Lent…
I grew up in conservative Baptist churches. One of the things that was missing from my upbringing was liturgical worship. It wasn’t until late into high school that I started to notice and experience other forms of worship. Worship that was God centered and righteous and yet different than anything I knew.
I’ve read some great posts the last couple of days describing Lent and what it is and what it means. I am not going to take time to try and explain the history or religious ideas of what Lent is. But it is a time of year that I’ve never participated in. Easter is amazing. What a blessed time of year we choose to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior. I oftenI find myself getting to Easter and wondering why it went by so fast. I don’t stop long enough to savor this time and in doing so, I believe that I personally lose many opportunities to listen.
So, during Lent, it is common practice to forego something in your life. To cease a habit or practice and then replace it with something that will allow us to meditate or focus better on the Easter season. Some choose fasting. Some choose to not watch TV or stop drinking coffee.
This year, Tammy and the family and I have decided to join in Lent. We have decided that there will be no eating out for the entire period of Lent(40 days, including the Sunday’s). Instead, we will choose to be focused at home in our eating together and will even be going through a little study together. Now, many of you following us on Twitter and Facebook, will be able to monitor our journey. You can hold us accountable if you see something out of line. We will still be enjoying coffee. We will also be enjoying an opportunity to grab a snack or treat with the family. If we are running around the mall, we may go to the pretzel place. But, we will not be purposefully eating any of our main meals at a fast food or sit down restaurant. Tammy and I also enjoy going out for an evening drink sometimes and that will continue. I love our date nights. Also, if we are invited to dinner by someone, we will instead, see if they wish to come to our house and fellowship there. One more thing. I received a very generous gift card at Christmas. it is for an excellent local restaurant and I will be taking tammy to this restaurant and using this gift card at some point during Lent. So that’s a freebie
So, why are we doing this? It’s about discipline and sacrifice. Eating out is fun. but eating out takes it’s toll physically and financially. Eating out also takes us from an intimate table and places us in a place that too often allows for no personal connection with each other. but most important, it is allowing us a chance to recapture an area of our life and replace it with something more appropriate. This season is about Jesus, His death and resurrection and His amazing gift of life. I want to worship him by giving areas of my life back to Him that I control, and I want to allow Him to do amazing things through this time.
So, here we go…






