The Salt River is less than a mile from where we live in Phoenix, Arizona. Right now that river is running rapidly as the melting snow in the mountains releases water that eventually flows into the valleys. However, in a few weeks things will be different.
There will certainly be water in the river basin and it will be just as wide. But it won't move as fast nor be as deep.
If you were to look at the Salt River from an airplane it would appear to be a mighty river but as you get up close you'd see that it is wide but not deep. Then in a month from now, as the heat builds in the desert, the water will be completely gone.
The river will have become too shallow without new water flowing into it and will thus be unable to endure.
Christians can grow shallow and dry up, too.
We have moved a lot of water into your river this semester. Frankly, though, we have not tried to go too deep. This is just an introduction to spiritual formation. That's the danger -- that having received a shallow introduction -- something that is wide but not deep -- that you'll be satisfied with your education. But if you do not develop deeper waters you will dry up when the heat comes.
We need to begin to think of spiritual formation in terms of endurance -- long-term sustainability.
I want to share with you what John Ortberg has written in The Life You've Always Wanted.
A friend of mine ran in the Los Angeles marathon, so I followed the event quite closely. There were 18,000 runners -- 18,000 brave, motivated, skinny, overachieving, masochistic people.HARDSHIP
With the event being held in California, we can expect that some of the runners were a little out of the ordinary. One guy ran in full circus makeup and called himself "T-bone the Clown." Another contestant ran as "Flower Man." Thirteen people draped themselves in a specially designed costume and competed as a human centipede.
The starting line was a sight to behold. T-bone was shaking hands with the crowd and laughing and waving. The centipede looked friskier than any centipede has a right to be.
Then the race began. The first phase of such a race might be called the pleasure stage. At this point running is fun. Your body is loose, your heart is pumping, you are "one with the cosmos": The blood is flowing, the head is clear, the lungs are breathing deeply, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, the fish are jumping, the cotton is high, Daddy's rich, and momma's good-looking. You are functioning like a well-oiled machine.
How long this stage lasts depends on the runners conditioning. For me, it lasts twelve or thirteen feet.
After the initial rush of pleasure, running becomes drudgery. After drudgery it becomes effortful and laborious. And if you keep going long enough, you reach the point where the temptation to stop is overwhelming. Your feet are protesting vigorously, knives of pain are stabbing through your calves, your lungs have burning coals at the bottom of them. Runners speak of this experience as "hitting the wall."
To run at this stage -- to hit the wall and keep going -- is the ultimate test of a runner. Races are won or lost, completed or abandoned, at "the wall."
At this stage, the LA marathon really becomes interesting. T-bone wasn't laughing with the crowd anymore. The human centipede was hanging over the fence, and it didn't look good -- all thirteen centipedal stomachs united in collective revolt.
At the finish line, people came dribbling in one at a time. Some didn't make it at all.
The start of the race is enjoyable. It is easy. Finishing is hard work. To finish well -- that's the glory. Finishing is what counts.
How will we run the race of life? Will we finish well?
The capacity to finish well is what the New Testament writers call endurance, or perseverance. It is the virtue by which we become increasingly able to honor commitments that ought to last a lifetime. It is especially the ability to honor commitments when honoring them becomes difficult...
Perseverance is not a panacea. We have limits that the desire to endure alone will not transcend. We will be both enabled and limited by a host of factors that perseverance alone will not overcome.
But any truly meaningful human accomplishment will require perseverance. Gifts, talents, IQ -- these are to some extent beyond our control. Endurance is the gift that we can offer. Spiritual transformation won't happen without it.
"Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us," the writer of Hebrews said. In other words, just don't quit. (John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted [Grand Rapids: MI, Zondervan, 1997, 2002] pages 208-210.)
There is going to be suffering. There is going to be hardship. There is going to be testing.
And as we have seen, God actually uses those negative parts of life to transform us into the people he wants us to be. But if that is going to happen we have to endure. We have to persevere as though we were running a marathon race.
One of the ways to better endure is to prepare. That is, we create an endurance plan. Of course, nothing ever really goes exactly according to plan but without a plan we don't seem to go at all.
SPIRITUAL LIFE PLAN
One way to plan is to develop a "spiritual life plan" (sometimes called a "rule of life"). This kind of planning forces us to think through ways that we can continue to grow.
There are four time frames (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually) and four GROW categories (God's Word, Relationships, Obedient Living, Worship) in the Life Plan.
In the God's Word category you list things which shape your life and actions connected through the Bible.
In the Relationships category you list things that keep you connected with God and others.
In the Obedient Living category you list things that demonstrate your witness and service.
