Tag: Hebrews

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Getting Air

Robert Beck/SI

Wow, did you see Shaun White last night absolutely shred the half pipe, and get like a million miles in the air?  Absolutely phenomenal.   That after watching Lindsey Vonn tear 2 miles down a mountain at speeds that would make my sports car look slow.

The consistency of their performances, the focus, the energy, the ability to just get out and do it is just incredible.

Incredible is right, so as you are about to drop in to the half pipe call TODAY, draw some inspiration and motivation from these athletes.  Go at the day with joy, with reckless abandon, with boldness and get some air.

Hebrews 13:1-7

1-4Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you. Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex.

5-6Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

7-8Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.  The Message (MSG)

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Motivation for Gold

I like to watch the Olympics.  Unfortunately, I had to DVR the Opening Ceremony and have not returned to watch it yet.  Last night, I was digging the Snowboard Cross -that’s pretty cool stuff.  However, there’s the crazy part of the coverage.  As my youngest came into the room last night and said “Dad, the Olympics are the Talklympics.”  We all know it.  NBC likes to talk talk talk talk and talk some more when the Olympics are on.  And then there’s that part that I know I should enjoy watching, but for some reason cringe every time they start – the special interest pieces.   So last night as I was getting ready for bed, there was a piece of Alexandre Bilodeau.

You know him right? Well, if you are Canadian you do.  He’s the first Canadian Gold Medal winner on Canadian soil, and last night they had a special interest story on him, and afterward I was glad I watched it.  Alexandre has a older brother with cerebral palsy.  His brother Frederic, who is 28, was supposed to stop walking at 10.   He’s still walking.   Alexandre mentioned that makes him wonder how far he can push himself – what are the real limits – if his brother can push himself to still be walking 18 years after he was told he would not be able to.   He also credits his brother as his motivation for his success in skiing.  Read this quote, and think about these words

“as an athlete you always have good days and bad days, there’s so many days you just don’t want to go train. I realize that I have the opportunity [to train] and that I need to use that opportunity because my brother does not have that chance.”

That’s pretty powerful stuff.   How many times do we complain and not do things, because we don’t want to, but we are fully capable of it.    This is a good thought to consider today.  Take advantage of opportunities.  Look for ways to push yourself, and to impact others.  You have the ability, don’t let the rain slow you down.

Hebrews 3:12-14 (New International Version)

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

Galatians 6:9 (New International Version)

9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

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Weekend of Champions

Everyone wants to be a Champion.

This weekend in my house there were several Mario Kart tournaments.  Andrew was schooling his grandparents in the finer arts of racing, while his grandmother was just figuring out how to turn the Wii Wheel. That didn’t seem to deter her however, as she hung in there, putting around the course in 12th at her own speed, undeterred by the constant heckles of “push 2”, “you need to go faster” and “here comes Andrew to lap you again”.

Then there was that Super Bowl.  Mr. Manning throws an “pick 6”, interception for a touchdown, to lose the game. Disappointing, to say the least. Do you think that makes him any less of a winner?Any less then of one of the greatest players ever to play.

Oh and then there were the commercials.  Disappointing.  But we know, the marketers will be back again next year with another brand of humor and attempts to keep us glued to the set.  (Also, here is the link to the Tebow Ad – what was the big deal?)

And then there is us.  We continue to battle and fight and race.  Sometimes we lose ( read sin), sometimes we throw an INT ( that’s interception for you non football fans out there, also read mistake), sometimes our words just don’t have the impact they are meant to have.  Does that make us a failure? Does that diminish who we are in God’s eyes?  Even though we think it does, it doesn’t.  He love is unfailing and our hope keeps us going:

Hebrews 10:23-24 (New International Version)

23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

And we keep on fighting.

Hebrews 10:39 (New International Version)

39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Don’t shrink back, even in the the face of mistakes – keep on fighting.

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, and Lets Go Mountaineers!

Have a great day and steel your mind for a great year ahead.

28 So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear,29 because our God is like a fire that burns things up. (Hebrews 12:28-29, New Century Version)

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Double Mindedness

I am always amazed about how easy I can drift off course.  Sometimes I blame it on the myriad of conference calls I have each day and the mental context switching it requires.  Other times I realize its just how we are all made.  This week I have noticed how quickly I can go from singing a song of praise to shouting words of rage.  Or maybe its thinking about the gift of Jesus, and then being disgusted with the beggar at the South Terrace/ Belvior intersection?  Its this double mindedness, this schizophrenic behavior, this inability to focus on Jesus one hundred percent that frustrates me more then anything else in my daily life.

Its the reason that songs like Jars of Clays “Two Hands” have such meaning.  Even Paul talks about it in Romans 7

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am!

And I think it because of this struggle that we struggle so much with works and grace.  I know I do.  I want to work.  I want to produce good fruit.  I want to love deeply, I want to give, I want to serve.  Not because I think I can earn my way to heaven, but because I know that the fruit of righteous living is exactly what the Lord wants, and that its creates peace.  But I am sure glad for grace.  Because its grace and mercy that brings me right out of the rage and back to the song of praise.  Its grace and mercy that hits me in the head like a two by four and says – thats a person, a son of God standing on the side of the road.  Its grace and mercy that brings us to a place where we understand that works are not the means, but the fruit of a person who realizes how dependent they are on grace and mercy.  I also believe its this understanding and not by working harder, that will reduce the double mindedness of our lives.  I am going to test that.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (New International Version)

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

You see I so badly want to follow Ephesians 4:31-32, but a fail miserable quite often.  But I can take solace in the last 7 words.   Those 7 words full of grace and mercy.  The seven words full of a Christ, who came willingly.  Those 7 words can provide a place of hope and a starting place move to from double mindedness to obsession.  Will you move with me? Paul concludes that is the way as well in the rest of Hebrews 7

Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So lets start by celebrating the fact that the Christ, the newborn king, come to Bethlehem with the full intention of bringing forgiveness to you.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

Oh, the with 9 days to Christmas, lets finish this on rocking note.  From Josh’s List its another cheezy 80’s Christmas song with a “Rebel Yell”- Billy Idol’s Jingle Bell Rock.