place of nathan.

Contrary to popular belief in some Christian circles, seeker churches actually can teach doctrine.

NewSpring in Anderson, South Carolina (home of my favorite blogger Perry Noble) will teach on Hell this weekend.

That’s not a very seeker message, eh?
If only Christians could get along and actually try to learn from each other?

DISCLAIMER: There ARE seeker churches who are wacked off doctrinally–just like there are wacko Pentecostals and wacko methodists and wacko baptists and wacko whatevers. I am not implying that all seeker churches are doctrinally sound. what i am implying is that just because a church is seeker, it does not mean they are doctrinally weak.

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Last week, i noticed a very small whitehead–yes, a zit–on my forehead.

It was there for two days, and it was starting to annoy me. I kept trying to pop it, and I wasn’t having any luck.

So, while I was sitting at my desk, i took my fingernail and tried scratching the surface of it to get it to pop, or at least, closer to popping. And it worked! No more whitehead! YEAH!

And then, very soon, I look at myself in the mirror after going to the restroom at work, and realized I had a bigger problem–i scratched very deeply into my forehead, and now I had a 1″ long by 1/8″ wide mark right in the center of my forehead. Nice.

I was embarrassed by a little, tiny whitehead (which no one probably noticed), and instead, I had a large scab on my forehead for three days. Nice.

How often in our walk with God do we spend time trying to cover up some small little blemish in , only to look worse than ever when our sin becomes public. Wouldn’t it be so much better to just deal with the little blemish than try to cover it up and make a much bigger, much more noticeable mess?

Yeah, i wish i had just left that whitehead alone.

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Just read a great blog entry by Anna Meadows over at the Swerve blog. I wanted to pass it along for you to think about.

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I completed my first 5K in EIGHT years last night.
I knew going in the course was very flat, and partly on gravel roads. My goal was 24 minutes, although I was planning on being closer to 25 minutes.

Well, they changed the course this year. It was on all pavement, which was nice, but the new course has some hills on it, which was not so much fun, considering I had specifically trained for a flat course.
I ran the 5K in 23:08, so I am very happy with that.

This morning, my legs are very sore. I am planning to run another 5K in a few weeks. My goal for that 5K is 21:30. So wish me luck! Here’s to training!

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(This is a follow up to This Post.)

Since I bit the inside of my lip, I have found myself repeatedly pulling on the loose skin with my teeth. I keep making it worse, and am preventing it from properly healing.

How many times, when we get bit by something (such as someone making us mad), do we–without thinking about it–let the bite fester and grow?

Sometimes, we have to consciously make a decision to get over the hurt and pain, and allow things to heal.

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So i was just sitting here, and I bit myself.

Not intentionally, but I nonetheless bit myself.

I was simply eating my lunch something I need and have to do to keep living (and give me energy for my race tonight, too), and I caused myself pain.

Do you ever feel like you get bit when you’re doing what you need to do?

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Today is Race Day for me. Tonight I run in the Ashley-Hudson 5K. This is my first 5K in eight years! I’m pretty excited for this race, too. It is the culmination of weeks of training for me. Not like I expect to win–not at all, but for me, it’s a thrill to know all the time, effort and energy spent on training the past two months is about to pay off. Without the training I have completed over the past weeks, I wouldn’t be looking forward to the race at all–and i would not be racing if I had not been training–I would back out!

I think our walk with God can be a lot like that sometimes. We spend weeks and weeks doing spiritual training, and then comes along a big opportunity. When the big opportunity comes along, we are ready for it. If we don’t spend any time in spiritual training, we back out of the big opportunity. We will make every excuse in the book to get out of the big opportunity.
When we aren’t training, we aren’t ready for it. We cower at the thought of putting ourselves out on a limb–Maybe they’ll cuss me out, Maybe they’ll laugh at me, What if it doesn’t work? What if it falls apart? What if so-and-so just gives me a weird look?

Are you doing your training? Are you adequately prepared?

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Vision leaks.
- Andy Stanley

Just because someone bought into a vision at one time, it does not mean they will always remain in tune with that vision, because vision leaks. The excitement slows down, and eventually become frustration.

It is impossible to present the vision too frequently. Vision large and visions for smaller segments of the whole as well.

You can’t share the vision enough. Try it.

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My first car (in 1994) was a 1988 Mercury Tracer. It wasn’t anything spectacular. In fact, it was actually a pretty crappy car. But I loved my car, and it did its job well, for two years, anyway.

The car, rust spots and all, was somewhat of a taxi at times. I used to pick up my friends Josh and Ryan for youth group in this car. I went on my first real date in this car. I would haul around my underclassmen running buddies to and fro. It was fun.

The small hatchback had a ‘beefy’ 82 horsepower engine. But i still liked it.

I could fit five people in the car–at least, there were seatbelts for five. It was a tight fit in the backseat for three, but when you’re in high school, you make it work, right?
I remember on one occasion at Pokagon State Park, i loaded up my taxi with friends. If i am remembering correctly, i had 13 people in the car. There were five in the backseat, three in the hatchback, three in the passenger seat, and two in the drivers seat. (Yes, that is the only time I have ever drove a stick shift car with someone sitting on my lap!)

My point is this–people didn’t care that my Mercury Tracer had an 82 horsepower engine.
People didn’t care that I had rust spots on my car.
People didn’t care about riding in a less-than brand new car.

People are drawn not necessarily to the way the outward looks, but to what’s on the inside. Perhaps they were drawn by my contagious personality (insert laugh here), perhaps it was a free taxi service, perhaps it was an upperclassman who actually seemed to give a rats-behind about the underclassmen.

So perhaps it isn’t our outside that matters so much (although there is indeed a ‘first impression’), but our inside. What do you think?

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Often when running, it hurts. Sometimes it hurts a little, sometimes it hurts a lot.

When we were running, Alex had a bad case of a side stitch (side cramp), which would not go away.
I had a very mild case of a stitch, and breathing deep and pushing my shoulders back seemed to help ease my side pain.
Isaac, on the other hand, wasn’t dealing with a stitch at all.

Isaac was able to offer me encouragement, while we both could offer encouragement to Alex. (yes, a stitch is that bad!)
If we were all suffering from a bad case of side stitches, it would have been a nice walk, not a nice run.

In our spiritual lives, a lot of times it’s like that–when one person is weak, another is strong and is able to offer encouragement.

It pays to surround yourself with people who are able to pull you up, who can offer encouragement when you need it, who are strong when you are week.

So the question is, are there when you need people, or are you also there when people need you?

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I have been running for about six weeks now. I am running a 5K race next Friday night!

Normally when I run, there is no one to push me. If I want to slow down, I just slow down. If I want to walk, I walk.

But this week, when I was Running with Friends, it was much different. I had to think about it before slowing down, ‘What will they think if i stop now?’, ‘I’m supposed to be the one in shape here,’ etc.

When Running with Friends, it no longer becomes easy to slack. It is much harder to slow down. There is power in peer pressure.

That is why I think it’s important for us to not attempt to do our walk with Christ all on our own. If we’re on our own, it’s very easy to slow down, or to stop and walk altogether. There is power in peer pressure. When you don’t feel so great, there’s someone else there pushing you along.

I needed that peer pressure when I ran with friends a few days ago. And I need that peer pressure in my every day walk with Jesus, as well.

Questions:
What happens when the people we run with aren’t like us, i.e. we have no positive peer pressure, but only negative peer pressure?
What happens when we try to avoid all peer pressure completely? Is this a good mechanism, or a poor one?

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