faithrunner

It's getting cooler (30 degrees F this morning), and I want to stay in my fivefingers . The other day I went to our local Luke's Locker and bought a pair of injinji toe socks to see if they would fit my fivefingers. They did, and this afternoon I tested them out. (It was 52F at the start of my run.) I admit that this arrangement pushes me even farther away from true barefoot running , but I'm not quite ready to head out on a December afternoon truly barefoot. The run went well. My feet were actually a bit too warm, but I know they'll be fine in cooler weather now. After the 4.5 mile jog, I did feel my socks and fivefingers became tight. When I removed them, I felt the difference, and that is not usually the case without socks. (My feet swell when I run, so that was the issue.) While my feet were warm, I did loose some of the on-the-ground sensation I have when running without the socks. This will only be an arrangement while the weather is cold. So, to answer ...

My grandson, Grayer, was born to my oldest daughter, Storey, this past Sunday afternoon. We made it to the hospital literally ten minutes before he was born. He is a big boy, weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. This is our second grandchild (and my parents' ninth great-grandchild!), but the experience was as deep and meaningful as the first . I told Kim after our first grandchild, Cambell, was born, "Everything else is gravy." Yes, I want to be around for my second daughter's first child, my next book, what God will do next through Legacy, and what Kim and I will experience in old age; but, once your child has had a child and you see they are doing well, there's a sense you have made your contribution, and you can go Home now . Everything after your grandchild is like gravy on a serving of home-made turkey dressing at Thanksgiving. It's all good without it, but with it, it doesn't get better. I know you are supposed to aspire to produce great and enduring ...

Ft. Worth Bus You may have heard or read the media hype about the ad campaign on some of Fort Worth, TX, buses placed there by the Coalition of Reason . The banner on the side of the bus reads: Millions of Americans are Good without god. Some Christians are outraged and plan to boycott the buses. Others have mounted their own campaign that follows the atheist-sponsored messages in an ad-bearing truck that reads , "I still love you." [signed] God. The ads actually are true! Millions ARE "good" without believing in a deity. According to acceptable norms of behavior in our society, people can be called "good" without believing in a god. The problem is not their belief or disbelief in a god. I am not a philosopher or ethicist, but my question would be "Where do you get your definition of good?" In our culture, that source is the Judeo-Christian tradition . We define "good" from the historical truths of Scripture, and our entire s...

This past Sunday, our English Language Program , hosted our annual Thanksgiving Dinner . About 400 Internationals accepted our invitation and joined us for a traditional American Thanksgiving Meal. But, this event was more than sharing food with new friends. Not only did we meet the students and their families as we ate and talked about where we were from and how to pronounce Pumpkin Pie. We were given the opportunity to serve--a hallmark of Legacy Church . Legacy cooked and brought all the food, served it along with drinks and deserts, and served as table hosts for our guests. Yes, they even set up, decorated and stuck around to clean up and carry out the trash. The Church was the Church Sunday night. I heard one person say, "This is what church is about. Nothing brings me closer to God than when I serve others." I agreed.  The highlight for me each year is hearing the students reading Psalm 100 in their heart languages . We heard the Song of Thanksgiving in twelve d...

This past Sunday, I tackled another spiritual discipline, giving , as part of our Shift! series . Cheers went up throughout the auditorium when I announced the topic, while others texted their friends to hurry and get to the building to hear what the Pastor had to say about giving. Then I woke from my daydream. I get why so many look at the organized church in America askance . We give them many reasons to wonder what we do with the money. Our buildings and programs make the outsider guess why we don't use that money to solve problems like poverty and housing. We tend to hide what is on our books, and we do a lousy job of showing people how we help the community and people around the world. But, giving is at the heart of the church's message . Why? God is a giving God , ( John 3:16 ) and we who have been captured by God's suffering, sacrificial love given to us through His Son, Jesus, cannot help but share that love with others in tangible ways. Grace motivates u...

Sundays are designed to be a day of rest in the Christian tradition. The idea was to transfer the biblical concept of Sabbath to the first day of the week , when the church traditionally gathers to celebrate the resurrection of our Leader. (See Exodus 20:8-11 , for example.) But like so many other good intentions in Christendom, this day of rest and worship has become a free day from work to fill with activities and busyness that rival any work day. If "going to church" is still part of your family tradition, you attend before or after a big meal and/or some form of entertainment. (I still believe more people go through movie theaters on the weekend than all the church attenders combined. In my community, fitness centers are a close second.) Yes, we professional religious people are as much to blame as the religious leaders of Jesus' day who  turned God's intention for Sabbath rest on its ear with rules that, if not followed, condemned you to some sort of relig...

I traveled with some friends to Laos earlier this year to visit a coffee farm we support as Legacy Church . We were not only impressed with the beauty of the country and the work ethic of the farmers, but we noticed a simplicity of life we do not have here. Yes, poverty, lack of education, and government control hindered their ability to accumulate things, but we saw in the farmers a simple lifestyle for which we at times longed for. No, none of us elected to stay and live that way, but the stark contrast of our lifestyles challenged the volume of stuff we have and our mindless pursuit to get more. Jesus taught his followers three secrets about how we were created that directly relates to our obsession with things. Our hearts follow what we value. ( Matthew 6:19-21 ) Write out a list of those things that you value most and you will find your heart tagging along behind them. You would think it works the other way, but it doesn't. If I value the accumulation of stuff, my...