Showing posts with label 168. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 168. Show all posts
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
168-One Day
This week at h2o, we continued our series, 168, we looked at the number not just as the number of hours in a week, but the number of hours in a day. Each day we spend about 16 hours awake and 8 hours sleeping.
As one breaks down the routine of the day (again taking averages), one comes to the conclusion that our days are extremely busy. If you work full time, you will work about 9 hours each day. I you eat, you take about 2 hours of your day for your meal times. That leaves 5 hours a day to work with. But then the average person can eat up an hour with showering, picking out what to wear, and taking care of hygiene stuff. (Especially in a fashion conscious society like ours.
Then the average american watches about two hours a night of TV. So that brings us to two hours of time. After that, we have IM, myspace, and facebook to consider along with exercise. If you factor in 15-30 minutes for surfing the web, and 30-45 minutes for exercise, that brings us down to one hour/day.
During that time we can squeeze in time with scripture, hanging with friends and family, involvement in a Bible study, and working toward world peace.
At the end of our day, we have very little time. So it's important how we use it.
My friend JR Woodward shared a redemptive concept with me a few years ago in an article he wrote. He had read about a group of people in their 80s and 90s and they were asked if they had their whole life to live again, what would they do differently.
Overwhelmingly, they said three things. They would . . .
Risk More
Reflect More
Give their lives to things that will go on after they die
That article had a significant impact on my life. As a result of it, I am more conscious of the decisions I make, and I am not afraid to take risks. As a result, I also carve out time each day to reflect on what God has done in my life and the lives of those around me. And finally, I am reminded daily that I want to be giving my life to things that will go on after I die.
As you read this, I want you to consider (1) healthy risks that God might be leading you toward, (2) places in your day in which you could slow down, and (3) what are you giving your life to? There are things that matter, and there are things that in the grand scheme don't at all. In the words of Maximus from the movie "Gladiator," What we do in life echoes in eternity. What will be echoing through your eternity?
As one breaks down the routine of the day (again taking averages), one comes to the conclusion that our days are extremely busy. If you work full time, you will work about 9 hours each day. I you eat, you take about 2 hours of your day for your meal times. That leaves 5 hours a day to work with. But then the average person can eat up an hour with showering, picking out what to wear, and taking care of hygiene stuff. (Especially in a fashion conscious society like ours.
Then the average american watches about two hours a night of TV. So that brings us to two hours of time. After that, we have IM, myspace, and facebook to consider along with exercise. If you factor in 15-30 minutes for surfing the web, and 30-45 minutes for exercise, that brings us down to one hour/day.
During that time we can squeeze in time with scripture, hanging with friends and family, involvement in a Bible study, and working toward world peace.
At the end of our day, we have very little time. So it's important how we use it.
My friend JR Woodward shared a redemptive concept with me a few years ago in an article he wrote. He had read about a group of people in their 80s and 90s and they were asked if they had their whole life to live again, what would they do differently.
Overwhelmingly, they said three things. They would . . .
Risk More
Reflect More
Give their lives to things that will go on after they die
That article had a significant impact on my life. As a result of it, I am more conscious of the decisions I make, and I am not afraid to take risks. As a result, I also carve out time each day to reflect on what God has done in my life and the lives of those around me. And finally, I am reminded daily that I want to be giving my life to things that will go on after I die.
As you read this, I want you to consider (1) healthy risks that God might be leading you toward, (2) places in your day in which you could slow down, and (3) what are you giving your life to? There are things that matter, and there are things that in the grand scheme don't at all. In the words of Maximus from the movie "Gladiator," What we do in life echoes in eternity. What will be echoing through your eternity?
Sunday, January 13, 2008
168: One Life
While I was in North Carolina at the Faithwalkers Conference, i took this photo of a cross that also served as multiple cell phone antenna's function and form at their best.
I thought it was an appropriate image to correspond to the first blog of our new series at h2o 168. The first message is One Life. The series started as a thought about what we do with our time. We have 168 hours every week to use to glorify God or to focus our energies on something else. The average lifespan of a human being on the earth is about 68 years, so we thought that the first week it might be good to talk in a broad sense about our life and what each of us is living for as a priority.
Psalm 90.12 says, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." In that spirit, we began our series by examining how many days we have in this life.
