0 Dark Thirty

It’s 5:45 AM. It’s dark. And I’m awake and writing this.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against sleep. I know that the Bible says -

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” – Proverbs 6:10-11 NIV

But it also says -

“In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.” – Psalms 127:2 NIV

If there is one thing I know it’s that God loves me. They say, ‘The early bird gets the worm’, but I haven’t ever eaten a worm and I really don’t plan to. After all we’re not on Survivor! I’m not typically what you would call a ‘morning person’. Actually I would be more or what you would consider as a ‘night owl’. So why am I up so early this morning? Well to be honest I’m just too excited to sleep. I’m running another Spartan Race today and I’m fired up! 13+ miles of mud and barbed wire and obstacles are calling my name. You know when I was a kid there were certain days I would wake up way before I needed to – Christmas morning, trips to Disneyland, the day of our annual family camping trip; I was just too wound up to sleep.

I’ve realized that there is another day when I find myself awake long before my alarm goes off – Sundays. I am just so excited to be in God’s presence, to hang out with God’s people and to see what He has in store for us. He is the Creator of the universe after all! Now I know that God is there on Monday and Tuesday and every other day of the week but when we gather together as the church it’s just different. It’s full of potential and promise and power. And if I’m preaching that day I’m not even sure how I ever fall asleep!

Jesus said the greatest commandment is –

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” – Mark 12:30 NIV

There is so much there in that statement. Our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength – our desires, our emotions, our thoughts and our actions. To me the key word in that verse is ‘ALL’. God deserves nothing less than our everything. We should be so passionate about Him that it changes our whole world. I know it has changed mine. See passion is all consuming, it can’t be parked off in some little corner only to be dusted off every once in a while. Life has a way of redefining our priorities without us even realizing it. Maybe you’re realizing that your passion level is a little lower than you would like it to be. The good news is it’s not hard to fix. See passion is a product of priority. Make it a priority to spend more time with God, more time with His people and I promise that your passion problem will fix itself. I can’t promise that you won’t lose a little sleep! God bless.