faithrunner

Colonel Qaddafi's Final Hiding Place It strikes me as odd that the two most feared and possibly most powerful dictators of the past twenty years ended their lives being pulled out of a hole in the ground. Makes you wonder if all the power and wealth that they pursued was worth it? Jesus asked the pointed question , "What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul?" ( Matthew 16:26 ) Being drug out of a hole by those who wanted them dead signals to me these two had lost their souls to gain the world.  What did these two dictators really gain by all their efforts if the end of their life's work emerged from a hole in the ground while hiding from those they used to gain what they had?         We will all go into a hole in the ground when we die. My prayer is that it will be after a celebration and eulogy of our lives, not to hide from those who pursue us because we have sol...

Okay, this is an installment for the "runner" part of "faithrunner," so bear with me if you are more interested in the faith side of things. I'll come back to that next week. This week, I want to update where I am in running barefoot or in minimalist shoes. The evolution of footwear in my running continues...(at 58, I don't know how many more renditions there will be :-) I bought my first pair of Vibram five fingers KSOs two years ago this month after hearing Christopher McDougall pitch his book, Born to Run, at the Dallas Cooper Clinic. (You can read of some of my journey in previous posts in this blog.) I bought into the philosophy and technology of barefoot running and took off running in them--never to wear conventional shoes again. (And, I haven't.) What happened, however, was that the concrete of my suburb and the rocky terrain of North Texas only allowed me to go so far in this running footwear . I could only run about a maximum of six ...

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 ...

I recently made a trip to a country in southeast Asia where the church is required to register with the government. I went at the invitation of a registered denomination and under the auspices of the government. I had been to two other countries with similar situations in order to serve in those places, so I was comfortable accepting the call and fulfilling what I was asked to do. Here are some things I observed about the church this outing. The Church does not need the support of the government to survive. Whether or not the government sanctions or persecutes the Church, it thrives. This country allows the church to exist under its mandates and management. No free church movement legally exists. When the government was directly hostile to the Church in the country, Christ followers still gathered, served, and risked persecution as they lived out their allegiance to Jesus. But the church is not a governmental agency. It is a viral movement of relationships borne on the Spirit, ...

My trip to Bolaven Farms and the Bolaven Farms Cafe in Pakse, Lao, opened my eyes again to the plight of the poor and the church's too-often inadequate response to them. Our history has been short-term adventures for the curious follower of Jesus or conscientious global citizen who wants to help somone-either in their name or the name of Jesus. These short blasts of energy and supplies help for a season but do not change the life-condition of those helped. What I like about the Bolaven Farms model is that the end game of all the work and investments is a sustainable way of life for the farmers. The vision is that in four years a farming family will own, work, and harvest their own coffee in order to support their family. This takes time, patience, and will not come easily. I appreciate Sam Say more each time I am with him because no matter his faults as a business owner or those who manage the farm he loves the farmers and truly wants them to have a new way of life both phys...

If I have learned anything from the events of 9/11, I have learned of my dependence on what I call "the grid;" that nebulous interface of all things electronic and wireless that are the foundation of how I live life and get information. I remember watching the planes fly into the World Trade Center towers while standing in my living room waiting to drive my youngest daughter to school. My oldest was a freshman in college, and it was not long before we were on the phone seeing if the other was okay and asking, "What now?" "What do we do now that what we have known is no more?" As the events of the next several days, months, and years have unfolded, I have jokingly--and not so jokingly--asked, "What would happen if the grid went down?" What would life be like without the electricity and wireless connections we take for granted? What if something more catastrophic than the events of 9/11/2001 took place in our country? More importantly, I...

Here are some things I learned from my attempt to summit Mt. Rainier on August, 25, 2011. First, Creation is still larger than its creatures . I live in a manufactured suburb where we sometimes live by the false assumption that we are in control of our environment and that we are bigger than the land upon which we live. Get out at the base of Mt. Rainier--after driving through the beautiful Mt. Rainier National Park --and you will soon realize how small you are. Get ON the mountain, and you are humbled by how small you really are and how big are the things of God. I am glad the Psalmists lived in Creation rather than in the urban sprawls we have made for ourselves. Second, you are at your best in the footsteps of a guide . I know that some treasure the pioneering spirit of those who head out on uncharted paths, but most of us need a guide. The guides of RMI , Billy, Zeb, and Cody , trained, encouraged, and led us. They also made the trip safe and fun. Don't try something like...