Friday, January 17, 2014

Cast the first stone?

When the adulteress woman was brought before Jesus as a pawn in the Pharisee's trap Jesus responded with "let he who is without sin cast the first stone".

While this is a beautiful reminder of our own deeply sinful nature and shows us the lesson to now throw stones at (or from) glass houses, it is even more than that:

Jesus was saying that only someone without sin could cast the stone upon this sinful woman.  Of course, this eliminated the entire crowd, but who did it NOT eliminate?  Jesus.  Jesus was, in fact, without sin, and therefore, by his own words, capable of casting the stone at this woman.  But. He. Did. Not.

You see?

The crowd wanted to condemn but couldn't -- Jesus could have condemned but didn't!

Chew on that.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Second Wind book for FREE!

Alright all - I want to thank all of you for the support, congratulate all of you on your accomplishments, and inspire all of us to continue to run... physically and metaphorically.

So, here on the 3 year anniversary of my book I want to offer it for Free to everyone.  Simply go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/30162
and choose to buy the book in any digital format (epub, mobi [kindle], pdf, rtf, lft, pdb, txt, or simply read it online).  When you get to checkout enter coupon code KH37T
code and the book will be completely free.  No "do this first", no sign up for emails, no complete this survey, no strings attached.  Free.

Feel free to share this offer, post it on social media, blog it, whatever you like - the offer is open to everyone.

Thanks all,

Run fast, run far, run free, and “Run with purpose” – 1 Corinthians 9:25-27

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Goals and New Year Resolutions

When we think of goals we often think of hitting a physical benchmark, like losing a certain amount of weight, or getting a new promotion, buying a house, or obtaining some other sort of success.  Goals are very important - proven time and time again.

But what about goals in our daily walk?  Goals are designed to push us, to motivate us, to give us something to reach for.  So, wouldn't that be important in as a Christian?

So this year, as you think of new year resolutions (which I typically hate...), look at them through the only lens that matters:  Christ.

Just like with all goals, make them 'hard' but realistic (attainable), give them a deadline ("by August...", "by my birthday...", "by the end of 2014..."), and set large goals with incremental goals built in.

Maybe look at things like:
read the Bible in a year
Memorize x number of new verses
Memorize x chapter (ie "I will memorize Isaiah 53")
Have a daily devotional
Meet with an accountability partner once a _____
Give a random person $__ every day/week/month
Pray for a different person everyday
Write ___ letters of encouragement during the year
To be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger
To focus on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and SELF CONTROL

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Relationship

If you had a friend who you didn't talk to but in passing for a month or more, no phone calls, no getting together, no time invested cultivating the friendship, after a while, what type of friendship would you have?

On the other hand, if you spent a lot of time with that same friend, long phone calls, short text messages, visiting at each other's house, going to the movies together, eating together, etc - what type of relationship would you have?

See, our relationship with God is like our relationship with anyone (in a lot of ways).  The quality of the relationship can be correlated from the amount of time and energy invested.

Is God that best friend?  That loving spouse?  That great confidant?
Or is God that back burner friend you never spend much time on because you don't really have to, just knowing they'll be there if you ever really need them (when all your other friends and activities dry up)?

Either way, we know why he is whichever one he is....