New Year no rez

I'm not going to make any new year promises this year...I'm just going to seek to live a balanced life.

At one point in my life I was way over balanced in a spiritual way.
I rose early and prayed.
I then went to work as a janitor on a Bible college campus.
I prayed during lunch.
I left work and went home which was an outreach house.
I stayed up late talking and praying with people who came to the house
I also, did street ministry on weekends
I also took 3, 3 hour bible classes during the week
On top of going to church, I was attempting to figure out what a Christian life was supposed to look like etc.
Combined with a life time of insecurity with relationships=streeeeessssssss

By 6 months of this routine...I was crispy, my thinking was becoming stressed and my emotions were all over the place. I thought I was going to loose it in a big way. (For those of you who haven't been in this place... it's scary...the choice to maintain rationality is difficult to say the least.)

Then I talked to Sandy, an ex priest, he asked a few questions.
When do you exercise? I didn't
When do you have time for your self? I didn't

Tell me what you do? I repeated my schedule. Sandy, looked at me with deep concern and gave a prescription for my life.

You are not all spirit...you have a soul... and you have a body...attempt to take care of all in balance.

When you pray, pray with all of your heart.
When you work, work with all of your strength.
When you do Steve stuff it's ok to relax not always think about spiritual issues. Find out where you recharge, physically, mentally, emotionally. Take walks on the beach, read, sleep and rest.

You need to begin to exercise. So, I took the prescription and came back into balance.

I learned to pray consistently, and became a worship guy with guitar (which still is my connection spiritually. Audience of One.)

I began to run and ran in a few races in FL. discovering exercise was a great stress reliever, emotional restorer. Now I've been exercising since that time pretty consistently. It's my way of turning off. I just weighed in at 170ish pounds, kinda flat stomach for 56 year old guy. I enjoy the cardio, the sauna, and the toning weight training circuit while listing to pod casts or music. I don't usually eat junk food.

So this year I'm going to seek some adventure, hopefully be more creative, have more opportunities to speak, continue to exercise, rest and I'll wait upon the Lord to renew my strength.