No Time Like Present to Get Spiritually Fit

It happened last winter, but it keeps a hold on my memory. A friend who was in the area wanted to try a challenging hike. What better goal than the highest point in Orange County, Santiago Peak, the southern half of the Saddleback? It’s more than 5,600 feet high and involves almost 4,000 feet of incline across 5 miles.

Marc and I had attempted the climb two Decembers before with others, but were unsuccessful. This

time we began our assault earlier, vowing to walk faster, take fewer breaks and make no wrong turns.

Since that first trip, Marc finished his education in Montana, not before he was able to enjoy all of God’s great outdoors by hiking and skiing. After college, he joined the Army, survived basictraining at Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, Mo., and began rigorous physical disciplines in Monterey.

And me? In the previous two years, I had run once every other season. I had enjoyed Hi-Cal Wednesdays, in which I started off with a generous breakfast with an elder, a Denny’s lunch with a member, and Mom’s traditional Thanksgiving feast for dinner, before driving home for Bible study refreshments at night. I had gained 10 pounds in two years, and not in the biceps.

So here’s a visual: John and Marc are like two ships passing in the night. Marc as hike leader was kind enough to stop every 200 yards for Lard-Buddy to catch up. Clearly one of us was on this trip for enjoyment, the other for survival.

I had a strong desire to be there for Marc, to keep up his good pace, to converse about life, military, marriage. In reality, I had become a burden to him. The only topics I brought up pertained to the good old days of high school and college cross-country, when my body would respond to the wishes of my mind.

Marc’s analysis of the situation was generous: Halfway up, he conjectured that my difficulties stemmed from having milk with my cereal at 5:30 a.m. I was quiet, but the mind raced back across two years of bodily neglect. By noon, we both made it to the top of Santiago Peak, praise the Lord! It took more than four hours. The hike up punished the thighs; the hike down hurt the knees. I paid for the trip all week.

What’s the point? This isn’t Sluggards Anonymous (“Hello, my name is John, and I am lazy!”) No, but on that painful evening I was starting to see a parallel to my spiritual life and discipline. From 1 Timothy 4:8: “For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

My heart’s desire is to be strong in the Lord, in the Scriptures, in the Spirit--for personal growth, for my family, for my church, for the needy world we are seeking and serving. But just waiting for the great challenges to hit, without diligent daily preparation--well, that is as ludicrous as expecting that I can pamper my appetites for two years, then ascend Saddleback enjoyably whenever Marc comes home.

How much better would I have done on that hike with just 30 minutes a day of small pain: walking, stretching, sit-ups. It would have made all the difference in the world.

In the spiritual sense, 30 minutes a day of spiritual exercise cannot rightly be called pain. That time with God is necessary, but it is also sweet, immediately profitable, and it changes everything for the better. It prepares me to have God’s eyes throughout the day, and gets me ready for the times when big performance is necessary and the challenges are great.

Perhaps you are concerned for spiritual growth in 1999. You would like to be closer to Jesus Christ, and you long to be used by God for good in the lives of your loved ones. Builders of Christ’s kingdom, you cannot expect to have great storehouses of energy, strategy and resolve for this crucial work unless you have been stockpiling it into your soul slowly but surely, day after disciplined day.

This will certainly involve some time invested in reading and reflecting on the Bible, and calling out to God through prayer in Jesus’ name. Any pastor will be glad to show you how to start a disciplined pattern of daily devotions.

Marc wants to climb Saddleback again in the future, this time touching both peaks on the same trip. Will I try it again? Only if I am ready! Your gifts, energy and dedication will be required in many situations: for personal battles, and for needs in the home, job, church, and kingdom. So get ready a little bit at time, starting today.

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McFarland is pastor of Christ Our King Fellowship, a Reformed Presbyterian Church that meets for worship and Bible classes every Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Anaheim Memorial Medical Plaza, on Santa Ana Canyon Road near Weir Canyon Road in Anaheim. He can be reached at (909) 737-6661 or JMM Orange@aol.com.

On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.