Turkey Trot

On Saturday I had the opportunity to run in the 10th annual Turkey Trot at Treesdale. I have to say it was wonderfully organized. They had plenty of volunteers helping out. They had every thing up and running. A really well run event.

The course was difficult. One of the hardest courses I have ever seen. Between mile one and two I think it was just one long hill. Not to mention the beginning that after 50 yards you were heading up a huge hill. I do like challenging courses. I am just a crazy like that.

It turned out that I finished 2nd in my age category. The guy that beat me, who happens to be on the Lighthouse Board, finished 2nd to last in our category. (did you get that?)

All in all a great morning. The best thing? All proceeds go to the Lighthouse! Thank you to all who helped put everything together.

Hurt people hurt people, but what do healthy people do?

When people are hurting they have a tendency to hurt people. It is just what happens. Yes, I know it is a destructive thing to do. I know that you should not hurt anyone. All of that is true, but when you are talking about hurting people, they hurt people.
So what if a hurt person tries to hurt you? Get over it! They are hurting. We have the tendency to think that they should be kind to us because we are trying to help them. Or that they should be grateful for the help that we give them. They are hurting. It is not that they are being mean or rude on purpose they are hurting.
Our job is to help those who are hurting. It is not about how they treat us. It is not about how many times they thank us. It is about how we treat them.

Playing with my kids

If I am honest, I still like being a kid. So one of my jobs as a dad is to play with my kids. Boy that is the easy part. It is fun goofing off with the kids. The older that they get the more that we can play. Now I am willing to bet that during our playing something will end up broken. Hopefully it will not be a bone or anything like that. But it is a lot of fun playing with my boys.
the one thing that I learned, is that it doesn't matter what you do with them, as long as you are playing with them.
One of my underlying motives (ohh yes I have them) for blowing off all the leafs the other day was sled riding. I can't wait to go sledding with my boys. Now that there are no leaves there it will be even more fun!
So yes, maybe I am a big kid. But it is ok!

Number 500

Wow! Post number 500! Amazing! Here it is 500 posts later and I still think I am just at the beginning of something legendary! I think I am going to keep blogging.
With that being said I thought about the next 40 days or so. That would be the last 40 days of the year. I am going to try and spend about 95% of my thoughts on the sins of omission rather then the sins of commission. I am thinking that there is a lot of things that we don't do that we should do. But the problem is that we don't realize it because we are too busy worrying about what we shouldn't have done.
I don't know where this is going to take me. But it sounds like fun. Maybe this could be the beginning...the beginning of something legendary :)

Dealing With Headaches

I might have mentioned this before, but just to review. Since I was in about 3rd grade, I have gotten migraines. Now when I was younger, they would just kill a whole day. I would end up throwing up over and over. Since then I have learned to control these headaches a whole lot better.
Yes, I got one of those today. I ended up throwing up once. It was then I went home and took a 1/2 hour nap. Woke up, ate something, went back to doing what I was doing. About an hour later I started to feel better again.
It feels great to feel normal. I am glad I have figured out how to deal with the headaches. There are some other things that I do to prevent the headache and to deal with the headache before it gets extreme.
I know when I get to heaven, these will not be a problem. I also know that my headaches are nothing compared to what some people have to put up with.

Overcoming frustration

Today was a difficult day. I was trying to figure out how to balance the budget for next year. There are some difficult decisions that will have to be made. So I needed to clear my head and went for a long run. Boy did that feel good. A nice 5 to 6 miles. When I was running, I had a thought. I thought I made a mistake. So I got excited. Ran back to my office. Checked it, and unfortunately no mistake. So I was feeling kinda of frustrated, but it was time to go home. I had worship team practice tonight. When I was practicing, I must admit, I was enjoying being with God. My thoughts began to focus on God. Put everything back in to perceptive. Yes, I still have to figure out how to balance the budget. But, I know that God is in control.

Depending on Miracles

Today was one of those days when I woke up I had a bunch of thoughts like "There is no way everything is going to get done." I am the type of person who would like to know a head of time how things are going to work out. But sometimes that is just not possible. So I have to depend totally on miracles. I love being in those situations. Actually that is not totally true, those situations do make me nervous. Which makes me say something like "Lord, help". That is the good part.
Now let me be point out something here. While it is perfectly acceptable to depend on miracles, it is not acceptable to be lazy. We need to make sure we are doing the work that we have been called to do.
Today I had a couple of those miracles work out. Boy does it feel good!

Effectiveness

One of the biggest lessons that I learned in college (at the great Toccoa Falls College that is) was about forms, functions, and foundations. Allow me to review:

• Foundation -- that should be the foundation of Christ. Everything we do must be from that starting point
• Functions -- The things the Bible tells us to do. Stuff like the Great Commandment, the great commission go and make disciples, WHEN you pray (not if). Stuff like that.
• Forms -- How you do the functions. Whatever way is most effective, do it!

Now there is one stat that has stayed with me for a long time. It takes the church in America 100 people 1 year at a cost of $100,000 to reach one person for Christ. I never liked that one much. So I always trying to find ways to lower those numbers.

But when I juxtapose those two things, my brain gets excited. My soul gets excited! Then I want to figure out the best way to do everything! Then I start dreaming! Then dreaming leads to action!

Being Ready To Learn

This past weekend was a long weekend. We has the opportunity to visit family across the state. It was a blast do not get me wrong. I enjoyed it. But needless to say, by the time Sunday came around I was a little tired. It was hard to pay attention. I had to force myself to listen. Here is what I know about being ready to learn:

• You can not learn on an empty stomach. I know not so spiritual, but it is true
• You can not learn that well without proper rest. Again, not spiritual, just practical
• You learn better when are excited about something. Do you gear up for a football game? Why not Church?
• You learn better when you try to listen. Face it we all can tune things out, but why not be an active listener
• You learn better when you are comfortable. I am sorry if wearing a tie makes you fidget, do not wear one.
• You learn better you can hear. Proper sound does help a lot.

Just some thoughts about being ready to learn. You have any more ideas?

What I learned today

When I think about my day, I usually try to figure out one thing that I learned. The thought of the day if you will. Today was all about talking to people. I think of three conversations I had with people today. In all of those three conversations, I saw the person. In those three conversations, there were no cell phone interruptions, no text interruptions, no interruptions of any sort. That is really rare these days. I enjoyed it. I will have to remember that the next time I get a call or something when talking to someone. Maybe I will just ignore the potential int eruption.

Who really is in charge of YOUR life?

Election day. I really hope you all voted. If you did not, seriously, shame on you! But election day is always a little nerve racking. You want your candidate to win. So you watch the results, waiting for those key races to return. I hate to burst your bubble, but some of the people you wanted to win will win. And then tomorrow will come. Guess what, we will still have the same problems we had before your candidate was elected.
The point is this, if you relying on a politician to be in charge of your life, you have serious problems. God is the one who needs to be in charge. If God is in charge, you can go to bed, no matter who is in charge, and wake up and serve God. Pretty cool huh?
By the way if you did not vote, you are not allow to complain about anything involving politics or the government! You forfeit that right!

I have failed my kids

I have come to realized that I am failing my kids. For the most part, Heather and I make sure that our kids eat healthy. Honestly, we do not have that many good snacks around this house. (And yes, I am hungry right now) Due to this fact, my kids do not have a good knowledge of candy. When we were trick or treating, my kids were not taking the good candy. They would take a lollipop over a snickers bar. Really kids? Come on! I need my candy!
My poor kids :)