Chris's Musings

This was too good not to share. Tonight in small group, we talked about deep friendships, especially friendships among guys, and used the story of Jonathan and David from 1 Samuel 20 as our launching point.  This is a story from David's life in which he confides in Jonathan about what he's learned of Saul, and Jonathan goes to bat for David (and risking his life in the process). There were two things that really caught our attention (I originally had about 20 things brainstormed and five large bullet items to discuss) and occupied our time. First, was that Jonathan got involved in David's situation instead of merely giving advice.  See Jonathan's response to David's complaint: Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” - 1 Sam 20:4 This is not a normal response in most of our worlds, especially in 21st century white collar America.  Generally, when a friend confides in us about a problem, our first response (as guys) is to give...

Yesterday, after a long work week, I took off out of the city and away from the busyness of life and technology to go hike the Panther Creek Falls trail with a group of friends.  I have been looking forward to this hike for a while because a.) Panther Creek has been on my "really want to do" hikes for a while, and b.) I hadn't had the opportunity to get up to the mountains much this summer and had organized this day trip to do just that. I love hiking; I think I like getting out into nature in general but there's something about hiking that makes me feel happy.  Perhaps it's from my Boy Scout days and memories of treks to Philmont and camping trips; who knows? And I mean, I love hiking (not just walking).  If there isn't some adventure to where we're going then I'm not all that into it.  Panther Creek Falls was that kind of adventure.  Rumor is that it's one of the most fantastic waterfalls in Georgia and I couldn't wait to get to it. And...

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you feel stuck, where you know what you want God to do in your heart but there's just something blocking you from doing it, or asking for it, or in some cases, you don't even know what to ask for.  I've been in that boat before, and honestly this morning was one of those days for me.  Not going to embellish  but I just felt really overwhelmed and I went into my prayer time really wanting God to do something.   I read today's devotion in Jesus Calling, something that was really good for the soul, and I needed that reminder from the devotion today.  When I started to pray, I had this thought pop in my head, especially as my mind was really all over the place. " Now to him who is able  to do immeasurably more than all we ask  or imagine, according to his power  that is at work within us..." (Eph 3:20) And somehow, in that moment, it dawned on me that perhaps the reason that my mind was ...

In 2 days and 1 morning, I will be making my way to Nashville for my third half marathon. Seems crazy, doesn't it?  It was only less than 3 years ago that I thought my running career may be over.  But praise God it is not.  In fact, I have two race metals from previous Rock-n-Roll events, and I'll be going after a third at the Country Music 1/2 this weekend.   But there's been one catch.   A week and a half ago, I started to develop some tightness in my right leg.  The kind of tightness, as I found, that is pulling on my knee and making running a pain.  Not fun.  As a result, I scheduled a couple of appointments with the incredible sports massage therapist that helped me recover from my achilles tendonitis injury last Fall.  This miracle worker, Sara (who works with players from the Hawks and Falcons) is freakin' incredible and knows how to get these things worked out. So today after work I was on the table and "the spot" (tha...

My parents are in town this weekend.  We are chilling right now, and planning to get some Stone Mountain laser show action in tonight. Last night, we went through the "where do you want to go to eat?" question, and we decided to go down to the Colonnade.  I organized my dinner group there a few months ago, and they have great, aka - amazing - Southern "down home" goodies.  Mom and Dad were pretty down with that. We get to the restaurant around 7:30pm, and it is PACKED, the smells of fried chicken is in the air (mmmmmmm), and there's a 20 minute wait to get a table.  Given that I've waited over an hour for tables in Houston before, I didn't see this as a big deal.  After about 5 minutes of standing, we find a table in the bar/lounge area where people are hanging out and waiting for tables. Oh, I should give you this detail... The Colonnade is an Atlanta landmark, it was showcased on Guy's show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" (a Food Net...

For whatever reason, I found myself for a brief moment somehow in a somewhat awkward conversation (for me) on the subject of drinking games.  It was awkward for a few reasons: 1.) The conversation was in the context of a gathering where we asked that no one drink, and because of that I'm sure that it wasn't just awkward for me. 2.)  As much as I tried to steer the conversation in an "intellectual" tone, I wasn't driving the conversation and didn't really want to get in a debate with anyone at a social gathering where the emphasis was on community and having fun (and that was definitely accomplished :) ). However, I do want to say my peace... The Bible does not condemn drinking in moderation, and in some passages actually talks positively about wine and relates it to joy (Jesus did, for his first miracle, turn water into wine at a party).  It does, however, have a lot to say about getting drunk and especially the habit of continuously seeking to get dru...

