I know its trendy, so passe by now, I missed new and edgy by about six days, despite my lack of timing I have some thoughts on the new year, that now looms only hours away. This morning I finished up a long cold tempo with the Master’s college holiday 5k. It was a beautiful morning and I enjoyed the support the other runners around me provided in finishing up a pretty challenging workout. While cooling down and stretching after the race I heard a lot of runner’s talking about the new year and their illustrious goals. Break 18 minutes in the 5k, run back to back hundred mile weeks, qualify for the Boston marathon, whatever it was January 1st 2011 offers the possibility of anything.
I believe in goals, I believe New Year’s resolutions offer an opportunity to take the first step toward what could be a life long journey. As I ran this morning I thought about what step I was going to take this new year, perhaps read all the way through the Bible( something I have attempted to do pretty much every new year since I could read, yet still haven’t finished), run faster, be a better Son, brother, boyfriend, friend, all those things are good and I do want to work on them. The bottom line though is a new year resolution for me is a resolution to fail.
Running this morning my body, my heart was filled with such joy, I felt free and with every step my body felt more and more like a vessel of worship to its creator. That is the step I am seeking to take and challenge you to take with me, I want whatever I take on in 2011 to be worship and filled with joy. I am seeking to truly worship the Lord in all things I do this year. I want my body to worship when I run, I want my actions, my thoughts, my relationships to be praise. My desire is to have 2011 be filled with joy as I do all things onto the One who gave us this new year.
“I'm thanking you, God, from a full heart, I'm writing the book on your wonders.
I'm whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
I'm singing your song, High God.”
-Psalm 9:1-2
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Victory in Defeat
People are important. Family, friends it seems obvious; it seems like there should be a more elegant way to say it, but bottom line is we need people around us. People to pick us up when things don’t roll our way, people to help us see the bigger picture, add perspective, and get back on our feet when we fall flat on our back.
This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to compete in the West Region cross country championships, in Eugene Oregon. There really isn’t words to describe this meet. Until you witness the insanity, you really cannot understand. The first major sign you see when leaving the Eugene airport reads, “Welcome to Track Town USA” and it truly is. The cross country course is held on a small portion of the Springfield golf course, being such a tiny venue it is extremely intimate. Fans line nearly the entire course 4 to 5 people deep, all screaming at the top of their lungs, or beating some loud inanimate object. It was all so much. I cant put my finger on exactly what it was, but it knocked me off my feet and I hit the ground hard. After training for 22 weeks, running 2,500 miles this summer, and changing my lifestyle in many ways all for this very weekend, to run terrible was extremely frustrating and defeating. When so much is invested it is hard to get back on your feet, sometimes laying in defeat seems easier.
I was down, really down, when I called my dad. He wasn’t though, he had a different perspective, he saw things to salvage, he saw good, in what I thought was all just terrible. My dad had words to frame the day and put everything in perspective. My mom was there, with a warm, “It’s okay”, I needed to hear that. It was not only my parents, but other people around me, who truly lifted me back up. Mrs. Hall had story after story when it didn’t roll her son’s ways; Mr. Hall taught me so many things from what I thought was nothing. When I was down I needed all of their perspectives, I needed their hands to help pull me up, and help me get back on my feet. We all need those people, family, friends; we need people around us, don’t ever take this for granted, don’t ever think you can just do it alone.
“I turned my head and saw yet another wisp of smoke on its way to nothingness: a solitary person, completely alone—no children, no family, no friends—yet working obsessively late into the night, compulsively greedy for more and more, never bothering to ask, "Why am I working like a dog, never having any fun? And who cares?" More smoke. A bad business.”
-Ecclesiastes 7-8
Monday morning I headed out the door on another run gearing up for Indoor Track season, not defeated but excited for what was next; a perspective those around me help me come to.
This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to compete in the West Region cross country championships, in Eugene Oregon. There really isn’t words to describe this meet. Until you witness the insanity, you really cannot understand. The first major sign you see when leaving the Eugene airport reads, “Welcome to Track Town USA” and it truly is. The cross country course is held on a small portion of the Springfield golf course, being such a tiny venue it is extremely intimate. Fans line nearly the entire course 4 to 5 people deep, all screaming at the top of their lungs, or beating some loud inanimate object. It was all so much. I cant put my finger on exactly what it was, but it knocked me off my feet and I hit the ground hard. After training for 22 weeks, running 2,500 miles this summer, and changing my lifestyle in many ways all for this very weekend, to run terrible was extremely frustrating and defeating. When so much is invested it is hard to get back on your feet, sometimes laying in defeat seems easier.
