Why hello, Monday.  :)

As much as I love the weekend, I welcome Mondays.  It’s a nice, fresh start to the week and some good, old-fashion routine.  Such as a morning workout!:

FITNESS
I chose to start the week with a good sweat.  This treadmill workout was absolutely up for the task of accomplishing that!  Having only enough time to repeat the circuit two-and-a-half times, I feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck.  (Bang=workout, buck=time).  :)

Don’t forget to allow enough time for an adequate cool down.  This tread workout is not for beginners!

FOOD
Breakfast was great.  It consisted of a couple banana muffin tops that I made over the weekend, with some chai spice tea and a fried egg for protein.  I’ll have to share the recipe tomorrow!

FAITH
I started a book today that our mentor from college lent me a couple months ago.  I expressed an interest in addictions counseling, and he thought the book was a good place to start with learning Biblical counseling.  He had to read it for a pastoral counseling class he had in college.  It’s called Inside Out by Dr. Larry Crabb.  I’m only a few pages in, but already Dr. Crabb addresses a real issue, one that I think is so prevalent in the church today.

So many Christians think (and preach) that in order to truly be following Christ, you have to have it all together. Meaning, you’re not supposed to experience sadness or grief or impatience or anger. If you do, you’re not doing it right. You need to pray harder or read more of your Bible. This leads to a false pretense among believers that people feel they have to maintain in order to be viewed as a “mature” Christian. Others see the pretty packaging, wonder why they can’t get it together, then either feel defeated or learn to hold up the same pretenses.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Dr. Crabb reminds us that hope in Jesus does not promise the absence of suffering. We need to realize that, as long as we are on this side of the pearly gates, we will never experience the perfect peace, joy, comfort, contentment that is only found in Heaven. As long as we are human, we will always feel the effects of being human and living in a fallen world. There is hope in Christ, but this hope does not promise exclusion from suffering in this life.

He goes on to explain that as soon as we begin to grasp this concept, to recognize that we will experience suffering in this life as a result of a broken world, only then can we begin to adequately address our issues. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can start to work on these conflicts by calling them out for what they really are: consequences of sin.

Ohhh, it’s good stuff. When I’m more than a couple chapters in I can share more. Or you can read it yourself. :)

QUESTION OF THE DAY
Are you feeling defeated in your Christian walk?