May 6

My workouts are now limited to achieving 10,000 steps each day. When did that become a thing? Oh, I remember now; Apple said it's a thing. Out of obedience to my sovereign wrist watch I am endeavoring to get those steps in each day.

You'd think I don't have enough to think about. Or maybe, the stuff I do think about seems more important than any rational person would think.

So it gets me thinking. What should I be thinking about?

Maybe how I am so easily amused by dumb stuff.

C.S. Lewis once said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child, who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea. We are too easily pleased."

Ouch! And spot on.

This global pandemic has taken away our our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face contact with people. We miss that stuff.

So we replace all of those freedoms by thinking about dumb stuff.

Matthew 22:37 says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

It's not saying that I'm not loving Jesus when I'm updating apps on my phone. Rather, it's a question of priorities.

We all tend to think about things we prioritize. If there was a printout of everything I think about, it would show you what I value and prioritize.

And you would mock me. And I would deserve your mocking.

I want to experience a total devotion to Jesus. I want to be able to say, with all confidence that I love the Lord my God. With all of me.

I know I will someday. Someday, way past this pandemic, when this present life is a distant memory, believers like me will experience that fully-devoted love.

Jesus will finally be the unchallenged priority in my head, and in my heart.

In the meantime, I'll continue the struggle.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau