Chris's Musings

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...

This past weekend I got to hang out with my B-school buddy Derek and run the LA Rock  'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon.  The race was good.  I survived 13.1 miles with a bummed ankle (achilles tendinitis being the official diagnosis) in 2:32, which is not a bad time considering :) But, what I hadn't realized until this weekend was how much D likes to "rank" things (and I like to follow suit), so a few "Fave Fives" in honor of Senor Lim. Fave Five Views 1. View of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the Amboseli National Wildlife Park in Kenya 2. The Cliffs of Mohr in western Ireland 3. Pick your view from Yosemite National Park (personal favorite is the view of Half Dome driving up) 4. Lit of view of the Golden Gate Bridge and SF Bay in the twilight from Coit Tower in San Francisco 5. Sea to Sky Highway in British Columbia I did get to see a few amazing views in SoCal this weekend (the hotel being one of them... definitely top ten). Fave Five Races I've participa...

Lyrics by Hillsong United...  Open our hearts, To see the things That make Your heart cry, To be the church The You would desire. Light to be seen. Break down our pride, And all the walls We've built up inside, Our earthly crowns And all our desires, We lay at Your feet. So let hope rise, And darkness tremble In Your holy light, And every eye will see Jesus, our God, Great and mighty to be praised. God of all days, Glorious in all of Your ways. Your majesty, the wonder and grace, In the light of Your name. With everything, With everything, We will shout for your glory. With everything, With everything, We will shout forth your praise. Our hearts will cry Be glorified, Be lifted high, Above all names. For You our King, With everything, We will shout forth your praise.

I am getting prepped for my small group study today; which is about the life of Jesus as Luke has investigated and documented it in what we now call the Gospel of Luke in the Bible.  This week, we are in Luke chapters 4, 5, and 6, and I gotta tell you that there's so much that we could go over about what Jesus did and said that would take the whole week... in summary I've just gotta say "wow."  If you want to know how the Son of God did life, this is a worthy list of great things to be admired... 1.) He faced down the strongest temptation at the point where he was the weakest (Luke 4:1-13) .  Beyond going 40 days without food, you'd think that'd be temptation enough.  And then if that's not enough, the Devil himself goes after him... most of us can pretty much tempt ourselves without any demonic influence... but Jesus, being God in the flesh and perfect in every way, had Hell bring their big guns out... and he struck out against Jesus over and over again...

30 days from today, I will be standing at a starting line in Los Angeles, California ready to start my first half marathon.  To say this has me a little emotional, especially considering the path that I have taken to get to this point.  It's been a path that God has used not only to stretch me physically but also shape my faith in Him.  To choose a different, or easier path, while I would have preferred I would not (at least given if I finish the race :) ) trade in. I have not really always been a "runner" - I kind of resisted this whole thing growing up because I equated "running" with punishment... more specifically the PE coach's tendency to make my fat butt run laps when I wasn't following orders (I didn't really like PE growing up, if you can tell).  I liked to play sports, but I didn't really like practice and discipline.  Needless to say, I played a fair amount of  pickup, intramural, and "church league" sports but didn't r...

Usually at this point in time, I am packing myself up from LDR to head home after a stomach-satisfying breakfast at the Donut Hole in Sandestin... but alas I did not make LDR this year (can't wait to hear how it was), so I ran in the US 10K Classic this morning (which has the opposite effect of eating at The Donut Hole :) ) I finished the race in 59:59 (yes, I sprinted to finish in under an hour), despite chilling at a few water stops and getting stuck behind a bunch of walkers and non-starters at the beginning (at least that's my excuse for not doing better :) ), and enjoyed grabbing some Publix swag, listening to some music from this local band that was playing at the afterparty, and checked out the chiropractic tent and to my surprise got my neck adjusted.   But the most interesting thing to me was that when I was going back into the main area from the concert stage, there was this guy trying to get past security that obviously wasn't part of the race crowd.  By look...

I read ahead a little in my quiet time this morning, and the verse I read ahead to caught my attention... "When he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour" - Revelation 8:1 Don't ask me why I'm doing my devotions in Revelation... I'm loving it.  This book is one that adds context to the world we live in, because it shows that God's plan triumphs admist all of the life we face. It also gives us a glimpse into the reality that we don't see.  The reality that in light of eternity, is more important than the one that we can. And in Heaven, there is... Singing Awe Loud shouting Worship Unbridled adoration of our God and Savior The first set of revelations are of seven seals, each being opened reveals something new about the ushering in of God's ultimate close to history.  Each of these seals is increasingly more awesomely broken than the other.  And in fact, the saints had to be sealed before the final...