Running for my life

Yes, I started jogging! I can't believe it.

I did this only because of the inspiration of some friends and the desire to be healthier. 

Look, it is pretty scary when you can't remember the last time you got your heart rate up. I am 46 years old and I have been basically sitting on my behind for the last two years sitting in front of this computer. I have pretty strong fingers though. 

Why do this?

I want to be a better steward of the body God gave me...plus I want to feel better. 

You know, for years I have been able to get away with eating anything I want and basically little excercise. One exception. I worked for Fedex for awhile and I lost 20 lbs and felt really good. I would walk 10 miles a day push, pulling and lifting heavy packages. Now I am back to wimpdom. 

Well, good-bye wimpworld. I am running for life!

Beards, Sugar & Hot Weather

I've noticed that the weather is unusually warm for May. Here is the forcast.

Wednesday May 27 - 74*

Thursday May 28 - 82*

Friday May 29 - 88*

Could it really be global warming? What about the extreme winter we had and how does that contrast it? 

In my opinion, this is a new year with new weather and new adventures! Why compare to the past? 

My life is like that right now. I am growing a beard. I know, you think I am crazy. Why now when it is getting warmer? It wasn't planned, really. I just forgot to shave one day, then two went by and next thing you know it Janine said it looks nice. So I went online and found out that if you really want this life change you got to be committed! You have to wait at least 3 weeks before you start hacking at it to make it look nice. 

So life change takes committment huh? 

Now that we are talking about committment, I wanted to mention that I did a 2 week fast from sugar. That ended last week sometime but I decided that I would pretty much stay away from the hard stuff. Why? It doesn't make me feel very good. In fact, I have less headaches and I am losing weight too! Talk about committment! The other day I brought donuts to church and as I was drooling over them I choose not to eat a single one. Not even sneak a bite when no one was looking! 

What does all this mean? Change can be good if it improves your health, your life and makes you a better person. 

Look at this verse from the Bible:

22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27 "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Luke 12:22-31 (NIV)

I think I am going to keep things simple, not freak out or over react to what I am doing. I am going to have fun, eat blackberries and grow a beard! Hey, why not? I feel pretty good about it anyway. And if Janine likes it all, then it's cool. 

Raising up leaders

Raising up leaders

AW Tozer says in his book "Tozer on Christian Leadership" - Our churches these days are filled with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spine-tingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. --------- As a leader, I want to raise up the bar. Time to train up leaders!

Killed Caffeine

Please do not get mad at me, but I killed caffeine. I no longer drink the stuff. It's been about 6 months now. I used to love it, but now it is gone. Can you blame me? It was messing up my body! 

Now I am an outsider. When I go into a coffee shop and order a "decaf", people snicker and glare at me. I drop my head down in shame. 

So thankfully there is caffeine free Coca Cola, herbal tea, and yes, most root beer doesn't have any of it! I am also glad to report that most fruit juice is caffeine free as well. And milk. And water. 

OK, are you going to throw your homily at me now, reminding me that even decaf has small amounts of caffeine in it? You are right. I will give you that. But I will not weaken in front of the energy drink section. Yes, I do not drink monsters or any other overloading "giant sweet tart tasting" beverages. 

Are you still mad at me? Have I gone too far? Can I still open the door of my local Starbucks with confidence? 

Honestly, I am not preaching at you. I am only a soloist, a individual who openly admits he is in love with the stuff, yet must walk away from it and find happiness anyway. I know I can do this. How do I know? Because I am on a two week sugar fast and that is much harder! 

(Please see my post - "Sugar is Evil")

The Eyes have had it!

Over the last few months my eyesight has progressivly been decreasing in ability to see things up close. At first I thought I was freaking out or something. Maybe I had a tumor in my brain. Then I learned that it's because I turned 46 this year. 

That's right, middle age. 

Now what do I do? The days when I could go to the park, just pick up a book and read and then look out at the beautiful view is gone. Now I have to put on glasses. I thought glasses were those things you drank milk out of! But glasses are for seeing and I sure do appreciate them. 

Funny thing is, the older I get the more I realize how much I never appreciated what I had when I was younger. perfect eyes is one of those things. 20/20 vision I was so proud of. Now I am humbled to join the rest of my family, which by the way, they all wear glasses! 

So what can I say...looks like the eyes have had it! 

Mothers are like no other

In reflecting the days of my own mother I have both good and bad memeries. The good ones make me smile and the bad ones...You see she passed away a few years ago and yet it already seems like so long ago but I prefer to think of the good things. Losing your own mother, I think, is one of the hardest things in life because the loss is bigger than you. My mom impacted so many people than just myself. One thing is for sure...you only realize what you no longer have until you actually don't have it anymore. 

