The Early Bird Get’s Second Hand Information

Yesterday I mentioned my fast from purchasing new music as I observe the season of Lent. I was immediately tested by friends who sent me links to the U2 album stream thn I show up at the office where a couple coworkers and a friend were preparing to sample the album at the conference table. I politely and reluctantly declined and made it to my personal office without compromise. While listening to the album doesn’t technically play into my abstention from purchasing new music, the heart of the fast was that I forgo the pleasures of seeking the latest, freshest thing and being one of, if not the first I know to partake in the new ear candy.

The second piece of my Lent observance is a lot more difficult. I am a night person. I come alive in the PM. My church job demands that I be alert and ready on Sunday morning but the rest of the week I am a zombie before 10 am.  I get up normally between 7:30 and 8am and there are days when I push it until 9:30 or 10am but even after I wake up I have little social energy, my voice is groggy and I may as well still be asleep. That’s due in part to the late hours I keep after my wife and the kids are asleep. I catch up on indie films, listen to whole albums music, read sports blogs, watch west coast basketball games, study the bible, research trivial things on the net and other mundane activities.

So for Lent I have decided to lay all of that down for 40 days and wake up at 5:30am EACH morning. This is a big deal for me. I worship at Bedside Baptist and am a devout member. Plus, I always feel like I’m missing something when I go to bed before 10pm. Some breaking news, a breakout performance from an NBA player, a legendary comeback on Monday Night Football, a celebrity meltdown on Letterman, you never know. And God forbid I have to wake up and hear the news from someone else. I seriously have my priorities twisted sometimes. So I am laying that all down for Lent and getting out of the bed at 5:30am which means going to bed at reasonable semi-geriatric hours. My wife appreciates it because she likes for me to be in the bed with her even though she is one of those people that can lay down and be completely asleep in 60 seconds or less. I am the idiot that lays there for 30-90 minutes trying to doze off.  Now everytime I get sleepy in the day or start to whine about getting up early I will pause and pray for the city of Memphis, praising God for the good in this city and asking Him to change the bad things about it. In my next post I’ll tell you how I will invest those new found daylight hours and my final fast for the lent season.