THE RECRUIT

August 5, 2010Read: Luke 5 "Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.'" --Luke 5:5

Smelly, dirty, grimy -- these are just a few of the ways to describe Peter and his buddies. After all, they spent their days baiting hooks and cleaning fish. I'm smiling as I picture Jesus the recruiter walking up to this crew. Did He pause and grin, crouching down to watch and listen to them work? Maybe after a few minutes, He looked skyward with a smile as if to say, "I found them."

I'm not sure, but I like to wonder what happened in that moment just before the call. What we do know is that of all the fishermen that came off the water, this bunch caught God's attention. And not long after Christ borrowed Peter's boat, the two were catching fish in water too deep for the nets to reach; Peter's preview to the depths of His love.

So as we start our cars, open our offices, enter our cubicles or prepare for housework, let's do what Peter did and abandon control. Let's just imagine Him saying with a grin, "I found them", and this is that moment just before the call.

--J.P.

PRAYFIT TIP OF THE DAY: TAKE A BREAK

Of all the things that we recommend at PrayFit, we probably don't mention proper rest often enough. But the idea that you can take fitness too far is serious business. Overtraining Syndrome is real and it's serious. Here are just a few of the actual symptoms that some people experience when diagnosed with overtraining problems. Are you overtrained?

1 Sleep disturbances: Getting too much sleep or too little sleep; waking up fatigued despite a normal amount of sleep. 2 Psychological Reactions: Burnout, boredom, depression, irritability, anger. 3 Impaired performance: Decreased strength and endurance, delayed recovery, general intolerance to training. 4 Decreased immune function: Increased susceptibility to colds, flu and infections, or a slow rate of healing.

If you are suffering from any (or all) of these conditions, you may want to take a step back and look at your training program. You are likely doing too much of something. It's a good idea to reduce your workout frequency (how often you train), volume (how much you do), intensity (how heavy you're going) or just to get more rest between sessions. Also, you will want to make sure that your nutrition is adequate enough to support your training -- some people who are striving to lose weight will mistakenly slash calories in an effort to speed weight loss.

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