Remembering

"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works..." - Revelation 2:4-5a

After the half-marathon that I ran on October 16th, I decided to take a couple of weeks off from running.  It's usually a good idea to give your body a little time to recover from a long training session and challenging race.  Plus, we had family visiting for a week and I've been pretty busy at work... so this seemed like a good time for a break.

Looking back at the race, I am pretty pleased with how I ran it.  The pace that I maintained throughout the race was better that I anticipated, and I didn't wear myself out before hitting those last few miles, so I was able to maintain a strong pace throughout.  That's an improvement over other recent races.  I've been running races for several years now, and I have the results of all my races (at least the major ones) saved so that I can compare back to how I have done in the past.  I have actually run 8 half marathons up to this point, and while this last Half Marathon was my best one in the last 5 years, I can't help but compare my current performance to how I used to run years ago.  The very first Half Marathon that I ran was in March 2003.  That was actually my second-ever race.  In that race, I ran an average pace of 08:11 per mile.  One year after that, in March 2004, I logged my Half Marathon personal record (PR).  In that race, I averaged 07:37 per mile.  Now, those aren't incredibly amazing times... but they are pretty amazing for me.

Back in those days, my life wasn't as full and complicated as it is now.  My children were both young, I didn't own a house, I wasn't involved in church leadership, and my job wasn't nearly as challenging.  I had alot more time to invest in running.  Because I was able to give myself more fully to running, I was a much better runner. Well... needless to say, times have changed.  My priorities have changed. I can no longer justify giving 2-3 hours, 5-6 times a week to running.  Because running is no longer worthy of such devotion, my performance has taken a bit of a hit.

Looking back like that is a bit sobering.  I know the type of runner I can be if I am devoted.  And I can honestly say that back in 2004 (when I hit that PR), even then, I wasn't running at the top of my potential.  It would be easy for me to live in the "glory" of those "high-performance" years and consider myself to be a pretty good runner... but when I look at my past times, and then look at how I struggle just to maintain an 08:00 per mile pace now, I can't ignore the truth: I am not the runner that I once was.

Honestly, letting my running performance slip is perfectly fine with me.  Running, while a worthwhile earthly endeavor, does not have eternal significance.  Running does help me stay healthy and stave off chronic deaseases like diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.  However, once I have departed this earthly life, none of that will matter.  Therefore, while running has a place in my life (I call it good stewardship of my body), it does not have a prominent place.

One area of my life that does have eternal significance is my discipleship of and devotion to Jesus.  Just like it can be easy for me to live in glory of running years past, it can also be easy for me to live in how I used to walk with Jesus and totally ignore how I walk with Him now.  A few weeks ago, I mentioned that our church was taking on a 52 day challenge.  That 52 day challenge incorporates 4 key areas of life with Jesus: Prayer, Discipleship, Evangelism and Giving.  Recently, my pastor mentioned that for many of us, the 52 Day Challenge is all about us remembering from where we have fallen, and getting back to that place.  That is definitely true of me.  It is interesting and challenging to me to see the correlation between my running and my Spiritual walk.  The time when I was running my best was also one of my most effective times with the Lord. Back then, I was giving large blocks of time to prayer and diving in deep into study of the Bible.  I remember my daily devotional times taking 1-2 hours a day, just for reading and journaling all the things that I was discovering in my studies... then I would spend at least 45 minutes a day in prayer and worship as I drove to work.  But over the years, my life has gotten fuller... more complicated... more things are competing for my time, and I find it difficult to find consistent blocks of time in my day to devote to the 4 areas of our challenge.  A challenge this has been to me, indeed.

It's interesting to see the context of the scripture reference that I quoted above.  The quote is actually Jesus speaking to the church in Ephesus - the church that Paul wrote the book of Ephesians to... a very healthy church... but listen to what Jesus said to them:

"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." Revelation 2:2-5

Basically Jesus was saying, I see all the good stuff that you have been doing for Me, and how you have continued to stick with it through the years and remained consistently faithful... but while you are doing things for Me, you have stopped walking with Me... you are no longer devoted to Me, you are just doing things out of duty.  That is the story of my life.  I am really good at being faithful and consistent and persevering through all kinds of stuff, but how easy it is to move from devotion to duty.

