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Get Off the Couch
A Newsletter Article for May 20, 2008
I was having one of those days when I knew what I was supposed to do, but I wasn’t terribly motivated. It
was my day off, Zach was in preschool, Donna was out of town, and I really needed to go for a run. I had
slept in, and so now I was needing to provoke myself out the door and into the 85+ degree temperatures
of mid-day. I had already flipped through the channels of the TV looking for an excuse to remain indoors,
but even with 100 channels, I found nothing worthy of an excuse. That should probably tell us something
about television...when a person looking for any mediocre excuse to not do something, yet can’t even find
a good infomercial on the newest ab-machine.
I finally forced myself out the front door, and though the sun was high and hot, there was a nice breeze. I
started off slow, but in a matter of a few minutes I was enjoying the run. I had downloaded a couple of
podcasts on being church in the 21st century, and so along with my body being engaged, so was my mind.
At mile 4, I noticed a woman outside of her car. She was a couple blocks in front of me, but the way she
stood at the open door, it appeared as if she was trying to push a stalled car. As a got closer, I could see
that the car was running and she was trying to do something with her window. I took the earphones out of
my ears and approached her. Come to find out, her window wouldn’t go up all the way. Quite frustrated,
she had been working and working to get it to go up. I noticed how some of the foam rubber around the
window had come loose and it was causing the window to get pushed out of its track. With both of us
working together, we were able to get the window into place. As I got back into my run, she yelled a big
thank you.
Now we don’t do good deeds to feel good about what we did, but I must admit that my speed for the next
mile was a bit faster. In fact, I felt so good I decided to add a few more miles to my run. At mile 6, I
noticed a man in a motorized wheelchair approaching me. As we got closer, he attempted to scoot to the
edge, but as he did so, the right wheel slid off the sidewalk and into that groove along the sidewalk.
When he got to the next driveway, his wheelchair didn’t have the power to get unstuck. I once again
pulled out my earphones and asked if I could be of help. With a look of embarrassment, he conceded
that a little help would be nice. I was able to redirect the wheels back onto the sidewalk, and with a quick
thank you, he had returned to his journey.
Once again, I felt a little bit more energy and decided to add a couple more miles to my run. As the
podcasts came to an end, I turned off my MP3 player and finished out the run in silence. It gave me time
to think. Had God called me out of the house to help those people? I think many people’s theology would
lead them to such a belief, and I wouldn't put up a strong opposing argument. At the same time, I imagine
that those kinds of situations are out there every single day if only we open our eyes and make ourselves
available. The two instances were a bit unusual within 20 minutes of each other, yet I wonder how often I
have missed opportunities such as those because I wasn’t paying attention...or even more often, because
I never got off the couch.
I tend to believe that God is always calling us from the confines of laziness and into opportunities of grace
and kindness. For some people, it is a literal move from the couch to the street. For others, it looks very
different. In recent months, I have become acquainted with one of FCC’s shut-in members named Betty.
She is unable to walk, and for the most part, she is confined to her bed. Many people would see this as
captivity of both the body and spirit. And though Betty’s physical body may be limited to a specific
location, her hope-filled and spiritually enthusiastic soul cannot be contained by any ailment or physical
space. People come by all the time just to be blessed by her positive and joyful spirit.
Recently, Tony DeLucia and I made a visit to Betty. Tony admitted that he wanted to visit Betty just to be
reminded of the multitude of blessings in his life that can so easily escape notice amidst life’s usual
craziness. Let us all be aware of the opportunities made available to us where we can be the people
God wants us to be.
Peace in Christ,
Bruce
A Newsletter Article for May 20, 2008
I was having one of those days when I knew what I was supposed to do, but I wasn’t terribly motivated. It
was my day off, Zach was in preschool, Donna was out of town, and I really needed to go for a run. I had
slept in, and so now I was needing to provoke myself out the door and into the 85+ degree temperatures
of mid-day. I had already flipped through the channels of the TV looking for an excuse to remain indoors,
but even with 100 channels, I found nothing worthy of an excuse. That should probably tell us something
about television...when a person looking for any mediocre excuse to not do something, yet can’t even find
a good infomercial on the newest ab-machine.
I finally forced myself out the front door, and though the sun was high and hot, there was a nice breeze. I
started off slow, but in a matter of a few minutes I was enjoying the run. I had downloaded a couple of
podcasts on being church in the 21st century, and so along with my body being engaged, so was my mind.
At mile 4, I noticed a woman outside of her car. She was a couple blocks in front of me, but the way she
stood at the open door, it appeared as if she was trying to push a stalled car. As a got closer, I could see
that the car was running and she was trying to do something with her window. I took the earphones out of
my ears and approached her. Come to find out, her window wouldn’t go up all the way. Quite frustrated,
she had been working and working to get it to go up. I noticed how some of the foam rubber around the
window had come loose and it was causing the window to get pushed out of its track. With both of us
working together, we were able to get the window into place. As I got back into my run, she yelled a big
thank you.
Now we don’t do good deeds to feel good about what we did, but I must admit that my speed for the next
mile was a bit faster. In fact, I felt so good I decided to add a few more miles to my run. At mile 6, I
noticed a man in a motorized wheelchair approaching me. As we got closer, he attempted to scoot to the
edge, but as he did so, the right wheel slid off the sidewalk and into that groove along the sidewalk.
When he got to the next driveway, his wheelchair didn’t have the power to get unstuck. I once again
pulled out my earphones and asked if I could be of help. With a look of embarrassment, he conceded
that a little help would be nice. I was able to redirect the wheels back onto the sidewalk, and with a quick
thank you, he had returned to his journey.
Once again, I felt a little bit more energy and decided to add a couple more miles to my run. As the
podcasts came to an end, I turned off my MP3 player and finished out the run in silence. It gave me time
to think. Had God called me out of the house to help those people? I think many people’s theology would
lead them to such a belief, and I wouldn't put up a strong opposing argument. At the same time, I imagine
that those kinds of situations are out there every single day if only we open our eyes and make ourselves
available. The two instances were a bit unusual within 20 minutes of each other, yet I wonder how often I
have missed opportunities such as those because I wasn’t paying attention...or even more often, because
I never got off the couch.
I tend to believe that God is always calling us from the confines of laziness and into opportunities of grace
and kindness. For some people, it is a literal move from the couch to the street. For others, it looks very
different. In recent months, I have become acquainted with one of FCC’s shut-in members named Betty.
She is unable to walk, and for the most part, she is confined to her bed. Many people would see this as
captivity of both the body and spirit. And though Betty’s physical body may be limited to a specific
location, her hope-filled and spiritually enthusiastic soul cannot be contained by any ailment or physical
space. People come by all the time just to be blessed by her positive and joyful spirit.
Recently, Tony DeLucia and I made a visit to Betty. Tony admitted that he wanted to visit Betty just to be
reminded of the multitude of blessings in his life that can so easily escape notice amidst life’s usual
craziness. Let us all be aware of the opportunities made available to us where we can be the people
God wants us to be.
Peace in Christ,
Bruce