How about this year...

Have you made a New Year's Resolution yet?

Have you?

No really... have you?

I guarantee that some folks did, because I saw some new faces at LA Fitness this morning.  Of course, one of the most popular resolutions is to get in shape... I'm sure a few of us are looking to clean up our diets, get out of debt, find our dream job, or something like that.  One guy I got into a conversation with at the gym this morning said that 10% of folks will actually keep their resolution, on average.  Seems like a low percentage... and a lot of money wasted on new member fees (I'm sure he was talking about the surge of new suc...errr. members at LA Fitness this year).

That makes sense, because my resolutions are usually about "me," right?  Mine are.  When I noodled mine earlier this week, I said I wanted to get balance in my life.  I set some goals to get down to my ideal weight and stay there; to balance my work and time with the people I love; and I suppose to write more (since I'm writing in "day 3" of 2012 vs. my every 2 or 3 week pace over the last 2 years).  And because it's all about "me," when what I want for "me" gets hard for "me" then "me" decides that I can do without.  And even if I succeed (and I have 2 out of the last 3 years... partially last year), I get a little bit of a big head because "me" was so good.

And it doesn't matter if you lose 20 pounds, get the dream job, succeed at your paleo/vegan/gluten free diet, or get out of debt... if you're heart is bad, it's still bad.  Smaller clothes, a bigger bank account, and a corner office won't change that.

And I got a little bit of a wake-up call.  Perhaps, in addition to my goal of fitting into my clothes and having more margin... just perhaps...  Maybe this should be my real resolution.

I should pray, earnestly, that God transforms my heart.

What kind of difference would that make in my world... to replace a few more big lies with truth?  to view people and my world through the eyes of Jesus vs. my own selfish interest?  to use the Bible as my lens for interpreting what comes to me vs. the messages I get bombarded with daily?  Do you think that would make a difference?  I think it would.

So... that's my resolution... now.

Wouldn't it be cool if more of us did that?

Let God change our hearts to make us more like him...

More courageous,  More loving,  Living like He could come back today.

What difference would that make?

I think it would make a lot.

For the love

Once all of the parties, the gift buying, the wrapping, and the manic rushing around is finished; we all have a chance to sit back, relax, and finally enjoy spending time with friends and family for Christmas.  In Texas with "the fam," life slows down and I do have some time to relax and reflect on things; which is a good thing considering January 1st will be here soon and I always set a few goals for each year.

My current read right now is a book called "Born to Run," which was recommended by a few of my runner friends, and I have not been able to keep it down.  I'm in the middle of the book and I've just got through the part where the Tarahumara have just won the Leadville 100 (an extreme ultramarathon in Colorado), beating ultrarunning legend (do these exist?) Ann Trason in what was described in the book as one of the harshest, most unforgiving ultras (as if running the distance of four marathons in a single stint isn't harsh) in the year she set the women's record.  There are several chapters dedicated to this particular race in 1994, in which a cast of characters are observing the "Tarahumara" to discover the secret of why they can run like they do.  

I'm sure there's more to come, because I am a slow reader and this isn't a full book report, but what caught my attention was an observation that one of the characters made about this tribe of "running people" at about mile 72 (think about this for a second) of the Leadville 100... he said he saw the Tarahumara pass, running in their primitive sandals and wearing what was described as "skirts" (they are a indigenous Native American tribe living in the mountains of northern Mexico), were beaming with....

joy.

Yes.  joy.

Let that sink in... a lot of folks that will read this blog don't think of joy when running "a" mile, much less 100.  But that's what this reporter saw... and something clicked.  Especially as it related to why American runners aren't competing at the same levels as the Kenyans, Ethiopians, etc.  

We stopped running because we loved it... we now run because it gets us what we "want."  

I can relate to that.  I fell in love with running a few years ago, but for some reason during this Fall's training period, my joy fell off because I was focused on a medal, a distance, and beating a time when I crossed the finish line in Savannah.  For a while, I ran because I "had" to, not because I wanted to.  In the month and a half after finishing that race and taking time to relax, I've let myself enjoy it again.  Yesterday, I noticed that my endurance is back... I did 3.6 miles but really could have done more. 

The author noted that something changed back in the 80's that caused Americans to lose our edge... it stopped being about passion for the sport and became about endorsement deals, medals, times, and having a great body, and it stopped being about running itself.  We treated running as a means to an end instead of an end unto itself.  And in a sport that Americans competed well in, now we envy Kenyans and wonder if they have some super-secret gene that makes them super-human runners... and maybe it's not so much.  Perhaps it's because for them, they just love to run and aren't caught up in our scientific training plans and just take pleasure in going out and going fast.     

But is this blog about running... because I know that for some of you the thought of running makes you want to gag :-).  It's not.  Because honestly this principle applies to just about everything in life.  

The secret to being great is doing what you love, and loving what you're doing.  

- and - 

Ultimately, if we really want to succeed we must enjoy the means as much as the ends.  

I know that it's "New Years Resolution" time and for many of us, including me, this includes making promises to ourselves to do some things that we aren't really looking forward to doing.  We look in the mirror, our souls, and our habits and we see that we aren't quite the person we want to be and because it's a new year we promise to ourselves that this year will be "the year" that we... 

• Lose that weight and keep it off (actually one of my goals)
• Read through the Bible this year (another one of my goals)
• Launch or accelerate your career 
• Run a marathon
• or insert yours here :-)

And for most of us, those goals die a slow death and around mid-February we are back to where we were before.  

Perhaps... and I may be stretching this a little... but perhaps is it because we treat our New Year's commitments like that "run a lap" that our High School PE teacher made us do because we were messing up? We do something we hate, expecting to get something good out of it... and wonder why it's so hard to be good?  

• Why do we join gyms and pay crazy expensive sign up fees in January and quit by March?  
• Why does brussel sprouts taste just as horrible in March as they did last year?  
• Why hasn't our Bible been cracked open since January 15th...  and it's June!  

Exercise, eating right, reading lists, spiritual disciplines... these are pretty normal things that those of us that are Christ-followers probably have on our "list."  And I suppose that we struggle just as much on these when we "gut 'em out" like anybody else does.  Perhaps, if we found a way to love these things, or stop doing things that we assume are "good behaviors" out of compulsion and found good behaviors that we loved then we would be more successful.  Like... 

• Maybe the gym isn't the best place for you to exercise?  Somehow, I think our idea of "real" exercise is hiring an expensive trainer that just yells at us for an hour.  Maybe we just need to ditch the torturer and just go with a friend who lets us chill and do things at our pace.  Gyms aren't my favorite places to exercise, personally, I much prefer outdoors.  My idea of great exercise is a run listening to my favorite playlist and a beautiful day... or a hike out in the woods.  I have friends who dance to stay active (can I give a shout out to my crazy swing dance friends?).  What's wild is that when we do the active thing we love, we don't really call it a "workout," do we?  We just went running, or went hiking, or pumped some iron, or went dancing.  You know, a "one size fits all" staying active strategy doesn't work real well ... but it does make LA Fitness a lot of money :-)
• If you hate brussel sprouts, you aren't going to make your diet healthy by eating them.  You're just going to throw up (either literally or figuratively).  There's a lot of great tasting healthy food out there - so don't feel like you have to get boxed into whatever today's fad is.  Experiment and find what you like... and don't feel like you have to give up the "bad" stuff you love either.  We should enjoy our meals (even if we are trying to "be good"), shouldn't we?  
• When thinking about spiritual disciplines, think about why you are choosing the discipline you want to incorporate (in my case, reading through the Bible)?  Is it because you have experienced the love of Christ in such an overpowering way that you are in love with the God who desires and is pursuing you, or is it because you want to get something out of it that will benefit you?  Ultimately, our love for God will motivate us to pursue the things that grow our relationship with Him.  Willpower, while it may produce some good results, doesn't ultimately produce the life that God desires for us... so this year, I am praying that I come into my Bible study with an appreciation for who God is and out of a love for encountering Him in that day.  Remember, it was for "the joy set before Him" that Jesus went to the cross too (Hebrews 12:2)

At the end of the day, I'm sure that this "do what you love" strategy may not be the "results" strategy that we as Americans look for, but over the long haul I've found it to be the only one that really lasts.

Besides, you can only torture yourself so long... then the internal mutiny happens.

Perhaps, by finding our natural desires that fit with the "2012 me," we not only become healthier, wealthier, and wiser... but we also do it longer with a smile on our face.

Like a pack of crazy natives at Mile 72.  