It would be easy for me to live in the past and consider myself to be a devoted disciple... but I can't ignore the present.  I can't ignore how difficult it is for me to even find 30 minutes to spend in prayer and study of the word... I can't ignore how difficult it is to find opportunities to share with people the hope and good news that I have.  As I remember, I have to confess that I am guilty of the same things the Ephesians were guilty of.  But thankfully, it doesn't end at my guilt.  Thankfully the God that I serve is a merciful and gracious God.  In fact, I read this just this morning:

"Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

In the midst of lamenting over the horrible state that Israel was in because of its repeated failure to walk in the ways of God, Jeremiah was still able to write about the hope that he had for his nation.  In the Bible that I read, this commentary was written about the mercy of God:

"God's mercy is His compassion toward us even when we deserve punishment, His commitment to restore us even though we deserve to endure the consequences of our sin, and His covenant of love expressed at the point of our greatest foolishness." - Steven Fry

So thanks be to God that there is still hope for me... and there is still hope for you as well.  No matter the state you find yourself in, God's compassions do not fail... and His mercy is new every morning.  All I have to do, and all you have to do is follow the instructions that Jesus gave to the church in Ephesus: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works..."  And to top it all off, God will even give us the ability to repent if we truly desire it.

Thank You God for Your mercy! Thank You that you give me the ability to remember! Thank You that You give me the opportunity and the ability to repent (turn things around) and head back in the right direction with You... not just doing things for You.

Let's run the Race... but let's run it with our First Love... let's lay aside all the weights that hold us back and keep our eyes ever fixed on and our hearts ever devoted to Jesus!

We have finished the race!

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful." 2 Timothy 4:7

14 weeks ago, a group of us met to run a 1 mile run together.  We were all there for a united purpose: to train for and run a Half Marathon.  Several in the group had never even run in a road race before... and for others, the longest distance they had run was a 5k (3.1 mile).  Over the weeks, we have run together, prayed for one another, encouraged each other, suffered through injuries and pain together... and this morning, we all toed the starting line of the Murfreesboro "Middle Half" Half Marathon together.  Of course, we were all at different paces through out the race... but we all ran it.  As much as I love running, and love crossing the finish line of a challenging race - few things compare to the joy I experienced as I watched friends that I had helped coach over the past few months, cross the finish line victorious.  Did they win the race? No.  But did they win today? Yes!  They stared 13.1 miles in the face and won.

I love seeing people new to running, catch a passion for the sport.  And for many people that run their first race, that first race is not their last.  Finish lines are not always finish lines.  Many times they are the launching point into something completely new.  When we graduate from High School or College, the ceremony is called a commencement.  Commencement means beginning, not ending.  When we come to the end of our schooling, it is just the beginning to another phase or season of life.

Today, I came across this short article by Terrence Mahon and thought it to be fitting for today. Terrence Mahon (a 2:13 marathoner in his own right) is the coach for Team Running USA in Mammoth Lakes, California and has coach many of our nations best runners, including Olympians Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall, Anna Pierce and Jen Rhines; and American 50k (31 miles) record holder Josh Cox.

There is No Finish Line By Terrence Mahon
October 15, 2010

I first started running road races when I was 12 years old. My first 10k was a totally new experience for me as I had never run that far before – at least not as fast as I could. After that race I was totally hooked. I wanted to run a race every weekend. I became a big fan of my local running store and pretty much all things running. One of my favorite running gear purchases was this poster that I bought at the running store. I had it up on the wall in my room right above my bed. It showed the picture of a runner with a seemingly endless array of hills in front of him. The caption on the poster said… “There is no finish line.”

I came to understand over the years of running what that caption truly meant. It was apparent that although there would be many races ahead with both starting and finishing lines – none of them would be the final finish line. The hills that rose and peaked in successive greater heights from one to the next were metaphors for this runner and his goals.

