1 Year of Racing - Making the Most of a Situation

Wow,


Today was my first "Anniversary" of racing and really this blog too. Kinda tends to force you into some reflection. This year has been full of opportunity for me. I thank God for that. It reminds me of a verse that says that He has given evrything that we need for life and godliness. Are we taking the opportunity that we are afforded by the blood of Christ. It is finished! We have everything that we need to live a righteous, victorious christian life. I feel I must clarify the word "victorious." This concept has been taken so far out of context by certain veins of the christian community that it really has hurt the church and the Name of Jesus. Victorious christian living is fleeing and overcoming sin. Have I been taking advantage of fleeing what the Bible has said is sin. A big FAT NO. So, with all this being said, I had a time today of 32:13. Last year, my time was 35:36. I am very excited about the progress and a little disheartened that it wasn't even more of a progression. I can attribute all of this lack of progress to a lack of discipline and my half-assed attitude towards everything in life, including my spiritual development.The book of Hebrews is my favorite book in the bible, if you can have a favorite... ha ha. It is all amazing. Anyway, here's what John Piper says about Hebrews"The Mystery of God's Providence in the Pain of our Lives
The book of Hebrews is a very mature and sober book when it comes to the pain and stress of Christian living and the endurance that it takes to run the race and fight the fight and finish well. It's not a book that people (especially teenagers and strong young adults) gravitate toward - unless they have suffered and struggle for some explanation of how that relates to God. In other words, the more easy and pain-free your life has been, the less you will cherish the kind of spirituality taught in this book. And the more you have suffered, the more you will cling to the precious teachings of this book - if you are willing to believe them.
That is a big if. I was talking with one of our members at the baptism service Wednesday evening, and he was telling me about recent conversations he had had with people who simply do not believe what this chapter teaches. It's not a little feel-good chapter about how to make the best of your troubles - or even about how God makes the best of your troubles. It is a massive statement about the gracious sovereignty of God over the evil that befalls his people. And the big IF is: will you believe this? Will you accept the mystery of God's providence in the pain of your life, and be trained by it (as verse 11 says) for the sake of good and peace and holiness and righteousness and life? Or will you kick against this chapter and demand in the season of suffering that God give a greater account of himself than he does in this chapter?" meaning 10...

So, all that to say is we are in a race and with our loving Father filtering everything through loving hands we can win the race that is set before us....

NBC 10 - GAME CHANGERS

Hello Everyone,

This will be on my blog but just wanted to tell each of you in a mass email, excuse me for that, that the feature that channel 10 did was on last night at 11pm. Jade McCarthy who was the contact person and in charge of all these "Game Changers" segments is on vacation. That is why I was not told. Anyway, the segment will re-air on Wednesday, tomorrow, on channel 10 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon but the link below will show you the segment on your computer... I hear it was GREAT!




Game Changers: Achieving His Dreams - Videos - WCAU

Welcome to Love

Hi everyone, I am writing this to tell everyone that my niece, Jessica is in labor with a baby girl right now. It is exciting times and has really made me think about the miracle that we call life. Life is so fragile as we have seen in the past couple of months. It can be taken so quickly by any number of things. Earthquakes, floods, malice of other human beings, things we can’t even imagine. The Bible says that it is God who gives and takes away life. “Sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God.” , is a quote from Jonathan Edwards after he finished wrestling with the hand of God in his life. All this to say, I am in awe of this thing that we call life. “Thing” is not a good word for it I guess. Ha ha!

Psalm 139 is what I am mostly thinking about today. That God knows what He has done in Jess’ womb. Stella has been fearfully and wonderfully made in Jess’ womb. When she comes into the world, she will be welcomed to love of her family. But, she was loved so much before that by God…

Opening Ceremonies - Tom Fields

Hey,
just a quick blurb about Opening Ceremonies. Tommy did a great job last night and the amazing spirit of the Special Olympics. I know you probably won't see this until after the festivities are over but you should really come. If not this year, you should come and get involved in it. For more info you can just talk to me....