Is 2014 running you ragged already?

Every January, my calendar gets insanely clogged up.  Social dates with friends to make up for the hustle and bustle of the holidays, dentists & doctors I cancelled on in December and appointments with the gym (because every self-help article says make it an appointment…whatever.)  

In addition, I'm in the full-sprint season of launching a new church in Austin, and as some of you might know, January is the time of new routines for most every human being.  The result is that church is FULL of new people to meet, greet and connect in our church.

By February, however, most of my personal calendar is wiped clean because I realize my life is unsustainable at that pace.  The first week of February left me gasping for air and sleeping 9 hours a night…. wondering if I had taken up some primal form of hibernation or if I had just gone plum crazy thinking I could run at this pace.

But wait….January was all about new beginnings….new goals…. reaching for the stars…. now I'm so tired I can't even reach my shoelaces!

Friends, have you been there?  I'm just going to be honest here and tell you that I have…. and I was.. 

I think this post might be for both of us.

"Because NOT giving up is a conscious decision." 

(Care to tweet?)

And we can do this.

If 2014 is already consuming you, overwhelming you or letting you down, can I just encourage you to press on?  Don't be paralyzed by your discouragement, fear or insecurities.  This is not the time to second guess yourself… you haven't been in the game long enough!


This feeling reminds me of my kids basketball games.  I may have already needed to let go of a few calendar obligations, but getting my kids to their sports games remains a priority.  I can't make every game, but I sure do love to watch them play.  Here's something I've noticed about kiddos…

When the game remains close (within 2-6 points,) the kids go after each possession with vigor, determination…. a "full-court" press, if you will.  But when the gap gets bigger than 8+ points, even my oldest son, who is in 5th grade, will lose steam in his effort.  You can watch the team become erratic, panicked OR watch them deflate… slow down….. give up.

We can really become taller versions of kids sometimes, can't we?  Have you ever found yourself making erratic decisions… panicking…..lobbing a ball from half-court in a wild effort to gain ground?  Or maybe you take the other direction and slump to the bench with a towel over your head.

Friends, this is not a time to loosen your laces.  Instead…. even if you don't feel like it… it's time to suit up and get back on the court!

Why?

Because fear blocks your destiny.  Quitting before you reach that which you were going after will never get you where you wanted to be.  Besides, your coach hasn't given up on you.  He hasn't sent you to the locker room.  He's PATIENTLY, LOVINGLY waiting for you to get back on the court.

That's right.  Your being coached by the one who never gives up.  You see, Jesus has watched you every day of your life.  He is the one who planted the desires and passions in your heart.  (And you thought you were so cool you dreamed them up yourself…sorry to burst the bubble.)  

The truth is, Jesus is your biggest cheerleader because when YOU complete your dreams, it points the way for others to follow Him.  So of course he's going to give you the best game plan to get there!  Now in case you are being stubborn, I'm not just dreaming this up.. check this out:

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NLT)

"God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful."

Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
"…God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day Jesus Christ returns."

I'm no SAT score master, but it looks like your coach isn't giving up on you.  He will help you make it happen (through your faith) AND since Jesus hasn't returned, you still got time on the clock to finish this game!

So what's left?

A change of attitude.  A fresh declaration of your faith.  Trust.

I'm asking you to do it one more time.  And then, when you've lost perspective….do it one more time again…. and again… until your dreams and goals come to pass.  

So many of us give up when the finale is right around the corner.

You've got it in you; otherwise, God wouldn't have put it on your heart in the first place. So what do you say we run this race together… in faith…. knowing that our coach knows exactly what's on our plate… he knows our opponent and the obstacles we face…but he also sees the end…. and he says, "It's good… more than you could think or imagine!"

Friends…what about you?  Is your year a close game or do you find the point spread getting too far already?  Did this help?  Take a moment to talk back to me in cyberspace and let me know you are here!

If you like… or you think a friend would like…I'm not selfish… "share!"

In honor of Thanksgiving past: stretched out yoga pants and bad ingredients

So I have an admission to make.

I've never seen Restaurant Impossible.

Until after church on Sunday.  My Pastor at Expression Church mentioned it in one of his opening stories.  You know, the ones a Pastor uses in the beginning to get you all relaxed, engaged and in your seats… the one that you are so engrossed in and following and then wha'baam… you're sucked in to whatever he wants to say next.

He's brilliant.