When most of us step on the starting line for a race we have goals in our mind. For newcomers it is to see if they can make it all the way to the end. As we get more experienced we chase time goals, then place goals and for the best of the best maybe it is for a chance at winning the race. All of these goals seem monumental to us at the time. It is as if this one event will be the greatest athletic challenge we will have ever tried to accomplish. It is quite possible that it will be. However, the pressure that we often place on ourselves and the greatness that such a task appears can easily be exaggerated in our minds.

In retrospect, once we reach these goals, we often comment that it was not as hard as we thought it would be. It seems that there is a disconnect between what our bodies can handle and what our minds believe to be true. With proper and adequate mental training we can change this mind-body dynamic to be in greater harmony.

If we can create the mindset of victory prior to the race then it will allow our bodies to reach their full potential. By understanding that “There is No Finish Line” we can open ourselves up to the fact that this goal is only one of many. There will be more and greater goals to come. Each one will still be as challenging as the last one, but the peak will be higher.

Like the hills facing the runner in my poster, it is not how difficult these tasks may appear it is the perspective that we have along the way. Understanding that each run, each hill, each race that lies ahead is part of one great process that makes up an entire running career. By realizing that there is no finish line we are free to truly experience the challenge in front of us and take it on with everything that we have to offer on the day.

The scripture above was written by the Apostle Paul as he was sitting on death row awaiting his execution.  Although he knew that his race of life was soon coming to an end, he also knew that the end of his life was just the beginning. Paul was the person that wrote "to live is Christ and to die is gain."

No matter how we live our life, the end or our life is not the end... but the choices we make in our life definitely determine what comes next. The most important choice we can make is to choose to accept God's gift of eternal life that He gives us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The awesome thing about that gift is, if we accept it, we don't have to wait until the end of our life to begin enjoying it.  The eternal life of God begins now... and allows us to live a winning life.

So let's run the race well... and keep on running.

Run to Win: VO2Max Workouts

"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

For those of you who were counting on a new post this past weekend, my apologies.  I was camping all weekend with my son, and somewhat far away from internet access.  For the past several weeks, I have been focusing on what it takes to run to win.  I wrote about how, for many of us, we will never be able to actually win a race, but in Christ we can win at life.  I have also followed that up by writing about the physical and spiritual implications of proper fuel, hydration, recovery, and training.  Along the vein of training, I spent some time going over the whys and hows of Aerobic Base Training and Lactate Threshold training, and their correlations in our spiritual race of life.  To wrap up this series on running to win, I want to take take a look at the last major form of training: the VO2Max workout.

What is VO2Max, you ask?  If you can harken back to your High School chemestry class, you will remember that O2 is Oxygen. VO2Max is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during exercise.  When you inhale air, the air goes into the lungs.  Once inside the lungs, a certain amount of the oxygen within the air is transported into the blood stream, and carbon dioxide within the blood stream is tranported to the air in the lungs.  Then you exhale.  This process is called respiration.  A person's VO2Max is determined by measuring the concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide withing the inhaled and exhaled air.  As the intensity of exercise is increased, oxygen consumption increases.  The point at which exercise intensity continues to increase, but oxygen consumption stops increasing is the VO2Max. 

VO2Max is a very good indicator of an athlete's level of conditioning and ability to perform.  If you have been reading these posts for the past few weeks, you have learned the very important role oxygen plays in efficiently converting fuel into energy.  The more oxygen you can consume, the more efficient your body can process fuel to create energy, and the faster and farther you can run before hitting the aerobic/anaerobic threshold.  For the most part, a person's VO2Max is determined by heredity and genetics, but through proper training, a person's VO2Max can be increased. Here is a short article in Runner's World about How to Improve Your vo2 Max.

