I don’t know if you’ve taken up anything new in the lockdown. Personally, I’m not one of those people who thought they would write a best-selling novel, become a YouTube sensation or be ready for the next Ironman during the lockdown. However, the other day because my gym is shut, I thought I would take the plunge and take up running. So, I headed out to start running (perhaps plodding is more accurate)
up the street. However, when I had gone about 200 yards, I realised I hadn’t stretched before I started out and I could feel it. I stopped at a bollard on the road and started to do my stretches so I wouldn’t hurt myself. Suddenly I heard a great commotion behind me and realised there was a chap shouting as if something terrible was happening. I spun round to see if I could help only to discover that the guy was shouting for help for … me! He had thought I’d had a heart attack or something … I guess I didn’t look as fit and healthy as I thought!
After I had run off at top speed in order to escape my embarrassment, I was thinking about making sure I never forgot to do the basics of stretching before I left home ever again. Then as I started to lap Melbourne Park, I started to think about getting the basics right in the rest of my life in this lockdown time. As it happens, I was prepping a preach for our live-streamed service on Exodus 20. This is the bit where God gives His people the ten commandments. You know … have no other God’s, make no idols, don’t misuse the name of the Lord, remember the sabbath, honour your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not covet. I realised as I ran that every one of these commands is about relationship. The first ones are all about relationship with God and then the rest are all about relationship with one another. I think Jesus might have been on to something when he said ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Luke 10:27). I was reminded that actually with all the pressures and challenges of this time if all we do is grow in love and relationship with God and love and relationship with those we find ourselves with, then we’ve all done pretty well. In fact, I was challenged to be just as keen not to leave the house without loving God and my neighbour as I am about not leaving for a run without stretching. It’s the basic foundation of what God calls us to.
Prayer
Lord help me grow in this challenging time in love and relationship with you and with whoever I find myself in lockdown with. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Challenge
Set yourself a thankfulness task. At the beginning and the end of tomorrow sit and thank God for all the good things in your life. Take a moment to list ways in which you are thankful for the people who are around you, even in you are finding them challenging at this moment.
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