Chris's Musings

In five short days, the Fighting Texas Aggies will be starting our first season playing in the SEC.  I believe that unless you talk to an Aggie not living in reality, that our first season in the league will be a little humbling, but I'm confident that we'll earn your respect, both on the football field and off of it.  9 days after our initial game, our first guest comes in... and given that 14 days is not a lot of time to prepare yourself to enter our promised land, I thought I'd give you a little guide into Aggieland so that you know us as we are getting to know you.  Also, these are some things you can keep in mind so that you enjoy (or at least not embarrass yourself :-) ) when you come to College Station. If you ask us about our mascots and think it's weird that we call ourselves Aggies, have yells that refer to us as "Farmers" and "Army," and also have the dog (Reveille's her name)... you may think that's weird... but remember that y...

I've heard this song on my Pandora playlist this morning at the gym.  Catching the words "this is where the healing begins... when the light meets the dark" reminded me of the grace God has shown me in bringing me to the place of my brokenness to bring healing.  I posted the video and a snippet of the lyrics below. So you thought you had to keep this up All the work that you do So we think that you're good And you can't believe it's not enough All the walls you built up Are just glass on the outside So let 'em fall down There's freedom waiting in the sound When you let your walls fall to the ground We're here now (chorus) This is where the healing begins, oh This is where the healing starts When you come to where you're broken within The light meets the dark The light meets the dark Afraid to let your secrets out Everything that you hide Can come crashing through the door now But too scared to face all your fear So y...

How many of you are excited about the Olympics.  I am!  My TV isn't on a lot, but it's been on to watch many of the Olympic events since the Games began last Friday.  Surprisingly, I like many of you are glued to watch sports that, for most of the four years in-between Olympics,  we normally wouldn't care much about. As many of you know, I studied marketing in graduate school, largely because I love psychology and understanding how people tick, and I have a fascination with good advertising.  One of the best ads I've seen while watching the Olympics (and one of the best I've ever seen), is one where different athletes are training for their events with the background narrative of... I can't remember the last time I watched TV. You know that best selling novel that everybody's talking about... I haven't read it. I haven't had dessert in over 2 years. These are the voices of people who have sacrificed tiny pleasures in order to pursue big dre...

  “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins   and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?   And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” - Luke 15:8-10 About a week ago, I finally "bit the bullet" and bought myself a road bike to get  an additional avenue to exercise outdoors, spend time with my girl on regular active dates, and cross-train during my 13.1 training seasons.  Unfortunately, the weather and my schedule (I went to my high school reunion this past weekend) didn't really comply with me.  I was a little bummed, but I eventually got out and rode about 10 miles down Columns Drive.  Man - riding is definitely a different workout, it was really good but my quads are going to be a little sore tomo...

This weekend, I once again PR'd (Personal Record for those that don't talk "runner" :-) ) another half marathon... saving a little over a minute off my previous PR in Savannah. Time:  drumroll please... 2:15:04! I love that.  It made me happy to say "PR" - I won't lie. This was really a great event... the final concert was a great touch and Nashville is always a great city to visit.  We all had a fantastic time. Of course, I did have a couple of musings from the race, other than "Hey, check me out... I got a PR" (even though I'm still happy about that) ---------- At mile 10, one of the bands playing was the worship band from the Belmont Baptist Church, which I really loved.  They were playing some great songs too... stuff you'd hear at NorthPoint during our Sunday times.  I was happy to see them play and witness like they did.  Note to the guy with the bullhorn at the Dogwood Festival... take notes from these guys and just...

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...

"When you are well prepared for your sermon, you cite a variety of sources, but when you aren't well prepared, you just quote CS Lewis."  The above quotation was something that I read in the Tim Keller book I am currently reading.  It was something that a guy that regularly listened to him preach observed about him.  When he explained "why this is so," Tim recalls that when he was first saved he really poured over a lot of CS Lewis's books, essays, and letters to the point that he was so familiar with Lewis that whenever impromptu situations arose, something of Lewis's thoughts, sayings, or philosophy would just naturally come out.  It was in fact, a default. And then he tied it to something that really caught me. What if that was true of us and Jesus? Do we know Jesus, what he would say, do, react... this intimately that when life throws us a curveball that what comes out of our lives just looks like Jesus?  When we are squeezed, or when we don...