Spiritual Stretching

Perhaps, I have lost the right to talk about physical exercise. My sister who is a Personal Fitness Trainer is far more qualified than I am, but one thing I have learned over the years is that stretching before movement is not a waste of time. It is the stretching exercises that get our bodies ready for the more strenuous stuff which comes after stretching tight muscles.

On the sidebar of the postings I have included a note about another blog called Rick Bonfim Ministries. While I have never had any personal relationship with Rick Bonfim, I have known about him since college. Recently, for some reason I started receiving notices of new postings on his blog. He has a different way of writing about spiritual stuff. His ministry and the way God seems to be at work in his heart is so different than mine. Yet, his recent blog postings have been like spiritual stretching exercises. They have caused me to think beyond the boundaries of my own personal experiences. They have raised questions for which I am not sure I have answers. They make me wonder if I need to be involved in more strenuous work in my personal life with God.

It makes no sense to just do the stretches if we are not going to do the real exercise work. Who does the stretches and then says, "Hey, that was good. Guess I will go back to the sofa now." No, such is not how it works, at least not for those who are moving toward fitness. In the same way it makes no sense to think that the Spirit would lead me to something which feels like a spiritual stretching exercise without the expectation that I would be willing to take the next step. I guess I am wondering about the next step.