So today I spent a better part of three hours ripping ten CDs of sermons of some of our preachers in the Denver Church. It's pretty cool to listen to some of the preachers I love listening to; and how it convicts me when I hear it. I find that when I'm in church it convicts, but not as much as sitting focused on listening to what is said with out the distractions I find at church, taking notes, watching people move around, keeping an eye on the teens, flirting with my wife, etc.
What was cool about the whole process was I had the preachers's name and a date. So I first put those in my player on my computer and then I decided to actually include the sermon titles to each of the tracks. With that being said, I had to listen to each lesson, some times over half of it to get the title of the lesson. Which of course you can not do anything else when you are focused on hearing a preacher say, "the title of the lesson today is..."So the next step is to get a few of these lessons into my little electronic player, so I can listen to the lessons when I ride the bus to and from work.
Ah Ha!
As a spiritual lesson to it, our faith requires this type of maintenance. No one said discipleship is easy, or that it wouldn't take any effort. How many people you know in the secular world go out and just do what their impulse tells them to do? It is not in our nature to be impulsive for God. I find that we are wired to be selfish and seek us first. A disciple recognizes that and make every attempt to turn away. Jesus seemed to be spiritually impulsive, but I'm sure every step he took in the time of his ministry was deliberate and instructed by God.
For me, I fight the urge to be selfish, everyday. Some days the wins are smalls others I just blow it out. Garfield asked in a sermon the other day, where would your rank your spirituality on a scale of 1-10. I gave myself a pretty low number because I seemed to have let more things bother me or just find myself having to fight hard to be righteous in situations. I mean, dealing with some of the guys at the catering company, I found myself angry more often than not, and having to listen to them disrespectfully talk about women, share about how they got drunk or picked a fight the night before, or any worldly things, I found myself just beat up and unfocused on the cross.
I would pray on my way to work the same prayer as I did when I was in culinary school to be humble, compassionate, and patient with them, but my anxiety level just kept shooting through the roof before lunch. This is something I did consider when I took the position at the NoBo Restaurant. For me, my spirituality can not keep taking hits as it was with the catering company. I'm sure it would not have been any different at the DIA Restaurant either. Anyway, I need to get going, keep this all in consideration the next time you feel an impulse coming on.