Mostly because God's made our pastor brilliant and partly because I have ADHD at church and the minute you pull out an organ, some responsive ritual that I don't know (and subsequently won't pay attention because I don't want to talk at the wrong time) or something that sounds very ominous or huilt-inducing… I'm out.  Surfing my phone, doodling on the announcements… out.  I would probably post on Facebook something like #countingminutestilStarbucks

So back to Restaurant Impossible.  The basic gist of the program is that the host, Robert Irvine, helps rescue flailing restaurants by coming in and consulting… giving feedback and a plan to help the restaurant succeed.  All in the timing of one show.  (Talk about your chances of being cut on the editing room floor… I bet they have HOURS of footage that gets driven down to a precise air time.)

In most episodes, Robert asks the chef to cook up all of his favorite dishes so that he could sample them.  Needless to say, all of them were inedible by Robert's standards.  I mean… bad.

Consistently, one particular piece of advice is given to the owner of the restaurant:

"You need to use different ingredients."

Now I want to give credit where credit is due… Pastor Ryan did a great job at laying out a quick analogy for this restaurant but it got me chewing on it for awhile…

Modern culture needs different ingredients.  

Today's culture isn't going to be fixed with a fancier car, a new diet plan or a "20 days to a better marriage" conference.  And, when I mean today's culture… I'm talking about what we see when we turn on the TV… read the web or the news… watch "E!" or buy "In Style" magazine.  (I refuse to hyperlink those!)  It's what we see our neighbor wearing, doing, saying, dressing like.  Culture.  The majority.  You know, "go with the flow?"  You know….

The #Kardashians?

#MileyCyrus?

The Biebs?

#snapchat?

(Yes.  I just typed with hashtags.)  And you can "humpf" all you want about the people I mentioned up above… but the reality is we all know who those people are… which means we all know a bit about pop culture.  Which means it starts to become part of our background… normal.  Can I suggest we turn this notion of "go with the flow" on it's head?

Cuz, friends, "goin' with the flow" ain't workin!

This notion of believing in a God, or Jesus.. like it's an accessory that we can just add or take off when it works for us.. isn't working.  We need to START with Jesus and add on from there.  

Here's the amazing thing… if we start with the Big Man (that would be Jesus, stay with me!) then HE actually provides the rest of the recipe.  He provides the ingredients (including you!) He even provides the "salt" that makes everything better…. 

Crickey, you don't even need cooking skills!  (PREACH!)

So as you are wearing your stretchy yoga pants for the 4th day in a row… may I offer up a suggestion as we roll into the holiday season?  May we consider what ingredients are going into our minds… our hearts… our souls?  Especially as we jump in waist-deep to a season filled with joy and awe…but also a "culture" of materialism, hurriedness and competition.  

Take a moment or two and reflect on this new "main" ingredient for your life.

What did you come up with?

Share…. what's one "bad" ingredient you can omit in your life this month?  

Tell me… post it…share and don't forget to sign up for blog posts right into your inbox (right side your screen)…especially if you are omitting FB this next month!  

What was I thinking?

I don't know about you, but I am fairly certain that we are not all created to run.  Run to get the front door?  Sure.  Run across a street to collect a child from being hit by a "going way too fast, driven by a teenager" car?  Sure.  But I'm  talking about long distance running.  You know.... like marathons.

I bring this up because up until this point, the farthest I have ever run is 7.2 miles.  I know this because I ran a 12k last spring and when my husband (a marathoner) asked me how I felt afterwards, I replied "I would rather give birth any day of the week than run that far ever again."  They (runners.... and yes, I am lumping you ALL TOGETHER) say that there is supposed to be some runner's "high" that kicks in; when it does, THEY say you could run for miles and miles.  Whatever.  Apparently the "high" comes after 7.21 miles because I have yet to experience it.  However, much like labor, the more time that passes, the more distant the grueling memory becomes and you forget how much work it is.  So what did I do?  Signed up for another race.  Not just another 12k... no...I'm getting close to the big 4-0 so I need to prove something.  And since a car seat, booster seat, 2 backpacks, a tub of toys and Costco load of groceries won't fit in a bright yellow convertible, I signed up for a 1/2 marathon instead.

