A Pleasant Saturday

 After a long Thursday and Friday of travelling for work (about 500 miles), this Saturday at home was especially welcoming.

Today, my personal devotions were in the book of Nehemiah.  These passages in chapter 6 caught my attention ...

5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;

6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

Nehemiah was a godly man.  His conscience toward God and toward man was clear.  Because of this, he was able to stand firm when liars were trying to move him to fear and folly.  

I love this verse in Proverbs ...

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.  28:1

Sin keeps us looking over our shoulder constantly.  Had Nehemiah's motives or actions been corrupt in any way, he would have had reason to fear Sanballat's underhanded threats.  However, a clean mind and a clean life enabled Nehemiah to recognize the lies and tactics of his enemies.  He simply said, "There are no such things done as thou sayest."

I want my life to be this way.  I want to maintain a clear conscience through obedience to the Bible.  Boldness like Nehemiah's doesn't come by having dark and dirty corners in one's life.

After a sweet time of Bible reading and prayer, we headed off to a local park that has a lovely 1.6 mile loop.  The entire park was hopping due to various soccer games taking place, but the walk was still beautiful.  The air was cool; the sun was bright, and the leaves were radiant.  We did three laps for a total of 4.8 miles.

Afterwards, we came home and I did a simple, but effective, strength workout.  Here it is ...

Do 3 sets of strength moves and finish with a cardio move.  The strength part is 40 sec of work followed by 20 sec of rest.  The cardio move is 30 sec of work followed by 30 sec of rest.  Repeat this format 5 times for a 20 minute workout.  Here are the moves:

Set 1

Pushups

Squats

Rows (I used a band but weights are great)

Burpees

Set 2

Single-arm Shoulder Press (right)

Reverse Lunges

Single-arm Shoulder Press (left)

Windmills

Set3

Pushups

Squats

Rows

Jumping Jacks

Set 4

Chest Press

Forward Lunges

Fast Rows

High Knee Running-in-place

Set 5

Side Planks

Crunches

Sit-ups

Plank Jacks or Mountain Climbers

The sun was so nice, we washed the car afterwards.  Supper was simple tonight - tuna fish and applesauce 😆

Tuna is a great source of protein.

Tonight, we are settling in to read and relax.  Years ago, I committed the book of Titus to memory, so tonight, I will also be reviewing it and meditating on it.