…she could make it through each day. Her desperation prayer…”Lord, if I can’t die, help me to live!!”
Wow! Has she ever!! She learned to paint with a brush between her teeth… she’s written 35 books (which rock!)…“Joni and Friends”, her international ministry to the disabled, has served thousands in hundreds of countries…and her radio program is heard on 1000 stations! She’s been on Presidential advisory boards and U. S. State Department commissions.
If a raggedy toenail messes with my thanks, what if you couldn’t use your whole body below your head? Joni decided to praise Jesus!...No matter what!
The other day, I was reading something that she wrote about the first moments she’ll spend in Heaven, suddenly enjoying a new, WORKING, glorious body. She was reflecting on the first things she’ll do… things she hasn’t been able to do from her wheelchair all these years. “Will I dance like I haven’t in forever? Will I jump up and down and then leap into my Savior’s arms? ”, she wondered. And then she mentioned a conference she attended. The speaker asked everyone at the end of his talk, to slip out of their chairs and quietly kneel on the floor in a few moments of worship. She said that as she looked over the room, the only one sitting upright in her chair she couldn’t abandon, she wept. Not for loneliness of being the only one excluded from adoration’s posture, but for the beauty of a room full of kneeling.
“The first thing I’ll do when I have a body that is made new won’t be running, or jumping, or dancing. The first thing I’ll do when I see Him is…kneel.”
Me. too.