Feb 10

FIT:
45 min strength. Fewer push-ups than usual. 6 inches tough, maybe w/ more leg muscle mass to handle, maybe from the 3 weeks it's been since the last jl strength session.

FAITH:
After about a 2-month drought of intentional devo's, I started John today. Some stuff like quiet times, shouldn't necessarily be done based on feelings. There'll be a million things pulling you in other directions, but like Doc Fullterton asked a young Dr. Chen, 1) do you know the Lord? 2) do you love him? 3) with all your heart? Using an analogy from Hind's Feet in High Places, sometimes the mountain is veiled by fog, and it's just so difficult to see, but you know it's there, and you know that it's wonderful. What's there to lose (5 minutes) vs. what's there to gain (sitting at the feet of Jesus with an open heart)?

Two things toward the end of the first chapter struck me: 1) Isaiah 53 describes Jesus as having "no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him." Yet, there's something about him that at the very command "follow me," his disciples-to-be leave the livelihoods they had known their whole lives and followed him. Imagine being met by Jesus with such a striking spirit about him. 2) Nathaniel confesses that Jesus is the Son of God when Jesus says that he, having never met Nathaniel before, had seen him under a fig tree. Jesus knows all of us intimately, from before we were called to today. He sees us and knows our hearts. He understands and loves and wants to help sanctify us. We are no strangers to him.