Yesterday I learned two very important things. One of them related to health, one of them related to prayer.First of all, unless you regularly drink a lot of coffee, do not have Cafe con Leche (literally Cuban coffee w/milk) before you go to your annual physical. Before I had to put on that lovely gown they give you, one of the 'nursish' (I don't know what here real title is) took my pulse and blood pressure. My blood pressure was 160 over some other large number, and she was really concerned. My pulse turned out to be 101 beats a minute, which in case you're not up to date on pulse rates, is WAY HIGH!
I was a little 'on edge,' probably mostly (not blaming everything on the Cafe con Leche) due to the coffee. After the physical it went down to 130/90 or some not as high number. But now I've got to go somewhere else and find out exactly how much the coffee was to blame for my pulse and blood pressure.
The second thing related to literally practicing what you preach. I preached this past Sunday on 3 components of prayer (Corporate, Confession, Confidence) found in James 5:13-18. When it comes to praying for the congregation, I use Outlook to divide people into different groups and pray for specific people on specific days:
Tuesday-College/Wed-Outreach/Thursday-Youth/Friday-Young Adults, etc.....
Well I preached on taking confidence that when we pray, it does make a difference, even when we can't see it. Yesterday I was extremely convicted for not regularly, and certainly not confidently, praying for a youth outside the church. He hasn't come to youth group or church in a long time, although he once came off and on. Well, one of our youth still has contact with him and said that he was actually planning on coming to church last Sunday. I had no idea.
And it is true we often have no idea what's going on in people's hearts. Another youth that I had been praying for regularly and desperately, just showed up at church two weeks ago without invitation or ride from a member. You never know what God is doing behind the scenes. I need to practice more often what I preach, specifically this area of Confidence, that our prayers do make a difference. I've seen it too many times to justify 'giving' up on certain folks outside the church, or on the fringe.
However-I'm not tooting my own horn-I just realized that I at least am practicing one of my "C" points: Confession. So at least I hit one out of three! A 333 average is at least a start, and darn good in baseball, eh?
Anyhow, if you want to hear my sermon on prayer, click here
2 comments:
In case you're not thoroughly spooked about coffee by now, my doctor always asks me about my coffee consumption when he does the list of negatives.
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Gus,
Thanks for the info. I'll try to stick to one cup a day on the days when I have my physical! But one cup a day is probably good for me anyway. I literally do get more anxious when I consume more than one cup at a time.
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