Friggin nuts.  What was I thinking?  To hold myself accountable (or to show off, I'm still not quite sure which,) I roped two of my dear friends into it as well.  So now we're stuck... all of us training to run farther than we ever have before in our whole lives.  At this point, I'd still vote to squat on the sidelines and give birth instead.  I'm just not a runner.  I was explaining it to my husband last night as I gimped up the stairs, my joints already lubed with Ibuprofin; I just don't think my body was designed to run.  I pondered that maybe my ancestors were city/village folk... you know...over time we adapted to just walking and running short distances?  Unfortunately I recalled that on both sides of the family, I come from a long line of farmers which blew my theory.  My husband, on the other side, might actually be related to African tribesman who used to run from village to village delivering news.  Now, while half of his family hails from England I very much doubt that is the case, but you get the comparison?  He whittles out 10 miles in about the same effort as my one mile...same amount of sweat...same heart rate...but only one of us is smiling.

And so, you can find me at least 3 mornings a week plodding along the treadmill.  I had surgery about 3 weeks ago and it was doctor's orders "no running" for two weeks.  Delight!  Ahhh...that is, until I realized the race was in just 12 weeks.  So this week I  eeked out 2 miles.... then I eeked out 2.5 miles...and then I got so mad at my lackluster performances that yesterday I told myself I wasn't getting off the treadmill until the time was up.  60 minutes and 5.5 miles later... I looked like a wild and crazed drunk with a perspiration problem!  The text to my husband and reading partners read: "Well, 5.5 miles done.  My sinuses feel like I sniffed jetliner fluid and no one will use the treadmills next to me, but I did it."

Does this entry have a point? Yes, here it is.  I think when people train or set out to do anything that requires more than they are capable of, it takes a lot of motivation.  I find it fascinating what tools we whip out of our belt to help keep us on track of our goals.  For some, they need very little motivation.  Some are rigid "rule followers" and can stay disciplined (oh, how I envy you self-motivated ones!)  Some people need others to hold them accountable.  Because let's face it, when the going gets tough...where do you turn or lean to press on?

So for me, I have a funny visual: I picture Jesus straight ahead of me.  You know the one... his long robes flowing, his arms outstretched with the sun rays illuminating the sky behind him?  I don't think he's blonde like the one so many people grew up with in Sunday school, but he's definitely got the blue-eyed thing going for him in my image.  So I put him against the farthest wall of wherever I am running and I stare at him.  Nut job, or not, it helps give me a momentary boost and I abandon the feelings of "I think I'm going to barf a lung or fall off the back of this treadmill) by pretend to run straight into the arms of Jesus.

This used to work for me.  Really well.  Here's the problem...the ephihany...the revelation that just blew the whole idea up:

"If I place Jesus in front of me, with his arms outstretched.... but I'm not done running my race then I never reach him."


Do you see the problem?  If he's on the wall and I'm on the treadmill... he's a fixed image and since I'm just a hamster on a rotating wheel...I never advance to him.  If I am on a track or a path... he's like a mirage in the dessert that I never get to.  How unsatisfying.  How un-motivating.  How untruthful.


"And surely I am with you, always, even to the end of days." - Matthew 28:20


You see, when we put our faith in Jesus...he promises to be with us always...to never leave us or forsake us.  So to try and visualize running into his arms (without reaching him) is an empty promise...set up to fail ...especially about the goodness of God.  Why would we run towards something we could never get?  Sadly, I think a lot of us chase things and never reach them.  Or, chase the right things but stare at the wrong target.

In my case, I'm so thankful I had the mind-blowing revelation when I did.  At least now I know that although I had the right "target," I had put him in the wrong place.  I mean, the only way that would have worked is if Jesus could come back in person and stand at the finish line for me to literally run into as I finished.  Oh, and he would need to be omnipresent and so entirely huge (think Jack and the Giant Beanstalk huge) so I could see him from 13.2 miles away when I began my half marathon.

So how did I solve this?  I took Jesus off the wall and put him on the treadmill next to me.  Might as well, doesn't appear that ANYONE wants to jog next to me after about mile 4 (does anyone remember Phoebe's running episode on the TV show "Friends?"  Close my friends, close.)

Yep, I put Jesus, sandals and all, right on the treadmill next to me.  I figure if I gotta train for this race, he's going to do it with me.  Every step of the way.  My Jesus is wearing Teva's, just in case you were wondering because I think leather flip-flops would be very unsafe.  It doesn't even bother me that he does it effortlessly.  Or that he's probably been running for 2012 years and his robe isn't sweaty.   Even better...he doesn't need to chat away while I'm trying to not cough up a lung... I selfishly need every ounce of oxygen I can get.  Great running partner.  In all seriousness, however,  I don't have to run to the prize and be let down...I already have the prize....and he's right beside me.... always.  

Where is a place in your life that you need to take down the prize and place it beside you?