Race Time Is Nearly Here

Saturday is a major event in my town’s social calendar. The Oktoberfest Wiener Dog Race. I went a few years ago and there were close to a 100 dogs racing, and I understand the event gets bigger by the year. Not sure if any ringers come in from wither coast. It is a lot of fun to watch. I mean, what can be funnier than racing wiener dogs against each other? Rumor on the street (or in the run) is that there is still time to enter a speedy wiener.

I have been searching for something with which to break a recent blog fast.

This is it.

In the Presence of the Lord

Had a great drive into work this morning, watching the sun rise as I headed down I-635E towards Dallas. A great sunrise, wish I could have taken a picture, but that is not advisable when you are doing 60 (in the slow lane) down the highway in DFW.

I wish I could have taken a picture because it was a good representation of what I felt this morning; I felt the presence of the Lord in my life. Nothing dramatic (no thunder or trumpet) but the soft assurance that He is in my life and He is sovereign.

It was a great feeling to have, I hope it stays with me all day as I move about my routine on a Friday.

It is so good to know that He is always present, but even better when you feel Him close by. My day has a smile on it because He chose to show me that He cares for me deeply today.

I don’t know why it was today, but I am immensely grateful that it was.

Hanging In

It is a great feeling when you accomplish what it is you set out to do. We love goals, and we love to reach them even more. (I always try to set my expectations low enough that meeting them will be easy).

I am finding that a good deal of accomplishing what you set out to do requires one key ingredient: hanging in there to get the job done.

Nothing breeds success like perseverance.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith

2 Timothy 4:7 (New American Standard Bible)

May you fight the good fight today and accomplish what you set out to do.

I do not know why, I just feel I had to say this today.

Hang in there!

Impact

Speaking to a friend yesterday, he told me he had reflected on what I had said in a recent blog post and as a result, needed to talk to some people about some stuff.

Oops.

While those of us who blog are looking to share thoughts and ideas, and are hopeful that they make an impact with someone; I always find it a bit daunting when someone actually tells me that something I wrote actually has done that. It makes you stop and reflect on what it is you are doing with this whole blogging thing, makes you reflect on whether your words are making things better, and not worse.

I take comfort from the fact that I seek to follow Christ as I live my life, I seek to make Him the standard by which I am measured (and I do fall short, but only those times when I am measured against Him). It is the best barometer for measuring how it is I am impacting the world around me, the standard of Jesus; His teachings, His life, His commands to us on how to live our lives.

The impact, the effect I have on others will never be the wrong one if I am following hard after Him, seeking out the His will. I can be assured of doing as He wills, if I am faithful to Him alone in the pursuit of my life and how I interact with others. I have no idea in this particular instance of what I might have impacted, what course of action, what path I have set someone down. I trust that it is the path He would want walked, the footsteps He would have fall in the time and place He chooses to hear them.

Nor can I know what path it is that I might now walk on as a result of how I think about what I am writing now.

But this I do know.

I cannot go wrong if I stay on The Narrow Road.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, God, faith, impact

Tryouts Continuing

I have now been using both foursquare and Gowalla for a little over a week and I must say, I am torn between the two. Both of them have features I like, both of them would benefit from some aspect of the other. I guess as of now I am a Gosquare fan.

Gowalla has more of a travel based theme, with it's passport type stamps, region based pins and the trips component that allows you to design or follow trips as you collect stamps in your passport. However, that clearly will show up as one starts to travel out of town, something I have not done yet and something I do not do as a regular part of my employment or leisure time activity.

foursquare has more of a social theme to it, it seems the interaction with others is more of a driver to it than the travel aspect of Gowalla. The badges are not as pretty to look at as the stamps and pins of Gowalla, but there seems to be more of an aspect of measuring yourself against others as opposed to your self. Just one check of the leader board will give you that feel.

I ran across this blog entry on EverythingEverywhere recently that really goes into some detail and I found it on the mark and a realistic assessment from someone who has tried it more than I. You can read this to get a real appreciation of the differences between the two.

As a result, I also stumbled across check.in, a way of checking into both services simultaneously, which makes it a little easier to manage both and continue the tryouts. Easier, that is, when it works and actually locates the spot I am checking into.

The bottom line is that the tryouts continue for several reasons. Indecision (likely), desire to be fair to the process I have established and allow more time to fully vet my experiences with the two (possibly). Check.in is allowing that to be a little easier.

Or maybe I just like collecting stamps and pins and badges (most likely).

Technorati Tags: foursquare, Gowalla, social media, Check.in, EverythingEverywhere

The Passion of Life

Having spent a good chunk of last week in and around the annual convention of CareNet and having participated in the first National Care For Life Forum that we co-hosted with them on Friday, I was impressed most of all with one thing about the people I got a chance to meet and talk with.

Passion.

They all had a passion for the ministry they were doing, promoting and defending the sanctity of life. They had a passion for the Lord, knowing in their hearts that true progress in sanctity of life issues and initiatives would only come through faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His intervening grace to change minds and move the mountains that are in the way.

These are people on the front lines of the sanctity of life battle daily, who bear a large part of the brunt of criticism, ridicule and attack by those who say they are for choice, but are really for their choice, and no other. These are loving, caring people, who choose not to judge, but to love on and offer alternatives to the abortion juggernaut they face, one fueled by media support, government support and overwhelming financial support.

They have passion, but they have peace as well. The peace of mind that comes from knowing you are near to and working on something that is dear to the heart of God. If they have trouble sleeping at night, it is because they are anxious to get up the next day and do more, or they concerned they did not do enough on the day that just ended.But it is not the torment of knowing that they are doing something wrong, it is the drive of wanting to do more right.

They have passion, but they are not wild eyed religious fanatics. They are intelligent, thoughtful, concerned and deeply caring people.

If the ministry I work in is doing just some small amount in encouraging, exhorting or edifying them, I am so grateful for the opportunity we were given to do so; it was a privilege from the Lord. I can only pray the good discussion and ideas that circulated at the Care For Life Forum will turn into actionable plans and goals.

To all I met last week, and to those I didn't; thank you for what you are doing.

Technorati Tags: CareNet, EvanTell, sanctity of life, Jesus, God, Lord

Sanctity of Life

I am going to enjoy today. As part of the ministry I work with, we are going to be spending the better part of the day meeting with people who are heavily engaged in the sanctity of life arena. I call it an arena because it is a better for those who hold to a Christian worldview. Life is sacred because life is created by God. Humanity was made in His image, and each individual life begins at the moment God conceives of it and allows it to happen. Life is a spark from the finger of God.

It will be interesting today what new thoughts and perspectives come out of the day of conversation and brain storming. I am interested to see how we can make an evangelistic approach become an even more important facet of the issue. Know Christ, trust Christ and I think you will place more value on all life as Jesus did. To share Jesus is to share life.

There are people who have dedicated their whole life to working on various parts of this issue. I hope to meet some of them today, to be encouraged and edified by their wisdom and knowledge, their passion and drive. To learn better how to do what they do daily.

I hope I come back with a lot of good thoughts I can share in the future.

I hope to come out of the day a better person than when I went in.