Thursday, November 30, 2017

Early Morning Bout

November 30, 2017

It’s called a love-hate relationship, although in this case, it’s probably better called a hate-love relationship. I hate crawling out of bed at 5:20 every Thursday morning, but once I’m there, I love meeting with this small band of men who gather to read Scripture, pray, and sing. You read that right: Harry reads a Psalm that launches us into prayer. At 7:00, it concludes with the Lord’s Prayer and singing a hymn before heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the kids who have been dropped off by parents on their way to work. 

This was Harry’s brainchild; my memory isn’t very sharp at 6:00 am, so I can’t tell you exactly how long we’ve been doing this, but except for the early morning time, it’s become my favorite hour of the week. There are usually only five of us, but in this time together we have bonded in a special way. I may drag myself in, but before the hour is over, in my heart, I’m striding around like a boxer who has just scored a knockout in a championship fight. In a way, that’s exactly what happens when men get serious about prayer. We step into the ring with the Enemy of our souls in the far corner, glaring at us in malevolent hatred. The bell rings, we touch gloves, and circle, looking for a weakness, throwing spiritual jabs. 

Our Thursday morning time is only the first round of a match that at times has us against the ropes, sometimes down, but never for the count. We counter, ducking and weaving, throwing prayer-punch after prayer-punch. At 7:00 the bell rings and we head for the corners. The rest of the bout takes place through the day and week as we resist temptation, choose love, forgiveness, and sacrificial service over revenge, bitterness, and selfishness. To be honest, we don’t win every round, but Jesus is our Manager and Trainer. We will come back together next Thursday to swap stories of how the match went through the week. Then as the Psalm is read, we step back into the ring once more. 


Yeah, I’m not fond of the discipline of weekly 6:00 am meetings, but I have become passionate about these hours invested together in this work of God. And I am thankful for Harry, who had a better ear to the whisper of the Father, and who called us to this hour. It has been very good.

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