Yesterday, I saw a billboard sign on the way to work on 285 that caught my attention.   It said:  "Spouse Cheating?" and was inlaid with a graphic of a gigantic magnifying glass with some information to call a private investigator to spy on the supposedly cheating partner.   My first thought when I saw that was:  Why would anyone that's in this situation that is truly interested in saving their marriage call someone like that?  I'm pretty sure that if your goal is to reconcile that this would be the last thing on your mind.   I later thought that this was actually a good example of the kind of person that I read about in Romans 2 as I've been going through my quiet times there.  This is the part that I'm thinking about: "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's ju...

"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." - 1 Corinthians 1:10...

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side - Psalm 3:5-6 This morning, this analogy (better than the one I had the other day) came into my head.  It sort of came from the psalm I read in my quiet time this morning, and it sort of relates to this whole waiting thing. Suppose that the challenge that you are facing is like a season with your church league basketball.  I played with my Bible Study class in the Second Baptist league when I lived in Houston (It's obviously more exercise for me than real competition if you've ever seen my game).  Suppose you're a team like mine looking for the elusive goal of the league championship, and you're up against the best team in the league... one where a couple of guys played some college ball and really shouldn't be in "church league" if you know what I mean.  Do you think that my team of 10 guys that were pulled at th...

I was preparing for my small group study this afternoon and ran across this question... arising from the "Balanced" series we are conducting at church.  It's prompted some thoughts as I read it: "Discontentment is robbing our generation."  Do you agree with this statement?  If so, how? Given the context of our study over the last few weeks, I would agree wholeheartedly with this statement.  We have fallen heads down into the trap of discontentment when it comes to "things" that is has caused us to do some really stupid things in the name of "keeping up," "upgrading," "being good to yourself," etc.  The amount of credit card debt that most of us Americans hold is evidence that discontentment is robbing us of our financial security.   It is also robbing us of our joy... in an effort to "keep up" and have the newest, biggest, fastest, blah, blah, blah... we are not enjoying the life that we have and in a sense ...

Can I tell you that I'm now hooked on The Biggest Loser?  I watched the season premiere last night and was completely inspired, and saddened, by the stories and the motivation of the competitors on this year's show.  The drama and sacrifice during and after the ending weigh-in was riveting.   What was neat, and inspiring, was that a lot of these folks have probably never picked up a weight in a life or perhaps ever step foot in a gym... and for the first time they follow everything that Bob & Jillian says and lose 11, 12, 25, and even 30 pounds in a SINGLE WEEK!   For someone with less aspirational weight loss goals this new year, I'm thinking... How do you do that?   The first answer is, you work your tail off and spend about 10 hours a day in the gym (which I'm sure they did). However, the second answer is... you have to be motivated, I mean really motivated, to go from complete couch potato to the Michael Phelps workout program in one week.  Whe...

This is a teaser for a future post... time is short right now.  I'm off to SF for Dreamforce conference.  Good times.   God has been putting mentorship on my mind for a while now, and especially over the last couple of months as I am starting to be blessed with mentors and potential mentors, as well as strong brothers in Christ walking with me in this stage of our spiritual lives, that have blessed me INCREDIBLY as a Christian and also just as a guy "doing life" in relationships, career, and the such.   So... before I dump all of my thoughts on the blogosphere (later), I want to ask you... (especially if you are like me, in your late 20's/early 30's and have been growing in your relationship with Christ for a while). 1. Which older guy(s) are pouring into your life regularly to strengthen you as a man of God?  Someone outside of your stage of life that has been there/done that...  I'm really wanting to seek these type of guys out for myself and am en...

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" - King Solomon (Proverbs 4:23) "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." - King Solomon (Proverbs 16:9) "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of hat for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." - The Apostle Paul (Philipians 3:12) In my mentoring group, we have started to read through and discuss "The 9 things you simply must do" by Henry Cloud. It is a book about learning to embody the principles and traits that people who are successful (defined as "life works for them") employ. This is actually a re-read for me and I've enjoyed discussing and applying the principles from the book into my own world and bouncing ideas off of the guys in the group. One thing that I keep coming back to often is this idea that "What exists in the visible world always ori...

Sad for me to say this... but this Friday was one of the happier times I have had as a Indiana University alum. The drama surrounding our basketball program may not have come to an end... far from it... but the source of that drama has officially left the University. And for that matter (I hope), from coaching college basketball for good. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3259751& sportCat = ncb The person I'm referring to is Kelvin Sampson, the now former IU basketball coach . Apparently from reading about what is going on with the program, the drama is FAR from over. Especially if DJ White is going to continue to behave disruptively, blowing off Dan Dakich's (the interim coach) workouts out of protest. Not good. Looking back 2 years ago at Kelvin's being hired at I.U., I immediately had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Kelvin Sampson is a very talented basketball coach that could put I.U. back in the national spotligh...