"There is No Finish Line
Sooner or later the serious runner goes through a special, very personal experience that is unknown to most people.
Some call it euphoria. Others say it's a new kind of mystical experience that propels you into an elevated state of consciousness.
A flash of joy. A sense of floating as you run.
The experience is unique to each of us, but when it happens you break through a barrier that separates you from casual runners. Forever.
And from that point on, there is no finish line.
You run for your life. You begin to be addicted to what running gives you.
Beating the competition is relatively easy.
But beating yourself is a never ending commitment."
Author Unknown
"Cross Country - Finally a practical use for golf courses."
"Some people don't have the guts for distance racing. The polite term for them is sprinters."
"It is simply that we can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with... take up what a friend of ours calls the hearty challenges of lawn care... Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race dark Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!"- Once a Runner
What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?"- OAR
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Growing Pains
“If thoughts have consequences, then college has consequences. Thoughts do have consequences. So, college has consequences.” This is a simple argument in the famous argumentation form called Modus Ponens. In Logic we are learning that one set of premises in an argument can lead to conclusions in many seemingly unrelated arguments. Though this seems simple the effects of logic and the consequences of thought are monumental. In UFND we have discussed the effects of Protestant thought that have gone to conclusions Luther, Calvin, and many of the other reformers may not have wanted. In History of Ethics I began to see the cycles throughout time in which one thought process triggered many other consequential theories. These theories were more often than not pushing into to the uncomfortable extremes both for and against the original thought. These consequences of thought have split churches, propelled revolutions, and laid foundations for further thought…further consequences.
Whether it is the Power of Logic in philosophy classes, the power of a story in literature classes, or simply learning how to budget time and money while living in college the consequences are massive! And we a barraged with so many thoughts it is easy to be overwhelmed. Do women belong in ministry? Should a secular Jewish state exist? Predestination? Can warfare or violence be justified with “New Testament” Theology? Should we wait for God to execute Justice? Where is the balance between waiting for God to act and humans acting? Or does God not use the fallible? All of these questions hit me like a growth spurt hits a child in puberty. I thought my voice was one tone and then it shifts, cracks, and sounds as though some strange force has possessed me! I am realizing that the worldview in which I have been raised has consequences much larger than I could have dreamed only a year or two ago. These consequences have captured my conscience and catapulted me into a very exciting challenge in which I must decide how to respond.
There seems to be three general responses with young people in their relationship to their parents during the turbulence of puberty, rebellion, clinging, or growth. These responses mirror the reactions that the church had to modernity. The two extremes are in summery, digging in and defending or adjusting to the pressures of scientific and historical inquiry. These responses, though grossly oversimplified, are like clinging onto what one has been raised to believe or rebelling against the traditional disciplines. The third option of growth involves living a life unafraid to pursue truth wherever it leads. I like what Saint Augustine Had to say in “On Christian Teaching”
“A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who 'though they knew God did not glorify him as God...”
So all truth is God’s truth and this growth is an ongoing and challenging process that takes time. The pursuit of truth is a lifelong discipline. The other two responses are a form of intellectual coping out because you either have to make the truth flexible enough to fit into your ideas or give up on trying to know anything. I don’t want to cop out but how does a kid really learn truth until it has grown not only in stature but experience?
It is almost comical this thing called university! We have kids and teachers alike going through this academic process and becoming experts on theory when most have never had experience. We talk about killing and warfare like virgins talking about sex. There are so many things that are sent swirling through my head and heart that it is tempting to just give up. But even then these thoughts have consequences! To give up once allows you to embrace giving up a second, third, and fourth time. University is like a chess game in which we are stuck and still must move. It is your turn but you do not have vision for the consequences that are eminent.
Maybe we can gain wisdom through others experience. Maybe we can listen to our parents and teachers and still fight to be aware of our socialization. I believe that it is possible to gain wisdom by walking with wise people. The consequences of this are an ability to have a reference point in all the swirling. There is a foundation that has been laid by other lives that have gone after truth and passed down what they know. That foundation tells me to be faithful in the little things and to keep on going. That foundation tells me that there is knowing beyond empirical understanding. I echo Pascal in saying "The heart has its reasons which reason cannot know." It is in that realm where love, faith, and reason collide and I find a reference point. From there I believe I can push on into this thing called University and pursue truth even through the growing pains.