We have one life to live. If we live to age 68, the average person will spend one third of that life sleeping. (approximately 23 years). That's if they get 8 hours of sleep a day during their 24,820 days.
The remainder, approximately 45 years of our life are what we spend eating, drinking, watching tv, going to school, going to work, and spending time with friends and family among other things.
But the goal of all of this time, all 24,820 days, is to learn how to make God the number one priority. So that He informs our leisure, our study, our work, and our conversation. In essence, so that we live all of life for His glory.
One of the best first steps to seeing that become a reality is to make time with God a priority. When our days become crowded, our time in scripture and in prayer seem to take the hit before anything else. So the first step is to change our priorities and make time with God number one.
We can do that by spending time in His Word as well as in prayer.
In the words of the missionary Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." When God is the priority, everything else in our life falls into it's proper place.
As 2008 gets under way, I want to encourage you to make that your goal for 2008--begin the transformation. You only have one life, and, if you are fortunate, you might have 68 years. Make them count for Christ.
I thought it was an appropriate image to correspond to the first blog of our new series at h2o 168. The first message is One Life. The series started as a thought about what we do with our time. We have 168 hours every week to use to glorify God or to focus our energies on something else. The average lifespan of a human being on the earth is about 68 years, so we thought that the first week it might be good to talk in a broad sense about our life and what each of us is living for as a priority.
Psalm 90.12 says, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." In that spirit, we began our series by examining how many days we have in this life.
We have one life to live. If we live to age 68, the average person will spend one third of that life sleeping. (approximately 23 years). That's if they get 8 hours of sleep a day during their 24,820 days.
The remainder, approximately 45 years of our life are what we spend eating, drinking, watching tv, going to school, going to work, and spending time with friends and family among other things.
But the goal of all of this time, all 24,820 days, is to learn how to make God the number one priority. So that He informs our leisure, our study, our work, and our conversation. In essence, so that we live all of life for His glory.
One of the best first steps to seeing that become a reality is to make time with God a priority. When our days become crowded, our time in scripture and in prayer seem to take the hit before anything else. So the first step is to change our priorities and make time with God number one.
We can do that by spending time in His Word as well as in prayer.
In the words of the missionary Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." When God is the priority, everything else in our life falls into it's proper place.
As 2008 gets under way, I want to encourage you to make that your goal for 2008--begin the transformation. You only have one life, and, if you are fortunate, you might have 68 years. Make them count for Christ.
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You see, most of us, if we are honest, live life without any margins or spaces. We are running from event to event, meeting to meeting, and person to person without taking any time for rest or refreshment.
If we aren’t careful, our lives become more about what we do than who we are. That’s a big part of why God instituted the Sabbath. One day during the week, we can set apart to be refreshed and be particularly reminded that our identity doesn’t come from what we do.
It’s pretty funny, in a sad sort of way, the lengths we will go to justify not having a day that is marked as Sabbath—a day of rest. Many of us feel like we are too busy to take a Sabbath, and that there is too much work to be done to merit a break. And yet, keeping the Sabbath is one of the ten commandments.
Most of us would never dream of justifying murder, or deception, or covetousness, or even aldultery. But we regularly ignore this practice of Sabbath, and the saddest part of it is that Sabbath provides us the best opportunity to engage in many other spiritual disciplines so that our lives look more Christ-like.
Sabbath is a great day to fast, or to spend time in solitude or silence. It’s a great time to spend living more simply, because we aren’t trying to keep up with others. We aren’t trying to keep up with anything really.
To spend a day completely at rest—can you imagine it? Can you imagine what God would reveal to you about yourself if you could unbusy your life for one day, and spend it being intentional to listen, to rest, and to be refreshed?
At h2o, I left folks with a simple goal, and I want to give you the same challenge for the next month. So for the next month I’ve got a goal for you. I want you to try to practice a Sabbath. That means you’ve got a pick a day each week during which you won’t do work. You won’t do little projects to try to get ahead. Instead you will spend time doing things that refresh you. Maybe that’s hiking, or playing basketball, or going shopping, or going for a long drive. Part of the next month’s experiment will be determining what refreshes you and gives you rest. I would love to hear how this goes for you so feel free to email me with your stories about practicing Sabbath. The important thing though is that you take the time to practice it. Allow Sabbath to bring your life into rhythm so you can faithfully live out your calling and become more fully human.