Running and motivation
Back in November I wrote an article called “What Running is Teaching Me”. It was about endurance, pressing on through pain, attacking difficult things…stuff like that. Shortly thereafter, I quit running. Hey, I injured myself!
Now after three months off, I’m back at it, running more than ever. Slower than ever too. But that’s OK for now. Sometimes your time doesn’t matter.
Sometimes it does. When I was 15, I went out for track. In our first meet, Coach Z. had me run the mile. My time was something like 6:10. I’d love to be able to run a mile in 6:10 today, but THAT day 6:10 nearly got me lapped in a four-lap race! It was humiliating, and would have been more so had there been any spectators!
That was IT for me and track meets. I stuck out the season, but I decided right then that I wouldn’t put myself through that again, and I milked injuries and sore muscles the rest of the year to stay off the track.
There were two things I didn’t know before that race.
- I didn’t know what the winning time would be (it was about 5:20).
- I didn’t know what time I was capable of running.
This was such an embarrassing experience for me that it has taken me 27 years to realize that Coach Z. also had no idea what my time would be. Although we had logged some fairly long distances in practice, I had never once ran the mile against the clock. I was unprepared and didn’t know it. He didn’t know it either.
When we lead people, we have a responsibility to help them not only to expand their abilities but also to accurately assess what they’re capable of today. If I put people in situations where the ability needed is just a little bit more than what they have, it can be motivational. But if the situation requires twice their current ability, it will be disheartening. And I’m responsible.
Is Christianity a religion of peace?
My father-in-law recently pointed me to an interesting article called “Who Gets to Define Islam?”, a review of a new book by Lawrence Wright called The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11. George W. Bush, Muhammad Ali and a host of other public figures say that Islam is a religion of peace (and therefore terrorists cannot be true Muslims). But it isn’t that simple, as Prothero says in his closing paragraph:
The Looming Tower gives the lie to the idea that there is one Muslim world. It also steers clear of the pious foolishness that no real Muslim could crash a plane into a building of innocents. After all, those who steered those planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were convinced that no real Muslim would refuse such an honor.
OK, but what about Christianity? Who gets to define it? What would a real Christian do or refuse to do? The problem for Christians, as for Muslims, is that there is no one Christian world. The two presidents in my lifetime who were the most vocal about their Christianity are George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, two men with entirely different ideas about faith and war. Which is correct? Is either?
Is Christianity a religion of peace? From the things Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you’d think so. But many of us seem to prefer an Old Testament style of conflict resolution. No wonder Christianity, like Islam, has a bad image problem.
Sunday Seven: Interesting links from the past week
- Tell someone about HPV? We tried. When pro-abstinence advocates in the 90s tried to warn about the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus, they were shouted down. A vaccine has made HPV a politically-correct cause. From Christianity Today.
- Award winning photos by MHCCer Brian Kaldenbach from the Southern Appalachian Nature Photographers Salon. Congrats, Brian.
- Sure thing or lifelong dream? A good article about a couple who chose the latter. From Wise Bread via Lifehacker.
- A private school bans MySpace at school AND home. I submit this link as an example of well-intentioned, misinformed overreaction. From Mashable.
- How not to get your laptop stolen and protect yourself if it does. From CrunchGear.
- The rebirth of Venus. A gay activist comes to Christ and renounces homosexuality. From Christianity Today.
- Slobs are more productive, which is good news for some of my close associates. From ExtremeTech via Slashdot.
Sermon: The power of story
Simple steps pointing people to faith.
3. The power of story (3 of 4)
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Evangelism, internet and otherwise
I appreciate the comments on my previous post. I think we all agree on the need to proclaim repentance as part of evangelism. Both John the Baptist and Jesus began their preaching by saying “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). In Acts, Peter called for repentance in his first two major sermons (Acts 2:38, 3:19).
Even The Four Spiritual Laws, the Gospel presentation which begins with “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” (Law #1) goes on to say that “Man is sinful and separated from God” (Law #2), and that “Jesus Christ is God’s ONLY provision for man’s sin” (Law #3).
But the fact that I’m a sinner isn’t part of the Good News, is it? Rather, it is the bad news that I need to hear before I can understand the Gospel as GOOD News. In our “I’m-OK, You’re-OK” culture, this bad news needs to be emphasized because people don’t want to accept their depravity before God. But it isn’t the whole truth about us, of course. Instead, the Bible holds in tension two facts about us. We are created in God’s image, and we are sinful; God loves us but cannot tolerate sin in his presence; or (as Shane Claiborne puts it) we are beautiful and we are wretched.
This Sunday, I’ll be using Bill Hybels’ illustration of the cross as the bridge between us and God. A gap separates us from God, and no amount of effort on our part can possibly bridge the gap. But what we are powerless to do, God DID.
