Ok, so those of you who know me know I have started running, I am not the fastest or most graceful of runners. I am nothing to look at and probably give a few chuckles to those in cars who pass by me on my midnight excursions into south Kansas City suburbia. At 6’4+” and 260 pounds I probably am not to impressive and you would not confuse me with Ben Johnson.   I have never been a runner and well the only thing I have ever run for in the past was the ice cream truck or the fridge. I am not sure if it is a mid-life crisis deal or what but I have been purposefully changing my life. I dropped 60 lbs. and have been getting in shape. I find the time alone very contemplative and enjoyable. I started out listening to music but have switched to biblical studies on mp3. I have also spent alot of the time praying and listening… I have also started to blog (you may have noticed if your reading this). It really doesn’t matter if anyone ever reads this or not I am doing this more as an outlet of thought and a synthesis of the things that come  out of my time alone.

I went out for a run tonight listening to Matt Candler and the “New Song” I made it about 1km and my ankle, well kind of gave out. By the time I hobbled home my ankle was feeling much better. I didn’t quite feel like trying to run again but thought “hey let’s change it up.” I picked up my bike and went for about a 10 mile ride. I felt some muscles I haven’t felt for a while I’m wondering if I should take a pre-emptive dose of ibuprofen… too lazy we’ll just find out how it comes out in the morning.

well that’s it for tonight…

So my son and I are in the exam room we made it into the room shortly after 10pm and waited for over a half hour. The Dr finally.made it in spoke with us 2+ minutes and followed up with a 4 minute exam. We waited another 10 minutes where they popped in and said put this in and Benaiah off got an x-ray and he returned dirty there after. We have now been in here waiting again. It’s pushing 11:25 oh the joy.

The picture of Boney Ben has been our only reprieve …

I have been reading through the Bible I started around the end of June – beginning of July. I started in the back half of the NT and after Revelations I jumped to I Samuel. I am currently in Psalms.  I have also been listening to some teachings on Revelations and the end times. After the recent or no so recent election that swung the political pendulum from the right to the left it makes me ponder the state of the nation and the world in general. The political moral climate has taken a slide from the where it was in the 1950’s. Television has been or seems to be an interesting thermometer of society as a whole. We have gone from Leave it to Beaver and the Andy Griffith Show to The Soprano’s and the Spice network. That is a 50-60 year span (a generation). In going through the Old Testament I was surprised at how easily a nation could be swayed from generation to generation. Kingly father to son the spiritual climate was bipolar. Nations went back and forth so easily. After Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt with signs and wonders and being sustained int the wilderness they still turned to worshiping objects.

This spiritual flip-flopping can cause me to be scared but also can give me hope. If a nation can be swayed negatively it can also be swayed positively. For such a change to occur we need to look at what historically brought about change. When a King AND its people would humble themselves and turn from evil and run toward God often there was a national change.

It’s late I’ll write more later…

to be continued

Ok, I have been very slow to adopting Google Voice. I have not found a real use for it but it is slowly evolving and becoming useful to me. I opened my Google page this afternoon and it said “try Google Calling” so I did. It seems to be similar to Skype (voip) and works within the US and Canada free. I am wondering if it work outside the US to call a US number without any charges. I talked with Moriah over GV and she thought it was pretty neat hearing herself on daddy’s computer.

I like the possibilities. If anyone has found GV to be useful please contact me and let me know how you have been using it and what are the benefits. If you want my GV number email or text me.

I’m sitting here conemplating wether to run or not…. it’s 11:30pm and it is perfect out side or a run, the end of summer cool night!! I am dreading it due to the fact that I have not run for about four days. I have been busy and my body needs it just not looking forward to it. well enough procrastinating (I’m not even bothering spell chcking or I may not make it out the door).

Followup: it took me another 1/2 hour but I made it out for the run. It was perfect out for the run. Unlike last week and the rest of the summer I was able to run in temperatures less than 90 degrees. NICE!! Also the pool was very relaxing aferwards..

Well thanks to that wonderful weekend BBQ I have another addition to my life. A new wallet!! Ok so it’s not like I got a new job or added a child to the family but to a guy a wallet is more important than matching shoes and purses to a woman. Think about it, it goes with me where ever I roam and my life is essentially encapsulated in the lil’ buger. What makes this one so any other you may ask, well I’ll tell you quickly. Not only is it a wallet that carries my identification, cash (very little I may add), debit/credit cards, club cards, business cards, and etc. but it also carries or is a BIBLE!!! although my phone also has a Bible with numerous translations and reference materials there is nothing quite like a physical paper page to turn and mark up.

Well another day has come and gone. Its about 6:00pm and I am sitting on the couch with Moriah and Benaiah. Mo is chilin’ and Benaiah is working on homework nothing profound. It makes me think of the play “Our Town.”  Do you remember when they ask the girl after she has died what day she would like to relive, and they suggest “try to make it as normal a day as possible.” Well this is one of those moments that most would probably over look. It is actually quite nice.

I say this to preface where I m going with this post… I have been a lot of re-dos in my life lately. It started about year back. I had just passed the 40 year mark and I was getting pretty chunky and I had decided to lose some weight. I started Valentines with a fairly strict diet. In approximately 2+ months I dropped 60 pounds (re-do #1). At the beginning of the summer I decided now that I lost the weight I should try to do something to get active and physical. I had heard of a program called Couch to 5K (www.c25k.com) and in about six weeks I went from the guy who only ran to the bathroom, refrigerator, or ice cream truck who can now do three a mile (5K) run. I have got to admit this was not easy considering a 30 second run at first almost required an oxygen tank and a defibrillator on stand by (re-do #2).  The third re-do has been the most transforming.

I have been a Christian and been in full-time ministry but had somewhat fallen back from my first love. There are two aspects to personal Christianity. I call it the Mary and Martha. You may remember in the Gospels where Martha was busy doing. she was cooking and serving and taking care of things at hand while Mary sat at Jesus’s feet. Martha got all distraught and went to Jesus and said to Him why does Mary sit here when there is so much to do. Jesus replies saying to the effect that mary had chosen the wiser choice. To sit with Him when there was a oppurtunity was a much wiser choice. While I was in ministry I often was more Martha than Mary. This was to my detriment. Recently I have felt a need to get my spiritual center back and made a purposed decision to go after it. On a recent road trip from Kansas City, Missouri to Clearwater, Florida, I had a lot of time to reflect and I brought a lot of mp3 teachings. I was listening to a wide array of messages about heart attitudes, passion, forgiveness, and others. There was one by Mike Bickle that really got to me on a real foundational basis. It was back to the basics 101. I had been one who would read or listen to commentaries or biographies. I was challenged to get back into the Bible. While running I would listen to teaching mp3’s but everything else was straight Bible. I began reading 5-10 chapters a day. I started in back half of the New Testament Corinthians through Revelations. From there went through Mathew and John. Next I went to the Old Testament in Samuel and am currently in Psalms. At first I was doing it more as a ritual  but over time it has become life changing. I don’t know what my family sees but I noticed I have lost an appetite for much media. I can’t watch as much TV and I much more discerning in what I watch. My Internet habits have also changed sure I can waste time on here but I don’t spend as much on it nor do feel the need to. My outlook has changed. Ok so this might be a mid-life thing but it has been beneficial.