I was down, really down, when I called my dad. He wasn’t though, he had a different perspective, he saw things to salvage, he saw good, in what I thought was all just terrible. My dad had words to frame the day and put everything in perspective. My mom was there, with a warm, “It’s okay”, I needed to hear that. It was not only my parents, but other people around me, who truly lifted me back up. Mrs. Hall had story after story when it didn’t roll her son’s ways; Mr. Hall taught me so many things from what I thought was nothing. When I was down I needed all of their perspectives, I needed their hands to help pull me up, and help me get back on my feet. We all need those people, family, friends; we need people around us, don’t ever take this for granted, don’t ever think you can just do it alone.
“I turned my head and saw yet another wisp of smoke on its way to nothingness: a solitary person, completely alone—no children, no family, no friends—yet working obsessively late into the night, compulsively greedy for more and more, never bothering to ask, "Why am I working like a dog, never having any fun? And who cares?" More smoke. A bad business.”
-Ecclesiastes 7-8
Monday morning I headed out the door on another run gearing up for Indoor Track season, not defeated but excited for what was next; a perspective those around me help me come to.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Patrick Paegel
I find it interesting, how moments of inspiration often come at the most inopportune moments. I have spent many hour the last month muling over ideas in my mind trying to discover something to write about, yet my muse has been silent until now. Unfortunately, right now is the evening before my Anthropology mid term , which I am by no means prepared for, interesting.
I was flipping through my itunes recently and stubbled upon an artist who’s story has illustrated a principle I have always heard spoken, but not as often lived out. This summer while I was in Mammoth with the cross country team I had the opportunity to meet some very inspiring people; athletes, coaches, and runners who I learned so much from, by simply having the opportunity to get to be around. Being apart of this God-fearing hard charging community for even just a little was an amazing privilege but the person I left wanting to model my life after the most was the express checker at vons. His name is Patrick Paegel and along with being an express lane checker, is an anointed worship leader and aspiring Christian artist. His goal is to make it in the “industry” however it is not easy, his music video for his semi-hit single “Find Me Pure”, has less then 5,000 views, he often travels between L.A. and mammoth in order to be apart of the two communities he is rooted in, home and his music. I had the opportunity to meet him as he donned his vons apron, yet he was all smiles, extremely grateful for the job he had,even though it was not the one he truly wanted. I was told he would almost always cover shifts, work the tough shifts no-one wanted and was a model employee. Patrick believes God has called him to be a worship leader, and to the music industry and there he was checking me out with a smile so genuine it truly cheered me up.
I don't think I could do it. I don’t know if I have the patience, the faith, the trust, in short anything to truly wait on God like that. God has a plan for everyone of our lives, but God’s plan is usually not the smoothest or the simplest. There Patrick was ringing up costumer after costumer and patiently waiting on the Lord, knowing he is doing what God has called him to do at the moment. I want to be like Patrick someday, patiently waiting on the Lord, even if that means ringing-up groceries.
I spent just as long as it took me to write this blog, trying to embed the video but for the life of me it wont work! Please take the time to watch the video.
I was flipping through my itunes recently and stubbled upon an artist who’s story has illustrated a principle I have always heard spoken, but not as often lived out. This summer while I was in Mammoth with the cross country team I had the opportunity to meet some very inspiring people; athletes, coaches, and runners who I learned so much from, by simply having the opportunity to get to be around. Being apart of this God-fearing hard charging community for even just a little was an amazing privilege but the person I left wanting to model my life after the most was the express checker at vons. His name is Patrick Paegel and along with being an express lane checker, is an anointed worship leader and aspiring Christian artist. His goal is to make it in the “industry” however it is not easy, his music video for his semi-hit single “Find Me Pure”, has less then 5,000 views, he often travels between L.A. and mammoth in order to be apart of the two communities he is rooted in, home and his music. I had the opportunity to meet him as he donned his vons apron, yet he was all smiles, extremely grateful for the job he had,even though it was not the one he truly wanted. I was told he would almost always cover shifts, work the tough shifts no-one wanted and was a model employee. Patrick believes God has called him to be a worship leader, and to the music industry and there he was checking me out with a smile so genuine it truly cheered me up.
I don't think I could do it. I don’t know if I have the patience, the faith, the trust, in short anything to truly wait on God like that. God has a plan for everyone of our lives, but God’s plan is usually not the smoothest or the simplest. There Patrick was ringing up costumer after costumer and patiently waiting on the Lord, knowing he is doing what God has called him to do at the moment. I want to be like Patrick someday, patiently waiting on the Lord, even if that means ringing-up groceries.
