You may have heard this before, but then again maybe you haven’t – I hadn’t until recently.  Research shows that we should take 10,000 steps a day.  Doing so can help to lower your BMI, reduce your waist size, and increase your energy.  It can help with hypertension and lessen your risk for Type II diabetes and heart disease.

If this is true, TVs should be hooked up to treadmills to make them work.  Doctors’ offices shouldn’t have parking lots, forcing us to walk to see our doctors!

10,000 steps equals about 8 kilometers (based on about a 2.5 foot long stride).  That’s about the distance I travel to work each day … and, uh, I would walk it if I … uh … didn’t need my car.

Some people have jobs where they walk all day, but not me.  As a pastor, I don’t walk very much.  I work at a desk and mostly walk to or from my car.  Tapping my feet to music while I work on my computer certainly doesn’t add any steps to my day.  I bought a pedometer to track my steps and, by noon some days, I’ve only taken 500.

So, to get a few more steps in, I started to walk for 30 minutes a day at a fairly brisk pace.  I walk with Lily around our neighbourhood, or go on our treadmill while watching TV.  I would take our turtle, Winston, for a walk but his legs are pretty short and I think I would end up dragging him around.

A thirty minute walk can give me about 4000 steps, which is pretty good, but still a far cry from ten grand!  So I’ve started to do something else: I get up from my desk mid morning and mid afternoon and walk for ten minutes around the sanctuary of the church.

It’s not the most interesting walk – it’s a little boring walking up and down the pews.  The only break is walking up the outside aisles and looking out the windows.  The problem with that is, if you see something interesting, you can’ t stop to get a better look.  You have to keep moving and just hope that it’s still visible on your next lap!

But I’ve found two things that make those walks exciting.  I either take time to think about what I am presently working on, taking my phone along and dictating into it any ideas that come to mind, OR, I use the time to pray.  I’ve found that I have some good times with God in those 10 minute intervals of walking in the sanctuary.  The time goes so fast as I walk that rather boring route.

Here’s the thing:  I’ve done my devotions early in the morning for years.  But I don’t have blocks of time later in the day that I spend in prayer.  I’m finding these 10 minute walks perfect for telling God what I’m thinking or feeling about right then.  I can talk over with Him what I’m wrestling with or what’s captured my immediate attention.  These short spurts of prayer or thought are inspiring and stimulating.  They’re like an injection of energy into my day.  I never would have thought of it.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  What do you do to keep God in your day?