Here are only a few of those things I was blessed with in my mom...My mom remembered all the important events in my life. When she saw me in person, she always gave me a hug and kissed me. She would call me on the phone and want to know everything that was going on. When email became mainstream, she would email me all the time and I still have a bunch of those emails saved on disk. She would love my wife and her grandkids and cooked some of the best meals for us on planet earth. 

I do not know what your mom is like, but my mom had terrible mood swings. As much as she was loving she could be very difficult to be around. I could not bear to be around her for more than a few days at a shot. Not even sure how I survived my childhood with all the stress! Yet, even after reflecting on those no so good memories, I still miss the little things she did for me. 

I think everybody needs a mom in their life. Why? Because nobody really loves with such tenderness as much as moms do. Even if the entire world hated me, I know my mom would still love me and stand up for me. She was on my side. 

So here is a thought: Somehow that part of God's character that is gentle, kind, all-loving and tender was given on loan to moms. 

God so much believes in the idea of a mom that his own son was born and raised by one. Who else would have stood by Jesus side all the way to the cross as she wept for her boy dieing for all of us. 

So to all you moms out there. Thank you for all of the years of love from changing our diapers, putting up with us when we were thirteen, cheering us on when we graduated from high school and/or college, celebrating with us at our weddings, and rejoicing over the babies that were born. Then being amazing grandmas spoiling our children. 

Don't think I forgot about the fathers. Dads are great too, but that is another blog. 

So thanks moms, because with out you, we would never have known the rich blessings, the tenderness and care there can be within a family. 

Sugar is Evil

All my life from the time I can remember I have eaten white processed granulated sugar. 

You know, the really sweet stuff you can wet with your finger and dip into the sugar bowl then lick it off. It's that stuff that is in the oversweet Koolaid or iced tea. It's the stuff that when I was a kid I used to dump way too much of over my cereal (before they had thousands of sweet cereals out on the market). And it's the same stuff that is in all the cookies, candy, treats, Coca Cola...and yes, my Starbucks white chocolate mocha. 

It's in everything and is everywhere. 

In fact, it's almost impossible to get rid of! It's all over my house hiding in my drawer in the form of chocolate, it's in our cupboards, in the upstairs and downstairs fridge, and the garage freezer. It's in my favorite food in the entire world...ice cream. Kind of reminds me of sin. You can't seem to shake it. Oh no...I said it again, shake...as in milk shake! 

Help! 

For the next two weeks a coworker and I will be saying NO to sugar for two weeks. It's crazy because now I have to look at labels, and say no to things I never said no too before. 

Why do this? 

I need to see if I can live without it. I need to be able to live without it. I've already said no to caffeine. That wasn't too bad with a headache for a few days. But saying no to sugar is like saying no to breathing air. I've been told that it is really bad for you. I've been told that after people get off of the white stuff they begin to feel overall better. And I wonder what kind of grip it has on me. The only thing in my life I want to have a grip on me is God. 

We learned recently from a fellow church planter that caffeine plus the Holy Spirit equals awesome. But maybe, just maybe it could be sugar plus the Holy Spirit equals awesome. Now I am thinking that maybe just the Holy Spirit plus nothing equals awesome because I will have a healthier body and I won't feel like I NEED it so much. So after my experiment I will let you know how I am doing and what I have learned. I very well may be crawling back to that addicting white stuff after I am done with all of the body cleansing. 

8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

1 Cor 8:8 (NIV)

Pauls tells the Corinthian church that eating food sacrificed to idols is nothing since all food is good and we should thankful for it. However, if we eat something that messes up somebody elses faith then we should stay away from it. Sugar doesn't mess up my faith and probably doesn't mess you up either, but it might be messing up this 46 year old body. 

What do you think?

God's Charactor

Since God's charactor does not change, then any inconsistency's seen is only a misunderstanding. See Romans 11:33 - 36

Not unarmed

An invisible theif can sneak up on you when you least expect it. However, we are not unaware nor unarmed.

Laura's Art

Laura's Art - I was told by Taylor-Anne that Laura wiped her poop all over the wall. Laura was proud. Do we mess up our lives thinking its good?

Sitting around the table

Thinking about people finding their place around the table of influence.

Discipleship Series Part 3 - Mentoring - Small Groups on May 3

Mentoring is essential in the discipleship process because of its focus, its care, it’s transferring of heart to heart, wisdom to wisdom. It’s how things are transferred from one person to another. Everybody needs a mentor because everybody needs to grow. All great leaders have mentors and are mentoring. Great mentors are also great role models because their lives are demonstrations. According to Harvey S. Firestone, founder of the Firestone tire company, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Same is true in the Church. People’s growth and development into Disciples of Christ is our highest calling. That is what mentoring is all about. It’s been said that “Things are better caught than taught”. This “catching” would be impossible without mentoring! Why? Because mentoring happens when the mentored is watching.

Mark 3:14 (NIV)

14 He appointed twelve--designating them apostles --that they might be with him…