I have been exercising regularly for over thirty years now, both aerobic and light weight exercise.  At my age I understand that when I decide to sit down, I may very well never get up again.  But exercising in Florida in the summer brings special challenges.  I do have an elliptical machine inside in the air conditioning, but, to be blunt, it's boring.  I usually turn on some innocuous rerun of an old television show just to make myself get through it.  But I still sweat and not only that, the temptation to just quit is strong, especially when all you have to do is stop and step off.
            Walking outside, though, is far more interesting.  I have found huge limbs fallen off old live oaks that I would never have seen otherwise because they are so far from the house.  I have discovered that my impatiens were completely devoured by the deer.  I have found gopher tortoises lumbering across the field.  I even had a bobcat sprint across the drive in front of me.  I also have a furry companion who keeps me company and who is just as slow as I am these days.  But in the summer, the heat is far more oppressive and the sun beats you like a woman pounding a dirty rug with a broom.  The biggest advantage is that when I have walked a good two hundred yards from the house I can't just quit—I still have to turn around and go back.
            The other morning Chloe and I were both near the end of our heat tolerance.  She was panting behind me with every step and my own were less than steady.  Then we turned a corner.  I had not noticed the breeze because it was behind me, following along just like Chloe, but suddenly it was in my face.  It may have been a ninety+ degree breeze, but it felt like heaven on a soaking wet and weary body.  Suddenly walking was much easier.  Is this why they say that simple things are "a breeze" to accomplish?
            I felt the same way when our congregation began assembling again in the late summer.  We had been away from one another for over four months, not even hearing from one another.  We could not take advantage of the online "assemblies" because Keith is deaf, something most people cannot seem to comprehend.  We had our own services, and while we had some of the best Bible studies I have ever sat in, and enjoyed sharing it with one of the single ladies in our group who also had no family nearby, it was not the same.
            Less than a fourth of us met that first time because many of the rest felt it was too dangerous.  We are "at risk" ourselves, but followed all the protocols and safety guidelines.  The audience was sparse and scattered, the singing was muted, the sermon was short, the Lord's Supper was a bit awkward as we all served ourselves, especially the poor folks having to deal with those pre-filled cups and tasteless paper-like wafers rather than something homemade, but it was like a breath of fresh air to see those faces and hear those voices again, to see the smiles in those eyes above the masks, and hear the genuine joy of meeting as God's people once again.  Do you think we complained about one single thing that day?  Not on your life.  We now understand like never before why God wants His people to meet and worship Him together.  It was like a cool breeze on a hot day.  Things may still be unsettled in our lives and more difficult to handle, but that day made the next week the easiest we have had in four months now.  That day made it possible to get through the next and the next and the next, and those weekly meetings will do the same until finally this crisis is over, or until our lives are over, whichever comes first.  Now we can turn around and make it home, one way or the other.
 
And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  (Heb 10:21-25).
 
Dene Ward

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, Matt 6:10.
            All my life I have thought of this in a passive sense.  I pray for something, just as the Lord did in Matt 26:39, 42, and then add, “But thy will be done,” as if God is the only one who is expected to do His will.  Then suddenly one day I thought, “Doing God’s will is the simple definition for obedience.”  If I am praying for His will to be done, I have an obligation to do that will myself.
            I cannot pray, “Thy will be done” if I look at one of his commands and say, “But God wouldn’t mind if…”  I can’t expect an answer to my prayers if my answer to His will is, “I do well at everything else and this is such a small thing.”  If I do not obey in even one instance I am not doing His will.
            So I did a quick little study.  I may have thought that “God’s will” had more to do with what He does, but I was wrong.  Notice the following.
            “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, Matt 7:21.  A lot of people out there go around doing “good deeds,” but if doing God’s will doesn’t come first, it isn’t worth a thing.
            For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother, Matt 12:50.  You are not in the Lord’s family if you are finding excuses for your disobedience.
            Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work, John 4:34    If you want to follow in his footsteps, doing the Father’s will must become an essential of life, every bit as much as food.
            If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority, John 7:17.  You can’t go around claiming to know and teach about Jesus if you are not obeying the Father.
            Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, Rom 12:2.  The only way to know God’s will is to change your life.
            For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, 1Thess 4:3.  You are not doing the Father’s will if you are engaging in sexual sins of any kind.
            Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, 1Thess 5:18. You are not doing God’s will if you are whining and complaining about your station in life, about your trials, about the suffering you must deal with, especially those due to your faith.
            For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised, Heb 10:36.  It isn’t always easy to do the Father’s will and the task is never completed.  One good deed doesn’t mean your work is finished.
            [God will] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen, Heb 13:21.  No matter how hard it seems, he will see that you have whatever you need to do His will.  If you didn’t manage to do it, it was your fault, not His.
            The next time you end a prayer, “Thy will be done,” remember that you are as much responsible for that as He is.  If you aren’t willing to do His will in every aspect of your life, why should He believe you mean it when you pray?  And why should He do what YOU want, when you won’t do what HE wants?
 
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God, 1Pet 4:1-2.
 
Dene Ward