Whether it is the Power of Logic in philosophy classes, the power of a story in literature classes, or simply learning how to budget time and money while living in college the consequences are massive! And we a barraged with so many thoughts it is easy to be overwhelmed. Do women belong in ministry? Should a secular Jewish state exist? Predestination? Can warfare or violence be justified with “New Testament” Theology? Should we wait for God to execute Justice? Where is the balance between waiting for God to act and humans acting? Or does God not use the fallible? All of these questions hit me like a growth spurt hits a child in puberty. I thought my voice was one tone and then it shifts, cracks, and sounds as though some strange force has possessed me! I am realizing that the worldview in which I have been raised has consequences much larger than I could have dreamed only a year or two ago. These consequences have captured my conscience and catapulted me into a very exciting challenge in which I must decide how to respond.
There seems to be three general responses with young people in their relationship to their parents during the turbulence of puberty, rebellion, clinging, or growth. These responses mirror the reactions that the church had to modernity. The two extremes are in summery, digging in and defending or adjusting to the pressures of scientific and historical inquiry. These responses, though grossly oversimplified, are like clinging onto what one has been raised to believe or rebelling against the traditional disciplines. The third option of growth involves living a life unafraid to pursue truth wherever it leads. I like what Saint Augustine Had to say in “On Christian Teaching”
“A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who 'though they knew God did not glorify him as God...”
So all truth is God’s truth and this growth is an ongoing and challenging process that takes time. The pursuit of truth is a lifelong discipline. The other two responses are a form of intellectual coping out because you either have to make the truth flexible enough to fit into your ideas or give up on trying to know anything. I don’t want to cop out but how does a kid really learn truth until it has grown not only in stature but experience?
It is almost comical this thing called university! We have kids and teachers alike going through this academic process and becoming experts on theory when most have never had experience. We talk about killing and warfare like virgins talking about sex. There are so many things that are sent swirling through my head and heart that it is tempting to just give up. But even then these thoughts have consequences! To give up once allows you to embrace giving up a second, third, and fourth time. University is like a chess game in which we are stuck and still must move. It is your turn but you do not have vision for the consequences that are eminent.
Maybe we can gain wisdom through others experience. Maybe we can listen to our parents and teachers and still fight to be aware of our socialization. I believe that it is possible to gain wisdom by walking with wise people. The consequences of this are an ability to have a reference point in all the swirling. There is a foundation that has been laid by other lives that have gone after truth and passed down what they know. That foundation tells me to be faithful in the little things and to keep on going. That foundation tells me that there is knowing beyond empirical understanding. I echo Pascal in saying "The heart has its reasons which reason cannot know." It is in that realm where love, faith, and reason collide and I find a reference point. From there I believe I can push on into this thing called University and pursue truth even through the growing pains.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Tips for Devos
First off Devos = Devotions
As I was reading this morning, with my wonderful room mate sleeping soundly in our bunk, I cracked open the blinds to spill light in on my journals. Almost simultaneous with the light spilling in the to do list of the day awoke in my mind. If you are anything like me it is often a challenge to keep your mind focussed on the Word, or any reading for that matter, when the days to-do's grab for your attention. Attention in its origin comes from the Latin base attentio(n-), or the verb attendere (attend). With this understanding of the word attention it follows that what you pay attention to you serve. So it is important to ask, "what owns your attention?" Most likely what owns your attention owns you!
I like to multi-task (I am actually writing this as my professor goes off on tangents) and the issue with a mind that is always doing ten things is that you often miss the wholeness that is sound in single focus. In fact to have more than one vision is a great breakdown to the word division or di-vision.
All of this to say! Write stuff down! When you are having trouble focussing in on the Word have a sticky note on which you can write down your thoughts and to-do's. Write it down and then shift back and let your mind be set on what God's word and all he has to say to you! The same practical trick goes with prayer, worship, and I may broaden it to life as a whole! It works wonders.
A second little breakthrough that I have had recently is to read the bible in large chunks. A reading plan is great and I recommend one as it helps you to get a diverse diet of the law, the prophets, gospels, epistles, and so forth...
but even as there is great value in meditating on short sections of scripture to mine out its treasures I have found that there is great value in reading large sections. My reason is, as any budding English major may have supposed, that as you read the bible (especially the Old Testament) you gain an understanding of the narrative, the big picture, the context of those short sections we love to meditate on.
In summery... sticky notes, perspective,
and I love you.
