Daily Grind

Four months of marriage is coming up… A week from tomorrow in fact! I’ve come to realize in four months that there are things about women you’ll never know until you’re married, and none of them deal with sex. When you’re married you still don’t always understand why women do what they do. You just know that they do it. And there is something oddly beautiful about a creature that is absolutely nothing like you.

Had you asked me when we were dating if my wife and I were a lot alike, I would have given you an emphatic YES! To answer that same question today… I’d say my wife and I have some important things in common but in large part are nothing of the same person.

It’s easier for me to see why marriages fail. Not because I don’t love my wife with my full heart but because if I didn’t, or hadn’t taken our relationship serious its easy to see where it all goes wrong. There are things you see and deal with in marriage that no amount of dating can cure. It’s not like I’ve been blind sided by some mystery woman over the last four months… But its much easier to over look small things and character flaws when you’re not living with that person.

The daily grind is something that dating just can’t fix. Trust me, four months ago sex seemed like the hottest thing going… There have already been nights where my wife and I have been bored of it or just not in the mood. Tired of sex would have seemed like an impossibility to me four months ago… And we’ve gotten better at it!

The grind is boring and mundane. Its suffocates you slowly until your panicking for a way out.

The grind is also where magic happens.

Luke 16:10 Jesus is not only talking about money ”One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Jesus is referring to the “daily grind” of mundane tasks and disciplines of our lives. Hes not promising that by being faithful with a small amount of money you’re bound to hit the powerball… But what he is promising is that being faithful, grinding, and pushing, and laboring on, we’ll come face to face with the kingdom of God. A beauty that is nothing like our own. The same way my wife’s beauty is nothing like mine.

Poker Night

Its the first Friday of the month… That means poker. Man, Im really excited about it. I haven’t been able to come in quite sometime and I’ve been awaiting this day for about a month now. Well, probably multiple months… but its only been a month since I knew I was going to be able to make it to this one.

Its great because even if I lose I win. Because I get to hang out with people I enjoy. Its a win-win. Win-wins are amazing because, well, you cant lose. I hate losing. Loosing is about the worst thing that can happen to a man. It just destroys all that pride we like to carry around. Though I guess thats a win in Jesus eyes… I don’t know about mine though. I enjoy my pride. Not anyone elses though. I would gladly spend 5 dollars to hang out with these people. Would you? Not only that There is the possibility I will win more than 5 dollars which is absolutely spectacular. Call me if you want to lose 5 bucks?

Make Friends and Love Them

I was listening to Rick Warren recently and he said something I wish every pastor in the world could hear. Maybe you wont think its anything profound, but I believe it is the key to everything Jesus is about. He was talking about his first years in ministry and after his last sermon on the last Sunday in Saddleback’s first year of exsistance, he took a vacation. After being so worn out, and burnt out, he took sometime to be alone. As he began questioning himself, and letting the spirit talk the Lord told him to “worry about growing Gods people and God would worry about growing Gods church”.

I post this because I absolutely agree. Yet it does seem atleast to me that the popular church questions these days are How many people do you have at church? How do we get people to come to church? How do we reach the masses? How do we grow the church?

Maybe the answer is as simple as building relationships with people. Not passing out flyers, or cool advertising, or edgy messages. Just make some darn and friends and tell em about Jesus. It was always a heart thing with Jesus and if your heart just wants to get people to walk through church doors to hear about Jesus I think your heart is a little screwed up. I think you are destroying a much more beautiful, intimate, relational, aspect of what Jesus had in mind.

Jesus didn’t seem to care how many people followed him. He did care however that the people that did follow him went all out. That they cared about their neighbors, whether their neighbors cared about Jesus or not wasn’t the point. The point is caring about people makes it alot harder for people not to care about you, and care about the things you care about.

Creativity

So I was recently watching an absolutely stunning documentary on the National Geographic Channel about weapons in prison. It was fascinating… Simply because I was stunned at how men and women behind bars find ways to make lethal weapons with things like paper. Obviously, prisoners especially in maximum security prisons like San Quentin don’t have access to much. In one instance a man made a gun capable of shooting a 30 mm round out of the plumbing materials in his cell. Thats Incredible. Thats creativity, ingenuity!

Now, Im not real good at the creativity thing… I’ll just be honest and on some level it kind of bothers me, and it always has… I just wasn’t sure why.

As I was watching I began to wonder how criminals could be so creative. I mean seemingly these people cant be extremely bright… Their in prison and Im not. Then the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. These people are creative because they are forced to be. They are put in elements that leave them no choice but to protect themselves by any means necessary… or die. They know what the reality is. Be creative or be abused.

It made me think long and hard about my own creativity or lack there of. It convicted me a lot simply because there is a large part of my spirit that doesn’t understand the reality of the Gospel. The gospel hasn’t penetrated deep enough to force me into an element of creativity.

Unhealthy

So this year… well, I guess now its last year… I feel like I’ve been sick alot. Atleast twice in the last six months not including the cold I currently have. Im slowly but surely coming to the realization that there is a direct correlation between my health and the amount of excercise or physical activity my body gets. Not to mention I looked in the mirror a few days ago and realized I had gained that pudge in my belly that you can still notice even if you suck in your tummy. This means I have to change. Things weren’t like this last year… I was in shape… I wasn’t sick alot… I ran or biked everyday… even when the temperatures dipped into the single digits. I have exchanged health for a thickburger and Im certainly getting thicker.