What about talking to people about what God can DO for us? Is this a capitulation to our self-centered culture? I can only answer that Jesus did this. Extravagantly. “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters…will fail to receive a hundred times as much…” (Mark 10:29-31). “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30). “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
Internet evangelism day?
According to this web site, April 29 is Internet Evangelism Day. I remember hearing about this in years past and thinking “We ought to get involved in that”. But now I’m not so sure. I have to admit that I’m pretty skeptical about the potential of the web for evangelism. As I’ve said in my recent preaching, sharing Jesus is so relational and (if Jesus Himself is any indication) so incarnational, that the web with its “virtual communities” doesn’t seem like the place to do it. And the web site listed above isn’t all that helpful, with its many nested menus that seem to promise great ideas after the next click…
Maybe I’m thinking about this all wrong. I love using the web, and I’m certainly not shy about posting all my vain ramblings about faith. Do any of you have good ideas about how the web can be used for evangelism?
Sunday Seven: Interesting links from the past week
- The Effort Effect. An interesting post by Guy Kawasaki at his blog How to Change the World on why some people succeed and others don’t. Good insights on what behavior to reward. (Summarizes a much longer article by Carol Dweck of Stanford).
- Jesus and Your Job. An amazing 30-minute sermon (video or audio) by Nancy Ortberg on leadership, motivation, and caring about everybody in your organization from bottom to top. Scroll down to 3/4/07, “Jesus and Your Job”. Also via Guy Kawasaki.
- Is your baby gay? Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Bapist Theological Seminary, wrote this insightful article about biology and sexual orientation. Naturally he’s been attacked by all sides. Via Relevant.
- 10 ideas to get you exercising. Boredom busters, accountability, focus on priorities, etc. Good stuff. Via Lifehacker.
- The Prioritizer. A fun tool from CNN Money designed to help you choose between financial goals. But you can use it to choose what movie to rent too. Also via Lifehacker.
- CoachPearl.com - To celebrate Tennessee’s Sweet 16 appearance, fans should check out Coach Bruce Pearl’s official website. Or his Wikipedia entry, which contains an alternate view. Go Vols!
- The Number 23. I didn’t like it. That’s what I’m trying to say in this review at Relevant.
Sermon: Living in 3D
Simple steps pointing people to faith.
2. Living in 3D (2 of 4)
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Ken Burns and “The War”
I just marked Sunday night, September 23 on my calendar. That’s when a new documentary by Ken Burns begins to air on PBS. This one, called The War, is a fifteen-hour look at WW2 from ground level, the perspective of the soldiers and their families back home.
In an interview on Fresh Air, Burns said that he decided to ignore the more typical focus of WW2 documentaries - on celebrity generals, strategies, maps, time-tables, weapons…and Hitler - to concentrate on the battle experiences of those who fought. Clint Eastwood recently covered similar ground in Flags of our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima (from the Japanese perspective). Burns focuses exclusively on the soldiers and families from four American towns. From the previews, it sounds great.
I’m a big fan of Ken Burns, though I haven’t actually seen his masterwork The Civil War. It was Baseball, his 1994 documentary of eighteen-hours (and nine innings) that won me over.
Focus on James Dobson
James Dobson of Focus on the Family has been in the news lately. On March 1, Dobson and other leading evangelicals sent a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals which strongly opposed the work of NAE vice-president Richard Cizik and his campaign against global warming. The signatories acknowledge diversity of opinion among Christians about climate change, but charge Cizik with using the NAE to promote his own opinions.
Here’s the paragraph that gets to the heart of their displeasure:
…we have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children. In their place has come a preoccupation with climate concerns that extend (sic) beyond the NAE’s mandate and its own statement of purpose.
The million-dollar question is: Are those really “the great moral issues of our time?” And where does poverty fit in, and war, and AIDS? And even climate change?
I have a lot of admiration for James Dobson, and I don’t think he is nearly as political as he’s sometimes painted.* His vision has been sharply focused on the family, just as his ministry’s name suggests, and his political activism has grown out of family issues. I credit Dobson for showing many in my generation that Christian faith MUST have an impact on our participation in public life.
But I can no longer accept such a narrow definition of the great moral issues of our time. Without minimizing abortion, sexual morality and marriage, we have GOT to widen our focus. I’ll admit that climate change is a lot less interesting to me than the other issues I listed above. But I’m glad Christians are focusing on the care of creation, as well as focusing on poverty, AIDS, genocide, war and yes, focusing on the family.
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* Yet Dobson has more political power than any evangelical leader. Dan Gilgoff, author of a new book called The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, says that this is precisely because Dobson doesn’t go to the political well too often. His broadcasts are mostly about family issues, so when he DOES call for action, his listeners respond. Here’s a link to a very balanced interview with Gilgoff on NPR’s Fresh Air.