As I was reading this morning, with my wonderful room mate sleeping soundly in our bunk, I cracked open the blinds to spill light in on my journals. Almost simultaneous with the light spilling in the to do list of the day awoke in my mind. If you are anything like me it is often a challenge to keep your mind focussed on the Word, or any reading for that matter, when the days to-do's grab for your attention. Attention in its origin comes from the Latin base attentio(n-), or the verb attendere (attend). With this understanding of the word attention it follows that what you pay attention to you serve. So it is important to ask, "what owns your attention?" Most likely what owns your attention owns you!
I like to multi-task (I am actually writing this as my professor goes off on tangents) and the issue with a mind that is always doing ten things is that you often miss the wholeness that is sound in single focus. In fact to have more than one vision is a great breakdown to the word division or di-vision.
All of this to say! Write stuff down! When you are having trouble focussing in on the Word have a sticky note on which you can write down your thoughts and to-do's. Write it down and then shift back and let your mind be set on what God's word and all he has to say to you! The same practical trick goes with prayer, worship, and I may broaden it to life as a whole! It works wonders.
A second little breakthrough that I have had recently is to read the bible in large chunks. A reading plan is great and I recommend one as it helps you to get a diverse diet of the law, the prophets, gospels, epistles, and so forth...
but even as there is great value in meditating on short sections of scripture to mine out its treasures I have found that there is great value in reading large sections. My reason is, as any budding English major may have supposed, that as you read the bible (especially the Old Testament) you gain an understanding of the narrative, the big picture, the context of those short sections we love to meditate on.
In summery... sticky notes, perspective,
and I love you.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Abandon
abandon |əˈbandən|
verb [ trans. ]
1 give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking) : he had clearly abandoned all pretense of trying to succeed. See note at relinquish .
• discontinue (a scheduled event) before completion : against the background of perceived threats, the tour was abandoned.
2 cease to support or look after (someone); desert : her natural mother had abandoned her at an early age.
• leave (a place, typically a building) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return : derelict houses were abandoned.
• leave (something, typically a vehicle or a vessel) decisively, esp. as an act of survival : he abandoned his vehicle and tried to flee on foot.
• ( abandon someone/something to) condemn someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in or look after them : it was an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation.
3 ( abandon oneself to) allow onself to indulge in (a desire or impulse) : abandoning herself to moony fantasies.
noun
complete lack of inhibition or restraint : she sings and sways with total abandon.
Abandon + me = a dream.
I dream that I could abandon my commitments
leave my fear on the side of the road
forget time.
Abandon desires, dreams, and delusions
wish I could loose myself from me.
There is a continuance of history
a cyclical wearing down
freedom!
To worship with abandon is beautiful
To give freely and full of Joy is gorgeous
To live in an abandonment of all calling
is coping
it is a copping...out
Abandon is both good, bad, and blah...
Abandon + me = a dream.
verb [ trans. ]
1 give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking) : he had clearly abandoned all pretense of trying to succeed. See note at relinquish .
• discontinue (a scheduled event) before completion : against the background of perceived threats, the tour was abandoned.
2 cease to support or look after (someone); desert : her natural mother had abandoned her at an early age.
• leave (a place, typically a building) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return : derelict houses were abandoned.
• leave (something, typically a vehicle or a vessel) decisively, esp. as an act of survival : he abandoned his vehicle and tried to flee on foot.
• ( abandon someone/something to) condemn someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in or look after them : it was an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation.
3 ( abandon oneself to) allow onself to indulge in (a desire or impulse) : abandoning herself to moony fantasies.
noun
complete lack of inhibition or restraint : she sings and sways with total abandon.
Abandon + me = a dream.
I dream that I could abandon my commitments
leave my fear on the side of the road
forget time.
Abandon desires, dreams, and delusions
wish I could loose myself from me.
There is a continuance of history
a cyclical wearing down
freedom!
To worship with abandon is beautiful
To give freely and full of Joy is gorgeous
To live in an abandonment of all calling
is coping
it is a copping...out
Abandon is both good, bad, and blah...
Abandon + me = a dream.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Mornings Light
Remember when we were
way back then
we were
you and I
and we were stayin up to late
Remember how we were
talking loud
we were
under the stars
and we were sitting way to close
Remember how we were
goin back and forth
we were
arguing love and lust
and happiness `
We all want hands to hold
We all want arms to fold in around us
We never really listened to the warnings
C---Em---D
until mornings light comes pouring rudely in
I don't Remember who said
that history proves with the dead
to be always going
round and round again
but no matter how strong
what we are fed
it will never go to my head
that a
kiss is just a kiss
C---D---G---Em
I don't want to fall in love
I don't want to walk in blind
I don't have the time
way back then
we were
you and I
and we were stayin up to late
Remember how we were
talking loud
we were
under the stars
and we were sitting way to close
Remember how we were
goin back and forth
we were
arguing love and lust
and happiness `
We all want hands to hold
We all want arms to fold in around us
We never really listened to the warnings
C---Em---D
until mornings light comes pouring rudely in
I don't Remember who said
that history proves with the dead
to be always going
round and round again
but no matter how strong
what we are fed
it will never go to my head
that a
kiss is just a kiss
C---D---G---Em
I don't want to fall in love
I don't want to walk in blind
I don't have the time
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
10 Commandments of Relationships
A little taste from college retreat. This is some solid teaching on a topic that many churches get weird about. It was a ton of fun!