In the Worship category you list things that are focused around interaction with God and giving him the honor he is due.
Here is an example of a Life Plan. Note that in the example we list the things that we currently do and the things which we plan to do.
LIFE PLAN SAMPLE
1. Daily
G (God's Word) -- I currently read the Bible every morning. But I want to change so that I am reading it twice a day. In the morning I am going to read the verses associated with the Daily Texts and I will meditate on them throughout the day. But each night I am going to read 3 chapters. So I will be reading for transformation in the morning and information at night.
R (Relationships) -- I am in a small group from my church. I am going to call someone from my small group each afternoon just to say "hi" and to keep in touch. I currently do this about twice a week but I want to do it daily. In my morning devotions I currently say a short prayer to keep my conversation with God going. But I am going to develop that more and pray through the Lord's Prayer each morning -- pausing in each category to pray more specifically. Then I am going to say the Jesus Creed.
O (Obedient Living) -- I look for ways to bless someone everyday. But I think I need to put more structure to it. I am going to carry an extra dollar every day and look for someone to give it to -- maybe a homeless person or just some child who needs encouragement.
W (Worship) -- I currently sing worship songs every morning as I do my devotions. I am going to continue to do that.
2. Weekly
G (God's Word) -- I am in a small group Bible study that meets weekly. I am going to continue to do that.
R (Relationships) -- I am going to keep in touch with the people in my small group. No change.
O (Obedient Living) -- I don't really have a weekly plan. But I am going to stay open to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Maybe there is something that he will lead me to do on a recurring weekly basis. I am thinking about singing in the choir each week.
W (Worship) -- I worship with our church every Sunday. I am going to continue to do that.
3. Monthly
G (God's Word) -- I don't really do anything in this category on a monthly basis. However, I am thinking that it might be good for me if I took a couple of extra hours on the first Saturday of every month and read through the entire book of Proverbs so that I do it 12 times each year.
R (Relationships) -- I don't really do anything in this category each month. But I would like to start having people from my church over for barbecue at my house each month.
O (Obedient Living) -- Again, I don't have anything in this category that I do regularly each month. However, I am thinking that when I have the people from my church over for barbecue each month that I am also going to invite one non-Christian family to join us.
W (Worship) -- I make sure that I am in the worship service when we have communion each month. I am going to continue to do that.
4. Annually
G (God's Word) -- I currently go to the annual men's retreat where there is some in depth Bible teaching. I will continue with that but I am also going to take at least 2 college-level Bible classes each year.
R (Relationships) -- I currently go to the annual men's retreat and there is good fellowship there. I am thinking, though, that I should do an annual one day solitude retreat, where I get away by myself to listen to God. A good way to do this would be to have a hike that I do by myself each first Saturday in January.
O (Obedient Living) -- There isn't anything that I do annually. But I think that God wants me to be involved in an annual mission trip of some sort. I know that I may have to organize the trip if no one else is organizing it. That would be a good way to include others. I am planning to invite some non-Christians to come on the mission trips.
W (Worship) -- I go to our church's annual worship festival each June and will continue to do that.
SECTION #30 ASSIGNMENT
1. Now that you have seen a sample, here is your assignment. CREATE YOUR OWN LIFE PLAN using the daily, weekly, monthly, and annually time-frame. Address each of the "GROW" areas. Obviously it will not be identical to the sample. Use your own words. Include in each section what you are currently doing and what you are going to do.
Here is the framework I would like you to use:
MY LIFE PLAN
1. Daily
G (God's Word)
R (Relationships)
O (Obedient Living)
W (Worship)
2. Weekly
G (God's Word)
R (Relationships)
O (Obedient Living)
W (Worship)
3. Monthly
G (God's Word)
R (Relationships)
O (Obedient Living)
W (Worship)
4. Annually
G (God's Word)
R (Relationships)
O (Obedient Living)
W (Worship)
(30 points possible)
2. In Assignment #5 I said "To get you moving in the right direction and to plant the idea of the Jesus Creed in your mind, one of the requirements for the class this semester is that you memorize and repeat the Jesus Creed out loud each day. You need to keep track of your practice because at the end of the semester you will be asked whether you have done this:
a) every day without exception
b) about 5 times every week
c) about 3 times every week
d) 1 time every week
e) none -- I completely forgot."
So, now I am asking. Did you do a), b), c), d), or e)?
(10 points possible)
Again, email your essay to me at bboydston@piu.edu. Write your answers in the email itself -- or if you use a word processor, copy and paste the answers into the email. Make sure that your name, the name which you used to register for this class, appears at the top of your work.
I will respond to you as soon as possible.
