The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. However, sometimes you may run right into a mountain to climb or a river to cross before you can reach the desired destination. As products of the “now” generation or the “instant everything” group, we may find it difficult to discipline ourselves to endure through the process. I have found that to be true in a couple of areas of my life.

Everyone knows that if you are really serious about losing weight you must do aerobic exercise. Have you noticed how many herbs, tablets, capsules, drinks, etc. there are to “take off the weight”? I’ve tried them all! They don’t work! How funny it is to note that I have also purchased exercise videos, a step workout video, a stair step exerciser, a bike... The funny thing about it is that you have to use them for them to do any good for you. Even though my stair stepper does a great job of holding up my clothes (the ones that I should put away!), it’s not helping my thighs at all! I need to “get steppin” in order for the thing to work! The problem is - I don’t want to work at it, I want it now! I want to take a pill, drink a drink, or something easy to make it all go away without having to put out any energy of my own.

This is the way a lot of us try to walk with the Lord. It seems we try bible study, prayer, support groups, sing more, maybe just try to think about Jesus more, maybe if we just fast. . . it doesn’t work like that! What we really need to do is “get steppin”. Walk with Him! It takes time, we don’t like that. We want instant gratification, just like our instant breakfast.

We need to learn to ‘find Him’ within our spirits. This takes some practice, it takes discipline, and it takes tenacity (stick-to-it-tiveness)

I have found out, the hard way, that if I don’t fellowship with the Lord on a regular basis, the next time, it’s not so easy, and the next time, it’s even harder than that! It becomes like digging holes in dry sand, it just keeps filling up with sand again. It’s kind of like beginning again except this time at some minus zero place.

Not that I want anyone to think it’s all horrible, it’s not. It’s just not as easy as it was in the beginning. Just like exercise - if you take a long

break from the daily routine of working out, it gets harder and harder to get back into the groove of it. Then you wind up saying, “If I would have stuck with it from the beginning on a regular basis . . .”

The point I wanted to make was that fellowship with the Lord is not something we can conjure up or pray down. It is something we really have to work out. I thought that maybe if I just thought about the Lord more often in the day I’d be alright. Then I thought if I listened to Christian music more . . . Do you know what the Lord said to me? He said, “You can’t do it by artificial means.” That’s all.

Just as the “quick diet plan” is artificial (and as soon as you stop using it, you gain all the weight back), there is no quick way to get to know the Lord.

Knowing the Lord is not something that you can hear a sermon about, go home, and now you know the Lord. You can’t learn to fellowship with Him by hearing a three point sermon. You can only learn this by working at it every day - every minute of every day if you will.

IT NEEDS TO BE YOUR LIFE - THE THING THAT DRIVES YOU!

We hear of body builders who spend hours a day working out. We hear of musicians who practice eight hours a day to perfect their skill. Shouldn’t fellowship with our Lord be at least as important to us? We won’t learn to know the Lord unless we spend time at it, hang out with Him. “Draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to you.” It may be along road from one point to the other, but the reward at the end is

. . THE MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE LAMB!

written by Mary Rodriguez