1. Guys are the initiators and girls are the responders. Proverbs 18:22. Every lady known as an initiator of relationship in the bible was a whore.
2. Getting coffee does not equal marriage. Going on a date does not even mean you’re dating. Do not put your expectations on coffee.
3. Get a vision for the end before you begin. End meaning the start of your marriage, the alter… Get a vision for where you want to be financially, with your purity, how much baggage you want to bring into the relationship. Habakkuk 2:2, 1 Tim 5:8
4. When on a date guys should make it a goal to ask more questions than talk about themselves. James 1:14. Do not be dogmatic or opinionated, but rather open to new things.
5. Godly relationships stir you to pursue Jesus never to pull away. If a relationship begins to take you away from the church, your small group, and Godly accountability found in covenant friendship it is Godly.
6. Keep your relationship in the light. 1 John 1:7
7. Guys need to lead the relationship. Lines are to be drawn, not discovered. Guys need to draw those lines and yet not be driven by a spirit of legalism. We are grace people.
8. How far is to far is the wrong question. It should be more like how much can I please God in this relationship. If you can hold her hand without going to bed in your mind then hold her hand. For some you may just need to high five it up for a while. Others kissing is okay… not a set rule. Jack Hayford believes that open mouth kissing opens the door to sex because as soon as you open your mouth and insert your tongue it is a mental action tied symbolically to the insertion of … 1 Cor 7:1
9. Let the relationship happen naturally, do not force it. Say hello>get to know>be a bro>let it grow>give it a go>don’t be so slow.
10. Be confident and have a sense of humor.
1. Guys are the initiators and girls are the responders. Proverbs 18:22. Every lady known as an initiator of relationship in the bible was a whore.
2. Getting coffee does not equal marriage. Going on a date does not even mean you’re dating. Do not put your expectations on coffee.
3. Get a vision for the end before you begin. End meaning the start of your marriage, the alter… Get a vision for where you want to be financially, with your purity, how much baggage you want to bring into the relationship. Habakkuk 2:2, 1 Tim 5:8
4. When on a date guys should make it a goal to ask more questions than talk about themselves. James 1:14. Do not be dogmatic or opinionated, but rather open to new things.
5. Godly relationships stir you to pursue Jesus never to pull away. If a relationship begins to take you away from the church, your small group, and Godly accountability found in covenant friendship it is Godly.
6. Keep your relationship in the light. 1 John 1:7
7. Guys need to lead the relationship. Lines are to be drawn, not discovered. Guys need to draw those lines and yet not be driven by a spirit of legalism. We are grace people.
8. How far is to far is the wrong question. It should be more like how much can I please God in this relationship. If you can hold her hand without going to bed in your mind then hold her hand. For some you may just need to high five it up for a while. Others kissing is okay… not a set rule. Jack Hayford believes that open mouth kissing opens the door to sex because as soon as you open your mouth and insert your tongue it is a mental action tied symbolically to the insertion of … 1 Cor 7:1
9. Let the relationship happen naturally, do not force it. Say hello>get to know>be a bro>let it grow>give it a go>don’t be so slow.
10. Be confident and have a sense of humor.
Monday, January 11, 2010
January 11
New year
New focus
New dreams
New resolution
New fear
New striving
New opportunity
To fly... to fall...
11 days in
11 days long
9 days strong
2 days wrong
Hangover from dreaming
Intoxicated tears
Wake up in sweat
work in sweat
Rain a beating
Sweat dripping
Tears bursting against my will
Tears refusing when willed.
New focus
New dreams
New resolution
New fear
New striving
New opportunity
To fly... to fall...
11 days in
11 days long
9 days strong
2 days wrong
Hangover from dreaming
Intoxicated tears
Wake up in sweat
work in sweat
Rain a beating
Sweat dripping
Tears bursting against my will
Tears refusing when willed.
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