“Do One Thing Different”

That was the jist of the sermon yesterday at church.

It was a Duck Dynasty theme and they invited everyone to sport their camo – it was definitely different – and it was pretty fun!

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The people at my church absolutely love a good party. They love to celebrate – I get this about them – I am the same way.

So I’m no longer surprised when we pull up to the university auditorium where we meet and we see things like mud-splattered quads outside the front doors and canoes for decoration in the front foyer. Or how about the camo photo backdrop and laminated pictures of Phil and Miss Kay to hold in front of your face for a photo op. And what about how a young man is invited up to the platform to share about the many duck calls hanging around his neck, and he even demonstrates a couple of them for us. Or the showstopper – when the choir comes out in camo and the worship leaders come out with fake beards on their faces and start to sing, Sharp Dressed Man.

Ya, they sure love a party.

They also love to keep it real. Like when the man who runs a local ministry for addicts and prostitutes is interviewed and we hear about his story of hope and healing. How he took a life of drugs and alcohol and homelessness, and changed it up to be someone who now helps others come clean and find hope. All because of God, he says. All because of Jesus. He really is in the business of change, of doing things differently. This guy didn’t lose the best parts of who he was, he just found strength to change the parts that were slowly killing him. Not strength from himself, strength from God.

Not all of us have a story this extreme. And what about if your life is honky dory and there doesn’t seem to be much to change at all? Then what do we do with God’s offer of love and hope? Well, everyone has to answer that question for themselves.

I do know that for me this is the year of Crazy Change. And God’s been showing me some areas that need some change – some things in my life that are slowly killing the person He made me to be.

So I’ve been hinting that I’d like to focus on the health issues in my life – they are starting to spill over and sleep doesn’t come easy any more and the body is getting sore and tired. The mind gets fuzzy from lack of sleep and too much sugar and not enough water, and… so on and so on.

The thing is… I haven’t been taking care of myself. I’ve been taking care of alot of other things instead.

But it’s like on the airplane when they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.

You can’t take care of other things if you’re not taking care of yourself.

At least, not very effectively.

And I love to be effective, efficient, productive.

The trick is not to get too focused on my needs so that I put everything and everyone else to the side.

The trick is to find balance and let go of perfectionism one more time and just do my best with it all.

The one thing I want to do differently is to take care of my health.

So, I’m working on what one day of health looks like…

Just one day to start…

Then I’ll move on to the next day once this day is done….

I’ll share about my plans for today in a post for tomorrow…