spring training
Topic: actually 2001
matthew 7:24-27

therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on the rock. the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

**** it's spring - that time of year when baseball players go to florida or arizona - not to work on their tans, but to practice fundamentals - they do hitting drills, they run, they practice bunting and hitting the cutoff man, they field hundreds of ground balls, they play games that don't count for anything, just to get themselves for the regular season - is it that they have never played baseball before? no - most of them have probably been playing their whole lives - but in order to be the best they must constantly work on their skills.....

so i was thinking this morning - WOW - the sermon on the mount (matthew chapters 5-7) is sure full of a ton of practical stuff for us as disciples of Christ (christians) - and the more i thought about it - it hit me that if we really concentrated on putting those 3 chapters into practice - we would be well on our way to living as Jesus wants us to (which i FIRMLY believe is much more difficult in the society in which we live than any of us imagine) - and in light of that thinking - i thought to challenge myself and you as well - to spend the next week or so - really readin over those chapters - maybe as a whole at one time - maybe in bits and pieces - but do it repetitively AND do it prayerfully - asking God to shine the light of his word on YOUR life - and then heedin Jesus' words - (put them into practice) - what better time than the beautiful spring to check on our foundation, our fundamentals - and make sure we are truly prepared.....