faithrunner

My Son-in-law and Granddaughter. A pleased father. I believe at some time in our lives we wonder, "How do I please God?" We have metrics for pleasing our employer and teachers, and we have learned through experience how to please our parents, friends and family members. We know these things, and we choose to please them through meeting their expectations or not.  But, you may ask one day, "How do I please God? What are the expectations of that relationship, and how can I choose to meet them?"  I returned to a familiar passage of Scripture this morning, and I was reminded the answer to our deep longing to please God. At the beginning of a  lengthy passage to encourage his readers to be strong in their faith as they face trials and doubt, the writer to the Hebrews wrote this : Without trust it is impossible to please God. It is necessary that the one drawing near to God trust God exists and that God is a 'rewarder' to those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:...

Work as Worship This past Sunday at Legacy Church , I told the story of a running partner who told me how she had sent an email to her office inviting the women in it to a small group she led at her church. Her plan backfired when one of her peers scolded her for using company resources for religious use. She admitted that was a mistake, but invited her to the group anyway. She went on to tell me how the girl had come to the group, grown in her curiosity about God, and that she attended regularly now. As we continued to run she told me more stories about how she leveraged her consulting and traveling as a platform for sharing her faith . (She no longer used company email for invitations to her faith activities.) I complemented her for seeing all of her life as a mission field and her network of relationships as her responsibility in serving others in the name of Jesus. She smiled and said, "I guess I'm a missionary with a corporate sponsor." I agreed, and that...

I'm training for my next half-marathon as part of the Chosen: Marathon for Adoption at the end of this month. I'm running with Team Bowen , who are raising money to adopt a child from Russia. (You can read their story here and contribute to their adoption if you like.) I do my training for runs mostly on the Chisholm Trail in Plano . I can connect with the trail about a mile from my house, and it provides up to 13 miles of continuous running/riding trails. (I typically run in the grass alongside the concrete path.) This morning I went out for a 6-mile run (64F, 97% humidity) , and as I got close to the trail I decided to run my usual course in reverse . In doing so, I ran faster, fresher, and all the bridges, houses, crossings, and scenery looked different . Uphills became downhills and vice versa . Even the ducks along the banks looked different. That choice changed how I saw what I had seen hundreds of times before. I recommend you try running familiar training ...

The first verse of the eleventh chapter of the Letters to the Hebrews essentially says, " To trust God is what gives you the confidence to move toward what God has given you to hope for and the evidence of things God told you he would do but you can not yet see ." ( Hebrews 11:1 ; my interpretation.) When God gives you a picture of a future He has designed, faith (trust) is what gives you the confidence and certainty to start acting to make that happen.  I have been fortunate to experience that kind of trust in God in my own life with Legacy Church and in the lives of a few others who have brought into reality what God gave them the vision to do. I recently participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony of This Side Up! Family Fun Center in Plano, TX . This was one of those " trust God and work like it's real 'til you see it " sort of places. The Mayor, Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, and family and friends of the center were present. God put on the hea...