Finishing The Race

"I have finished the race." 2 Timothy 4:7

When I read Ezekiel 18 and hear God say, "When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it" (Ezekiel 18:26), it makes me think of how important it is to finish the race set out before us.  In races from 5Ks to marathons people quit in the middle.  I do not want to quit in the middle.  I want to continue to run for Jesus Christ.  I want to FINISH.

For those of us who understand how hard a marathon can be we also understand how hard living for Jesus can be, and that different decades, like different mile markers, bring different challenges.  The challenges of my teenage years are different than the challenges of parenting teenagers and I will face new and unknown challenges that those older than me have faced.

In our culture youth is over-emphasized to the point of being told I look old is a putdown (in other cultures this is not a putdown).  In a marathon, the last part, although the hardest, is often the most important and the most memorable.

Here is the idea:  Look at your life as a marathon so that you can plot your age and know what mile marker you are at.  If you take 26.2 times 4 you get 104.8.  Most people do not live that long, and yet some live longer.  For those who do not live that long, they either hit the wall or they were taken up in a chariot of fire.  For those who live longer, the race director thought it best to make the marathon a little longer than 26.2.

At 38, I am at mile 9.5.  Wow!  I am just getting started and a lot of running is left.  I must continue to stay focused and learn new things along the way.  I may feel good now, but a day may come when I do not feel this way.  10 miles down the road (40 years) I may be tired.  Will I finish the race?

18 years old                                      4.5 miles
21 years old                                      5.222 miles
30 years old                                      7.5 miles
40 years old                                      10 miles
50 years old                                       12.5miles
52 years 4 months 24 days                13.1 miles
60 years old                                       15 miles
70 years old                                       17.5 miles
80 years old                                       20 miles
90 years old                                       22.5 miles
100 years old                                     25 miles
104 years 9 months 18 days              26.2 miles  (If you are still alive keep going!!!!!)

Family Sports

When I was a kid, my family would play family football or family basketball.  What that meant was often my dad and I against my brother and my mom.  I never played football for a school or peewee team, but I played with my family.

I coach soccer even though I know nothing about it.  I coach 6-10 year olds and help them work together.  It is fun.  But it is more fun when I text my brother and his family and my family, and possibly others, play soccer as a family.

Here are some reasons to do this.

1.  Instead of dividing up the Christian family into this person to ballet and this kid to karate and this kid to volleyball and this kid to soccer, the whole family plays together.  Sports can be a time of family unity instead of family division.

2.  It is cheaper than paying for the a. gas to go to all the games.  b.  entrance fees to all the games.  c.  registration fees for all of the sports.

3.  You get to play, which is something that will help you in being a healthy person.  Your body is a temple.

4.  Your child sees sports more as a fun activity and less like the be all end all.

5.  The "award" your child gets for playing is called "fun."  What more reward do they need?

6.  The family that plays together stays together.

7.  The research says that family sports and exercise are very good.  See below:

 http://www.commonhealth.virginia.gov/documents/hf/AllTogetherNow.pdf

http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/1061376/the-benefits-of-exercising-as-a-family

http://familyfitness.about.com/od/motivation/a/bonding.htm

What Color is Your Parachute? A Quality Job Hunting Approach

For each Christian family one thing that is needed is a job.  The traditional approach to get a job is to make a resume, to go through an agency, or look in the ads (whether that be in the newspaper or places like indeed.com or monster,com).

Richard Bolles presents a different approach which has been updated as many times as years I have lived.  Richard Bolles story began as he was fired from his job as a minister in the Episcopalian church.  He shares that story here.

My story with What Color is Your Parachute? is that when I graduated from college a Christian businessman whom I respected told me to read it.  I read it and it helped me 1.  figure out what job I really wanted.  2. get that job.

you can find out more information about his philosophy and his book from this website:

http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/for-job-hunters

http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/for-job-hunters

I have also been using this approach in helping men who have addictions get a job.  This approach is not a "sit back and wait" approach, but rather must be applied by the job hunter doing serious work.  But if you 1.  Do not know what you want to do.  2.  Do not know how to get a job doing that, then this book is for you.

I almost guarantee that you do not have to buy this book, as it would be at a public library, but if you want to buy it, you could buy it here, this is the 2016 edition, if you are reading this later and Richard Bolles is still alive, then get the newest edition.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2016/dp/160774662X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440772431&sr=1-1&keywords=what+color+is+your+parachute

If you are soon to be a college graduate and need help in finding a job like I did, one idea is to read this book.

Top Ten Snakes of the Bible

When we lived in Kenya our two year old son would always play near a large rock and dig with his shovel.  Little did we know that underneath that large rock was a pit viper, a snake that can sense body heat.  Our friend Rioba killed that pit viper and we learned that snakes are smart, deadly, and best dead.

The Bible is full of snakes, similar to Kenya, many of them poisonous as well.  I compiled a top ten list of snakes in the Bible.  If you disagree that is fine, because I may disagree with myself as well.

10.  Nahash the Ammonite.  (1 Samuel 11)  Nahash mean snake and wow was he a snake.
9.  The Disciple of Jesus.      (Matthew 10)  They were to be wise as serpents.
8.  The Pharisees                   (Matthew 23)  "You brood of vipers" said Jesus.
7.  The Lying Tongue           (Psalm 58)        We all are liars, with a snake in our mouth
6.  Paul's Viper                      (Acts 28)           Paul gets bit and lives.
5.  The wilderness snakes      (Numbers 21)   The poisonous snakes sent by God to kill His people
4.  Moses' snake                    (Exodus 4 and 7)  Moses rod turns to snake then back to rod.
3.  The Leviathan                  (Isaiah 27)     The serpentine sea monster God defeated.
2.  THE Snake                       (Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 and 20)   Our enemy who decieves us, lies to us, but who is finally defeated by Jesus Christ.

1.  The Bronze Serpent      (Numbers 21, 2 Kings 18, John 3)  When the #5 Snakes were killing God's people He also rejected their prayer to take them away.  Instead he instructed Moses to lift a bronze snake, symbol of their enemy and destruction, on a pole and whoever looked upon it will live.  Later it had to be smashed because people worshiped it.  But then much later Jesus spoke of that snake, and used the picture of the snake on a pole as a picture of Himself on a cross.  The symbol of death (capital punishment through crucifixion) being the way to life.  Jesus taking on the evil and wickedness of the world in order to heal all who look to Him.  That is why the number one snake in the Bible is not Satan, the Devil, but is Christ, the one who became the snake on a pole so that we would be healed from the poisonous bite of every other snake, even THE Snake.

Christian Music #10 A New Song

Psalms often says, "Sing a new song to the Lord," inspiring Chris Tomlin, Kirk Franklin, Fanny Crosby, and many others to write new music and for many of us to sing new music.

What song will I sing today?  Do I have a song in my heart to the Lord?  Will He put a song in my heart?  Often, although not always, this happens.

One idea is to just start singing to God, making up the words and music as you go.

So here I go, singing a new song now. . .

Jesus Christ, you are my only hope, you are all I ever want, you are my life, you are the Word shut up in my bones, Oh, how you love me so much more than I could ever love you back, you love me and have always loved me and will always love me.  Today I sing this song to you, you are the King of this day, I do not need to fear anything, guns or mental illness or war or elections or sickness or death, you are stronger than everything.

To you, the reader, that song probably is not on your top ten list, but it was a good exercise in practice for me, knowing that One Day, all our songs will be new as we will see Him face to face and sing to Him anew.