Friday coffee with PJ

It's Friday!  Hard to believe that another work week is almost in the books!  Go ahead and pour yourself a couple of your favorite java  and join me for a couple of random thoughts.

1.  On Wednesday of this week I finally got my removable splint made for my arm and wrist. It was a rather fascinating process watching the therapist make the splint for me. But I must  admit I would've rather had the experience watching it made on YouTube! What really struck me most when she took off the cast that had been on my arm was just how much my arm had atrophied in the past three weeks. It is a shadow of its former self. She pointed out that once everything is healed with my wrist and arm I will have to work hard at strengthening the arm back to its pre-surgery state.  Now I was not surprised that my arm had atrophied.  That's what happens to muscles when they are not used. What is true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual. When we fail to exercise certain spiritual practices… We experience spiritual atrophy. So for example if you're not praying like you should,  when you do pray your prayers will tend to be weak and shallow.  The same is true for our interaction with God's word. If you're not exercising that spiritual practice you will experience atrophy. So the key to saying strong  in the so-called spiritual disciplines that will lead us to grow in our faith is to exercise them. So how are you doing? People spent a lot of time and a lot of money keeping their bodies in shape.  What are you doing to keep  your soul in shape?

2.  This summer is one that is insisting on sticking around.  We are currently standing at 38 days of 90° or above this summer (in a normal summer we would have 22 such days).  And with the forecast containing at least two more days with forecast highs of 90° we should have no problem hitting the

40 mark (which would tie for 7th place on the "Most 90 degree days" list)! This is been one hot long summer!  But it is September. That means with one turn at the calendar, it will be October. Summer will soon begin  to fade in the rear view mirror of life. That's the way life happens. Summers come  and summers go. And the older we get the faster that all occurs! The other day as I looked in the mirror it struck me that a 60-year-old man was staring back at me. Really? I'm now in my 60s? How did that happen? When did it happen? Well sooner or later it happens to all of us. As the Scripture reminds us we are like grass that flourishes in the morning but fades and withers by evening (Psalm 90:5-6).  Given this reality we all need to be praying Psalm 90:12. "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."  And we need to be living out the Apostle's Paul's counsel in Ephesians 5:15-15: "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are passing quickly." So let's determine to make the most of our time ... living each day for Christ and Christ alone!

Thanks for stopping by,
PJ