Things I love about H-Town

I'm flying home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday afternoon, and I am really looking forward to spending some time down in Houston (or "H-Town" as we native Houstonians call it).  I know from the outside looking in, this city is a huge flat sprawl of concrete and is hotter than Hades in August (it's true!  I don't complain about the summers in Atlanta), but I love this city.

Now, I am looking forward to the challenge of trying to convince someone that this place, and the State it calls home, is actually a great place.  It really doesn't help that our beloved baseball team lost 106 games this year and is selling out to the AL, or that the Texans' season is once again at risk with Matt Leinart under center after Schaub got hurt and is out for the year.  But, here are some things I love about it...

We have the best Mexican food on the planet!
And yes, that includes Mexico :-).  And I know we have the infamous designation of being the "fattest city in America," but if your Mexican food rocked as much as ours does you'd have the same temptation.

Houston does up everything BIG!
It doesn't matter if it is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Thanksgiving 5K (which I signed up for), Fourth of July fireworks (or the "Power of Houston" fireworks just because we want to deal),  Hatch pepper harvest season, or lighting up Uptown for the Christmas season...  this city doesn't go halfway on ANY-THING.  When we do stuff up, it's first class, and it's big.  Little factoid, the Rodeo will outdraw the Texans on any given year.  That's a lot of people going to see livestock (or perhaps Brad Paisley).

The running trails
I started to love running at Memorial Park and running under the 100 year oaks at Rice University.  One thing I love is that the running trails are designed for running and are soft surface, unlike the concrete PATH in Atlanta.  I started running because I had to do something to balance my Mexican food intake; and now I run because I love it.

50 miles from the beaches
This has some advantages and there are some quasi-decent beaches with great towns on the coast.  My favorite water spots are Kemah and Galveston.  One of these years, I have to go see Dickens on the Strand... never been and want to go to this sometime.

Wild West
I miss two steppin'.  Swing is cool but it's not the same.  Thursday night hangouts with my First & Second Baptist friends were so much fun.

The pride
I love seeing the Texas pride all over the place.  I know this isn't just limited to Houston (or the massive Texas flags above the car dealerships), but it is pervasive.  You can't help but to get caught up in it.  I admit, my state rocks and we know we're all that.  Just deal with it.  :-)

And of course... it's home.  You can't argue with that :-)

Why, Joe Paterno?

If you're in any way interested in sports, or follow the news, or know someone who does, you have probably heard Joe Paterno's name mentioned this week.  During our dinner club conversation last night, talk about "Joe Pa" got a lot of airtime...  But why?

Is it because he's 84 and was still coaching a successful Division 1 football program?

Is it because of his D-1 record 409 victories as a head coach?

Is it because Penn State has a real opportunity to play in the first ever BIG (Big Ten) Championship this season?

Um... not exactly.

It is because, for several years, one of Joe Paterno's assistant coaches...

ahem - his heir apparent at the time....

Did something SO horrible that I can't really mention it on this blog.  The thought of it disgusts me and makes me want to vomit. And yet several people around the Penn State football program knew this was going on, and apparently....

Nothing... really...  was done.

Joe notified the Athletic Director and the President, but not the police.  Jerry Sandusky was perhaps talked to... I'm not sure... but he wasn't fired.

And Penn State kept this quiet for at least 9 years, and finally one of the boys and a coach who was a grad assistant at the time of one of the incidents, finally came forward.

Now Sandusky is in jail... and if I have anything to say about will spend a Loooooooooooooooonnnnng time there.

The President of Penn State is out of a job.

And Paterno, whose legacy of wins, two national championships, and remarkable longevity, is now tarnished by... this.

And now instead of being able to retire in dignity, he is fired in infamy.

A thought that I've had all this week, and was discussed at Local Three last night, was "why?"  Joe Paterno was already a Hall of Fame coach at the time... he already had two national championships... the library at Penn State was built with money he donated and bears his name.  He is literally a "god" in State College.

And ultimately, he goes out in shame because he chose his loyalty to a coach over the safety of these young boys.

And ultimately, he decided that Penn State football was more important than the lives and well being of children.

Period.

And it eventually caught up with him... and now he is paying the price for marginalizing what he should have valued, and valuing what at the time he should have marginalized.

