"In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus."

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." -Mark 1:35

This past week I started my new job at Sports Authority. While it is a blessing, it involves me getting up every morning, Monday thru Friday at 4:00am! I have to be at the store by 6:00 and it is in Farmington, which is roughly a 40 minute drive from my house.

One thing that has been nice is that in the morning while I'm driving there, I usually take time to pray. I pray about the Bible passage I read that morning, burdens for students, personal issues, whatever.

Yesterday morning I was reminded that Jesus used to get up early in the morning to pray too. He probably got up at around the same time I do. He would intentionally do it just to pray though, not because he had a job at 6am, like me. The context of that verse that I posted above was actually the morning after Jesus had a late night healing meeting. Jesus probably only had a quick power nap, but despite the fact that the previous night was so exhausting, He got up so He could start His day off right. He got up because He was willing to go through the whole day yawning as long as He spent adequate time with His Heavenly Father before starting a busy day of ministry.

I don't know about you, but for a guy who works a lot and loves sleep, that's challenging!

Need I say more?

I think not.

God bless,

Steve