I spent just as long as it took me to write this blog, trying to embed the video but for the life of me it wont work! Please take the time to watch the video.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Be Content
What’s right now for you at this very moment?
Sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy now. This weekend I had the privilege of traveling up to Oregon to run in a very cool cross country meet. I got to miss class, fly from Orange County to Portland, spend a night in hotel room, and this morning mix it up with a very talented group of guys. The last day and a half have been a whirl-wind, rush here, focus here, now rush again here. The late night ride home has given me a chance to stop and reflect on past 30 hours and simply be content. Too many times I find myself thinking of whats next, planning, and preparing for the next moment, event and challenge ahead, and often times I miss the peace of right now. Right now is good, I have nowhere to be, no where to go and yet often times I miss moments like this, I miss being content.
I have tried to get in a habit to just sitting for at least few moments at the dinner table after I have finished eating to just sit and be content. There is few things as nice as having a full stomach after a delicious dinner. Yet I realized i miss that all too often. The first time I did this I sat at the dinner table for nearly two hours, enjoying being satisfied enjoying being full, enjoying have a refrigerator full of food to prepare a meal from, friends around to enjoy a meal with and the day the Lord had given me. There is so many people who have to wonder where tonights dinner is coming from, or where they are going to sleep. I am extremely blessed, yet sometimes I go to fast to even realize it, and thats a shame. Right now is a good moment. Right now is just right.
Stop and enjoy right now.
Sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy now. This weekend I had the privilege of traveling up to Oregon to run in a very cool cross country meet. I got to miss class, fly from Orange County to Portland, spend a night in hotel room, and this morning mix it up with a very talented group of guys. The last day and a half have been a whirl-wind, rush here, focus here, now rush again here. The late night ride home has given me a chance to stop and reflect on past 30 hours and simply be content. Too many times I find myself thinking of whats next, planning, and preparing for the next moment, event and challenge ahead, and often times I miss the peace of right now. Right now is good, I have nowhere to be, no where to go and yet often times I miss moments like this, I miss being content.
I have tried to get in a habit to just sitting for at least few moments at the dinner table after I have finished eating to just sit and be content. There is few things as nice as having a full stomach after a delicious dinner. Yet I realized i miss that all too often. The first time I did this I sat at the dinner table for nearly two hours, enjoying being satisfied enjoying being full, enjoying have a refrigerator full of food to prepare a meal from, friends around to enjoy a meal with and the day the Lord had given me. There is so many people who have to wonder where tonights dinner is coming from, or where they are going to sleep. I am extremely blessed, yet sometimes I go to fast to even realize it, and thats a shame. Right now is a good moment. Right now is just right.
Stop and enjoy right now.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Chasing the Wind
This morning I woke to the wind thrashing through the pine tree outside my window. I have had the privilege of spending the last week, training up at altitude in beautiful Mammoth, California. The air is light and fresh. The scenery is perfect, sheer cold rock cliffs, covered by a warm carpet of green trees; emerald blue lakes dot the side of the road like call boxes. This morning I set off in the cold morning air expecting a mellow hour and forty-five minute run, not much effort, not much thought.
It’s been a long time....
It’s been a very long time since I have sat down and simply thought. It’s been a long time since I allowed my self to get lost in thought anywhere, sitting, standing, eating, sleeping; it’s been a long time since I allowed my introversive to consume me and blur everything even my powerful extravert.
I think it happens in small steps, split second choices made day after day; a little decision here another one here and before you know it, you have crept away from something you near and dear. Sometimes people walk away from relationships, a decision at a time, others hobbies, passions, gifts, things they loved. I think it was somewhere around fifty minutes, as I looped around a wind-whipped Lake Mary, nestled at ten thousand feet, I realized I had nothing on my mind. I wasn’t worried about anything, stressed by a pushing situation, anxious about a deadline, nothing.
I’ve heard many times that, “Life is a Journey,” whenever on a journey there is a road, where there is a road there is two directions. If life is a journey, then life has a specific direction, what direction are you heading now? Today the crunch of the trail, the wind in the trees, brought me a to a starling realization, I have gotten away from hobbies, passions and gifts decision by decision. I have let the pressing issues of now, shift my focus and not in a great direction. In pursuing something I love, I became oblivious to the many other important things right around me.
“But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.” Ecclesiastes 2:11
I have worked so hard to chase the wind, and some of the things that were truly worthwhile have blown away in the wind. So I ask you in your grind and rhythm we call life, what have you lost?
Are you chasing the wind?
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