Personal Retreat

I am so stoked. I will be gone for the next three days on a personal retreat to Fairhaven ministries in Roan Mountain, TN. This could not have come at a better time. I am really looking forward to spending a lot of quiet time alone with God. I plan to pray a lot, read a lot, write a lot and also work in some good hiking with just me and God. I am anticipating good refreshment and renewal. I will not be blogging while I am gone but will blog about my experiences after I get home. Pray for me as I seek stillness, simplicity and renewal.

An Early Run With Drake

I can't remember the last time I ran before 9 AM. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I did anything before 9 AM (just kidding - kinda). Seriously, thanks to Drake A., I was out of the bed and headed to the rail trail early this morning. It is great to have a running partner again. Thanks Drake - you are the man! We ran approximately 4 miles in 34:23 with a final mile of 7:58. I know I am slow, but I am still recuperating from being sick and taking 3 weeks off. After we got done running, Drake looked at me a said now aren't you glad you did that early and you have your whole day ahead of you. Wow, morning people are something else! He was right, though. I had a great day with Brannon and Anna while Becky was at a bridal shower and then I actually relaxed on the couch for about an hour. A great day and I am really looking forward to tomorrow, but when am I not excited about being at Crossroads Church on Sunday morning. WooooooooooHooooooooooooo!

Sore Run

The second day running is always the hardest, whether it is the second day you have ever run or the second day back after a long break, the second day is always the most difficult. I ran this evening and it was a perfect time to run, but I was still sore from being off so long and running on Tuesday. I was slow tonight (I won't even post my last mile time), but considering it was my second day back and I was sore, it was a good run. I was out for 35:26 and I listened to a good Andy Stanley sermon on guilt. It is good to be back in the groove and be mostly over my cough and sinus problems. I know that the weather is about to turn cold and rainy, but I sure have been thankful for the awesome WV weather that we have been having recently. Tomorrow is a busy day so I'm going to turn in a little early tonight (10:30PM is early for me).

A Time for New Life

Spring has sprung and it is beautiful in Morgantown, WV. The trees are all sprouting new growth and the hillsides are beginning to green up. Flowers are everywhere. It is great. It has seemed like a long, bleak winter and now warmer temperatures are here and all the death is being replaced by new life.

Spring is a wonderful time to reflect on life and all that God intends and all that God offers through His Son, Jesus Christ. Spring is a great time to think about new beginnings as well. As I have blogged about recently and the absence of my recent blogging both reveal that I have been in a very dry/dead place for almost a month. It has been so weird, but God has been so faithful. He has allowed the dry time to reiterate my great need and dependence for and on Him and in the past week, and more specifically the past 5 days, God has picked me up and blessed me so much. I do not deserve anything but death and He is constantly infusing my life, my family, and my church with new life.

Spring is so beautiful, but it also represents life out of death. That is how I feel right now. Life from death is so beautiful and so undeserved. Praise be to God who saves us from our bodies of death. Therefore the symbolism of spring applies to us all no matter where we are in our walks with God. He has brought us from death to life. Let us be sure to give thanks and praise for this beautiful spring and also for the spring of life which God promises will last forever. Sweet! Thanks God for the spring!

I Think I'm Back

I'm back on the trail and on the bogosphere. I ran tonight with Drake. He is the man and is going to make a good running partner. We went out for 4 miles. I was a little slow but I have been off for three weeks. I ran a 35:21 with a final mile in 7:46. It was a beautiful day. Spring is a great time to run but more on that tomorrow.

Christianity Is No Longer Producing Saintliness

Check out this convicting thought from A.W. Tozer

"In today's Christianity, we have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone!

The fact is that we are no longer producing saints. We are making converts to a weak type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched parody on true sainthood!

Clearly, we must begin to produce better Christians! We must insist on New Testament sainthood for our converts, nothing less; and we must lead them into a state of heart purity, fiery love, separation from the world and poured-out devotion to the Person of Christ.

Only in this way can the low level of spirituality be raised again to where it should be in the light of the Scriptures and of eternal values!"

When I read this, I wonder just how badly we have watered down the message of Jesus. If he spoke audibly into our lives today about what He demanded from us, what would He say and how far off the mark would we be. Just how much of the New Testament have we allowed ourselves to ignore? Are we saints or smucks?

Sick and Dry

Well, it has officially been two weeks since I have run and nothing seems normal in my life right now. The last two weeks have been very weird. I have been somewhat apathetic since I got sick over 11 days ago. That is crazy. I have not been myself. I have got to get back in the groove. I hope to run on Thursday if my lungs are up for the challenge after all the coughing I have been doing for the past week. This is also my renewed effort to blog regularly again. Sorry I have slacked, but when you get sick, it seems like everything flies out the window. I think maybe I need a vacation. Wonder when that will happen?

Still Down

I am still a little sick. The reason I say a little sick is because I am not confined to the bed. So I'm just a little bit sick, but it sure is enough to get you down. I don't feel like doing anything and I really hate that feeling.

Now it's even worse because I think all three of my girls are getting sick as well. Anna is for sure. She was miserable earlier today. Seeing your kids sick is worse than being sick yourself especially when they are so tiny.

So much to do and so much eating at my brain right now with all the new things in front of Crossroads Church at this present moment, but I am having trouble getting motivated to work this week. I know I am sick, but for those of you who know me know that that is not a good excuse. Becky just told me earlier today to lighten up on myself. She said its OK to have some down time. That is hard for me. I know that this church/ministry thing is a marathon and not a sprint, but that is hard for me too. I want to be fast in everything that I do and this little bug sure isn't helping things. It would probably be better if I was so sick that I couldn't get off the couch. That way, I would cut myself a break, unlike being a little bit sick and feeling that I should be able to fight through it. Hey, maybe God is trying to teach me something. You think?

Crazy Week

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but it was a crazy week. I really can't put my finger on any one thing in particular, but it was just a crazy week. I felt like I turned around and it was Thursday. Then on Thursday, I just had the best day with my family. We were gone all day and had a wonderful time together. That is why I didn't run on Thursday though. Then on Friday I started getting some kind of coughing crud and on Friday night I was contemplating who could preach for me on Sunday. After a good night's sleep, I was good enough to make it through the day on Saturday and I worked on my taxes all afternoon. Then Saturday night I started running a fever again. Once again, I took some Robitussin and slept. I woke up on Sunday morning at about 70% and went to church. I was not feeling the best, but we had a rockin day. We tied our second highest attendance with 74. We had a lot of new faces and the spiritual atmosphere was wonderful. God was moving and speaking. Sunday night was more of the same with the fever returning and this time I had a hard time sleeping. The medicine didn't seem to do as good of a job as the previous two nights. I finally got some sleep and am probably 70% again this morning. I obviously won't be running until this little bug is completely gone. Hopefully it won't be long. I am such a wuss and don't know how much more I can handle. My back hurts from all the coughing and Becky keeps telling me how pitiful I look. I want desperately to get back into my routine. I think I am much better in my routine. I'll try to post more this week with updates. I'm gonna go take more drugs. Later

Morning Run

It has been a long time since I have run in the morning, but I needed to today because of this evenings schedule. I did a short run around the neighborhood and I think I was pretty slow again today. Nice morning for a run though. I was out 30:28 which was probably not even 4 miles but pretty good for rolling out of the bed and hitting the road.