Bowling

Bowling…
It is something that I have not done in quite a while. I enjoy bowling. Sometimes, as adults, we forget about some of the “fun” things that there are to do in life, and our children have to bring us back to reality.

Last week, after my daughter’s coaxing, my husband and I took her bowling. She is ten…almost eleven. That means that I have not been bowling in over 12 years?!?! Wow….time flies, and so did everything I ever knew about bowling….out the window!

I was very familiar with the gutter for the first few frames…well, to be honest with you, the first game. How could I possibly have forgotten how to bowl!?! I kept envisioning the professional bowler, with finishing form…the leg gracefully swung behind him/her. “What’s up with that?” I thought… “Should I be more conscious of my approach, my steps or position?”

The next game, I decided to pay closer attention to my body, the way I stood, and the way I walked. I made a conscious effort to stand tall, with my body straight, with my feet planted solid and straight before I began the approach…and I made a determined effort to walk straight. Guess what? I began to knock down pins. The ball stayed out of the gutter…and I won the last game.

Immediately following the first effort of form, the Holy Spirit spoke something so clearly to me. He reminded me that the way in which we walk has everything to do with our success as Christians. We must make a disciplined effort to keep our eyes on God and walk straight in His paths. (Need I say that this keeps us “out of the gutter” spiritually, physically, and emotionally!?!)

I began to keep my mind focused, and I moved forward in a manner in which I was able to obtain. I had quit doing the things that were “wrong”, (even though they seemed right), and I stopped losing! Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Let me say, Al and Alayna were killing me! My score was so bad on the first game that it was not even funny! PS…so don’t go telling my college P.E .teacher!)

So, do we walk in a manner in which we will be able to “score” one for God’s Kingdom? Or, maybe we can look at this on the flip side…Do we walk in a manner in which we are able to come against the enemy with a defeating force that bears resemblance to the bowling ball knocking down pins? Do we take aim at sin and strife, discouragement and depression, fear and failure? God’s Word tells us that we have the power through Jesus Christ to defeat the things which come against us, the walls that inhibit us, the enemy that stands in the way of our successes, blessings, and our relationship with Christ.

Is it not amazing that something as simple as the game of bowling offers an example of our Christian walk through life application? And, I wonder how many times I have missed something that God may have been trying to show me because I was not focused on Christ?

Oh Father, that I might see You in all things and in every way, everyday…

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” IThessalonians 4:1

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:16-17

Walk in His Light and BE BLESSED IN JESUS’ NAME,

Angie