Which is true of every person, regardless of the reasons they didn't work hard (or harder) to make sure this never happened again... whether it was the janitors, or the graduate assistant that came forward this week, or the President.  Something was more important to them than what was ultimately valuable; and something was seemingly more important to them than shining light on the truth, whether it was:

a career.
a person.
a program.
a legacy.

This, can I call it?"idolatry" eventually caught up to them.  And sadly it has caused a lot of damage.

Unfortunately, the damage caused by idolatry isn't just limited to football programs and children... but why did it take something so horrific to shed light on this fact?

It is truly sad... and I'm sure Joe wishes now he could turn back the clock, reprimand Sandusky, and fire him publicly for these acts.  Unfortunately, he can't do that now.

What if this was true for Christ-followers?

Anyone who knows me, or pays attention to my goings on, knows that this weekend was my second half marathon weekend.  Yes, I did the half insanity again, beat my first half marathon time by 16 minutes (easy to do if you had the foot issues I had last year :) ), and had an absolutely fantastic weekend touring Savannah, St. Simons Island, and lots of traffic jams.  I really felt truly blessed this weekend (maybe not for the traffic jams, but for everything else :) ).

Thinking through the weekend, a couple of deja vu conversations got me thinking.  The first one was at the McDonald's in Dublin, GA.  I was ordering a snack wrap and a coffee drink, and this woman behind me in line strikes up a conversation like this... 

"Are you running the full or the half?"

This person happened to be traveling to her home in Savannah and knew about the race (it was a pretty big deal for Savannah), and her husband had just completed the Marine Corps Marathon the week before and still in recovery so the Savannah race wasn't on their calendar.  She mentioned that she saw a lot of people on the road heading for the race. etc. etc.  

It got me thinking though... How did she know I was running?  I was wearing my Saucony's, and I do have skinny legs, but I wasn't really looking all that "runnery" (at least I thought I didn't) at the time.  Maybe she noticed the "13.1" sticker on the back of my car.  I just thought "that was interesting," got my coffee, jumped back in my car, and continued the long boring drive down I-16 to Savannah.  

Later I am in Savannah touring downtown on the night before the race.  Again, I do not have my Rock-and-Roll marathon swag bag (I put it in my trunk) and I'm dressed in the same Copper Mountain fleece and jeans as I did when I was asked about the race at McDonald's earlier.  This time, a couple that was taking a weekend getaway into the city stopped and asked me if I could take their picture and mentioned pretty obviously that they knew I was running the race.  ummmmmm...

I didn't mention that I was running the half to them.  And believe me, there were plenty of people milling around downtown Savannah that were not going to run 13 feet much less 13 miles... so how did they know (I thought in my head)?  I also had traded my running shoes for my comfortable Clarks (which nobody would even run in).  Perhaps no one would be touring downtown alone last Friday had they not been runners... but I will explore on my own and not be asked about my hobbies.  So I took their picture next to the this Bellagio-style water spout area (really cool place, by the way), and then they wished me good luck on the race and went their way.  

And I was wished luck a few more times... I never really brought it up.  People just seemed to look at me and think "Oh, he's running in that race tomorrow"  And I wasn't waving any flair or jabbing about it.  I was just doing my thing. 

And then I thought this afternoon:

"Do people, in the same way, just eyeball me and assume that I follow Jesus?"  

Maybe they do and I just don't know about it... like they look at me and think "Oh yeah, that guy follows Jesus" and don't talk to me like it was en-vogue to do up to and around Savannah last Friday.  In the same way that someone could look at me at a fast-food joint on the last real exit between Macon & Savannah, put two and two together and ask a pointed question such as "are you running the whole or the half?"... Could a person look at me on a Sunday outside of church and confidently ask me "so, what has God been showing you in your life lately?" and assume that I would come back with an intelligent response?

It was convicting.  And it honestly has me (at least in my spirit) on my knees because I know that as a redeemed person that I can't be the same person I was before... yet I go back to acting like it too often.  I really want to be the kind of person who can interact with someone and that person gets a sense that somehow the person they're talking to is connected to God and is curious as to how.  And just like my running epiphany, not because I have flair or a sticker on my car but because the glow and substance of who I am just screams it out.  

Does it convict you?  What would it look like if next Sunday after church you walked into your lunch restaurant with your circle of friends and the waitress asked you how you connected to God in your worship that morning?  Without knowing where you went to church... or that you have... just by knowing it was Sunday and eyeballing you they could just... tell.  

Would they be able to?