First: We continue to pray for relief and the complete recovery of our dear Imam Dr. Nasir Ahmad, of Miami’s Masjid Al-Ansar,  from pneumonia complications.

Second, Miss Tee Jackson continues to deserve kudos for bringing people together with her Bible on the Beach sessions at dawn on Saturdays at the Lake Worth Municipal Beach. See the outline for last Saturday’s third of four planned sessions following the photos below. Once again it was good folks sharing the Good Word in a glorious ocean atmosphere.

There was even more good community life later as The International League of Muslim Women’s South Florida Chapter, of which my wife Aneesha is president, hosted another of their annual Pre-Ramadan Dinners, this time at Masjid Al-Ansar. Imam Nasir was sorely missed. But Imam Melton Mustafa, who also is battling illness, stepped in to help cap off a day of good universal vibrations and good company — not to mention the League members’ good food.

Next stop: the blessings of the fast of Ramadan.

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Bible on the Beach outline 8.7.10

Theme:  Exercise Your Faith

SESSION III Discipline, Repetition and Lunges

With any exercise regiment you have to be disciplined.  In order to reach your goal a set of repetitions are given.  Each day you must work those repetitions to get a different result. Your faith is like a muscle — it grows with exercise, gaining strength over time.

It takes exercise and effort to achieve spiritual faith.

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How is your Faith exercised?

Discipline: Before you start and exercise regiment you must decide if you are in it for the long haul.  Your mind must be made up that you will be committed to the cause to get the end results.  Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Repetitions: You have heard the saying, “Do it over and over until you get it right.” I remember when I was little as punishment for slamming the door when I was upset, my mother would make me go in and out of the door until she would tell me to stop.  The punishment for the crime was to teach me how I was supposed to use the door.   And guess what?  I got it. I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray continually.”

Lunges: Lunge into your purpose.  Get involved.  When God reveals something in Christian service that needs to be done do it!  Don’t let anyone stop you, give it all you got.  The end result is watching the Holy Spirit work through you.  “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all”   — I Corinthians 12:7.

References: Excerpts from Turning Points Dr. David Jeremiah, Holy Bible NIV

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Great daybreak class this morning at the Lake Worth Municipal Beach led by Tee Jackson, a wonderful teacher sharing universal principles from her Christian perspective:

“Some of us lift weights, watch our diets religiously and spend countless hours in the gym. Do we display that same determination in our spiritual lives? Do we have that same zeal for exercising our minds, soul and spirit? Since none of us can become godly by osmosis, we need to learn to exercise our faith. It takes exercise and effort to achieve spiritual faith.”

It is from her dedicated work helping ladies on behalf of the Women’s Circle (see here, here and here) that I know “Miss Tee,” as we call her.  When she told me about her 6:00 to 7:30 a.m. gathering, I was determined to support her effort. (Of course, the beach setting didn’t hurt.)

Tee, joined by her friends Gilda, Janice and Carolyn, started off with physical stretching exercises, and ended with a walk along the beach. In between, during her brief session on “How is your Faith exercised?”,  Tee cited scriptural passages and plainspoken wisdom while working through concepts of “Warming Up” (Matt. 7.7), “Stretching” (Luke 5:4) and “Walking” (Matt. 4:4).

“Stretch out on faith,” Tee Jackson counseled in that segment of her presentation. “As I prepared for this first ‘Bible on the Beach’ I had no idea who would come out or if anyone would come but, because of my past experiences of seeing God’s blessings for my faithfulness, I said, ‘Yes Lord I’ll go if I have to go alone.’ In Luke 5:4 we read the story of the disciples who had fished all night long and had no catch. Then Jesus came along and said to them to launch out into the deep and drop your net.”

I left the ocean sounds and breeze energized and inspired. More scenes:

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