Cathy’s Corner

I began riding my bike to work back in August and kept it up until about the first of November. That was when I discovered I had hip bursitis. Bottom line is it happens a lot to MIDDLE AGED WOMEN. I was thrilled to learn I was considered middle aged and it almost made it worth the pain. It is caused from getting older (of course) and repetitive use of that joint, i.e. riding a bike. The only way to get better is to stop the repetitive motion and stay off your hip for a while. So while I couldn’t stay off of it completely I did not ride through the winter, which works out because I don’t care for the cold. I started riding again the first of March but have slowly worked my way back up to four days a week. I really enjoy riding but it does make it challenging as far as being ready for work when I get here. I get my clothes ready on Sunday afternoon and bring them to the church and put them in the closet in my office. I have the necessary items needed to get ready for the day and I get here early so I’m ready to go by 9am.

Here is what I’ve discovered about riding a bike again. I have equipped it with a light in front and back, a side mirror to see behind me, and an odometer thing to tell me how far I’ve gone, how many calories burned etc. I have noticed that the tires need to be aired up regularly otherwise it makes it harder to ride. When I first started I had to build up to riding again because it had been probably 20 years since I had ridden. Riding my bike everyday has built up some muscles and made my legs stronger. I ‘m getting in better shape physically but now I just can’t overdo the whole hip thing. Now while I can’t go everywhere I want to go and it takes me longer to get where I am going, the scenery and weather is usually very nice. I’ve had to adjust how I do things; like run my errands on the weekend and make appointments when I do have a car. I actually have ridden by bike through the drive through at Walgreen’s (It won’t ring the bell. You have to knock), been to the bank, gone to get my haircut at Shelton’s and gone to the store. This week I went visiting on my bike and made three stops and two of those families were home.

So I started thinking one morning riding to church about how riding a bike and reading God’s Word were similar. Reading my Bible everyday makes me stronger spiritually like riding my bike makes me stronger physically. Every time I ride my bike I am building more muscle and endurance just like every time I read God’s Word I am building my faith and my spiritual endurance. Trying to ride my bike without enough air in the tires makes my ride a lot more difficult just like trying to get through my day is a lot more difficult if I haven’t filled myself up with God’s Word. Taking my ride nice and easy and not trying to rush allows me to enjoy the freshness of the morning. Taking my time reading God’s Word and not trying to rush through it allows me to see what He wants me to see and gives me a fresh new perspective for the day. Just like adjusting my schedule, reading God’s Word has caused me to have to adjust things in my life when He shows me something I need to do or change. Unlike riding my bike, God’s Word takes me places I never thought possible. I have learned a lot about myself from riding my bike and God shows me so much about Himself every time I get into His Word.
Have a great day in the Lord

Cathy’s Corner

These past few weeks Ive been a part of a Bible study with some ladies on staff at our church. Most of us don't get to attend a small group study on Sunday so we are doing one together during the week. It is called Discerning the Voice of God by Priscialla Shirer. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this study and how much God is showing me. I love getting up every morning and getting into God's Word to see what I'm going to learn that day. I can't say that I have always felt this way as it has come and gone over the years. That's not God's fault but mine. God never moves away from us, He's always right there waiting for us to come back to Him. He may be silent at times but He's still always right there. I love how God shows me something and then He confirms what He was saying to me through something else I read or something someone elese might say. That's one of the things in this study that God is teaching us, how to recognize when He speaks. It is up to us to listen to Him and for Him. We can't do that when we never let ourselves slow down and be still before Him. He showed me something this past week and then confirmed what He was saying to me through one of my daily readings in Oswald Chambers. I thought I'd share it with you.

The Collision of God and Sin – Oswald Chambers
“…who himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree…’ (I Peter 2:24).

The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross – He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right standing relationship with God. He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus – He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He “is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev.13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him … to be sin for us…” (I Timothy 3:16; II Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is because it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.

What an absolutely wonderful loving Father we have in heaven. He wants a realtionship with us and He made a way for us to have that through His Son Jesus Christ.

Cathy’s Corner
I’ve been pondering something this week and truth be told for quite some time now. How do you find time for all of the things and people in your life? Yes I know that’s no new question and none of us can seem to fit in everything and everyone into our busy lifestyles. But I’m serious? I meet people all the time or get involved in a particular project and spend some time with someone and would really like to get to know them. It is an acquaintance not a relationship. I really would like to spend time with them and get to know them but I never seem to have time to fit it into my schedule even though I keep telling myself that I will. I even tell them when I see them let’s go to lunch sometime. Sometimes these are people I know could use a new friend or could use someone to talk to even if it doesn’t turn into a relationship. I mean well but it just doesn’t seem to happen. I think about them, I tell myself I’m going to call them and then days and weeks go by and I see them and I am reminded I haven’t done it. They don’t know it, I don’t think anyway, but I do and then I want to kick myself because I feel like I should have called at least. But then I think about the relationships I have that I haven’t been working on either and I think “How can I start something new when I already don’t have time for the people in my life?” One of my daughters said the other day that she knows if she wants to talk to me she has to call me or she won’t hear from me. I felt so bad. She said it was okay because she realizes that is the way I am and that I get busy and just don’t ever stop. We will email or text or a quick word on the phone but she’s talking about a real conversation. My kids are now spread out from the East Coast to the Gulf Coast and in between. Just keeping up with them is a challenge and I’m not doing a very good job of it. All they want is some quality time and all I have to do is figure out how to give it to them, definitely no easy task.
Compare all of this to our relationship with Jesus Christ. There are lots of people out there that have busy lifestyles. They want to get to know Jesus and they want to spend time with Him but they can’t seem to fit Him into their schedule. They keep telling themselves they will and they know they could use a friend or someone to talk to and they mean well but it just doesn’t seem to happen. They get so busy and they let days and weeks go by and then something happens that reminds them that they haven’t spent time with Him and they could just kick their self. Jesus thinks about all the relationships He has and He desires a relationship with everyone of us. He can never have too many friends and He always wants to work on our relationship with Him. He wants to spend quality time with us, not just a prayer thrown up here or there, not just rushing through a Bible verse in the morning. He wants a real conversation with us; He desires quality time with us. He’s available not only from the East Coast to the West Coast or from the North to the South but to everyone everywhere all over the world. It isn’t a challenge to Him and He has it already figured out if we will just spend that time with Him. I’ve been working through a Bible study called Discerning the Voice of God with some of our ladies on staff at the church. It has been such an eye opening study to say the least and I love what God is showing me. I can’t wait to meet Him every morning to see what He is going to show me. Hopefully strengthening my relationship with Jesus will give me the wisdom and insight I need to know how to spend quality time with all of the important people in my life, not to mention maybe making some new friends and relationships along the way.

Have a great day in the Lord.