VO2Max workouts are pretty intense, for in them, you push your body to the point of maximum oxygen consumption.  One way to determine the pace at which to run your VO2Max workouts is to look at your pace during a recent 5k race.  VO2Max pace is about 15-30 seconds faster than your 5k race pace.  If you have a heart rate monitor, you should try running your VO2Max workouts in the 85-95% zone (that's 85-95% of your maximum heart rate).  If you don't have a heart rate monitor and you haven't actually raced any 5Ks in a while, then a VO2Max interval should feel like an 85-90% effort…not an all-out sprint, but a strenuous enough pace where conversation is near impossible.  Are you getting the picture?  You are going to be huffing and puffing.  You are going to be pushing your body to the point that it is desperate for air.  Thankfully, VO2Max sessions are not long... just intense.  The idea behind a VO2Max workout is to have several short intervals of intense exercise followed by a short period of recovery.  You never want to start a VO2Max workout cold.  You should first start out with an easy warm-up mile, followed by a few minutes of stretching. Once you have warmed up, initially try running 3-4 intervals that are 800 meters long (2 times around a track) at your VO2Max pace. As you progress over the weeks, work up to 5-8 intervals. Between each interval, Take a 3-4 minute recovery walk/jog.  Once your workout is complete, follow it up with a 1/2 mile to a mile cool down run... then stretch some more.  Because of the intensity of the workouts and your body’s need to recover & rebuild, be sure that you limit VO2Max workouts to once per week.  If you stay consistant with these workouts, over time you will not only see improvements in fitness and speed, but you will be able to go longer, faster.

Through out our lives, if we are truly walking in obedience to the will and purposes of God, He will lead is through some spiritual VO2Max workouts... times when we are completely in over our head... where there is no possible way that we can do what He is calling us to do in our own strength... where we have no choice but to rely on His grace... where we are completely and utterly desperate for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Those times are incredibly intense.  Thankfully, they are usually relatively short, but they aren't easy... but through the challenge, our faith grows exponentially and our capacity for walking fully in the Spirit increases: we learn what it truly means to walk by faith and not by sight.  Throughout the Bible, we see story after story where God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things through His equipping.  Just before Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said this to Peter:

"Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." Luke 22:31-32

If you know much about the Apostle Peter, you know that he was sifted like wheat... but after the sifting, he walked in faith and obedience even unto a torturous death.

In the book of 2nd Corinthians, Paul writes about one such trying time:

"So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthans 12:7-10

Throughout his ministry life, Paul was ridiculed, beaten and stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, bitten by a poisonous snake, sentenced to death, and eventually beheaded.  Toward the end of His ministry, while being imprisoned, he wrote this:

"I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13

Our intense trials of faith may not be as intense as Peter's or Paul's... but they can be pretty scary.  One of my such trials was around the birth of my first child.  At that time, my wife and I both worked, and my wife's salary was slightly higher and more consistent than mine - but even with 2 incomes, we were living paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet.  After our daughter was born, my wife and I really sensed God calling us to become a single income family so that Lea (my wife) could stay at home and care for and raise our daughter.  At that time, that was an absolutely ludicrous idea.  My wages were some $400 - $500 dollars a month short of our bills, much less our necessities like food and clothing.  Talk about an intense testing of our faith.  But God told us that if we trusted in Him and obeyed, He would provide for our needs... so we went against all sound reason, and Lea quit her job.  For the next 3 - 4 months, we watch miracle after miracle as God provided for us until I was blessed with a job (that I wasn't qualified for) that paid me more than Lea and I were both making before.  Our daughter is now 14 years old, and we have a 10 year-old son.  We are still a single income family... and we have yet to go without the things we need.  My life is full of stories like this: where God called me out in the deep water... where I was in way over my head, but He was faithful to provide.  His faithfulness has never failed.  Because of times like these, my faith is solid and strong... through the intense times, I learned to "consume" the work of His Holy Spirit in me and through me, and because of His sufficient grace, I can go long and endure.  Whenever God leads us into something where there seems to be no way, God says, "Way."  Whatever God calls us to do or go through - they are all possible through Him.

Let's run the race and learn to breathe deep, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Run to Win: Lactate Threshold Training

"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

I recently ran across a book entitled "Runner's World The Runner's Body: How the Latest Exercise Science Can Help You Run Stronger, Longer, and Faster." In the introduction of the book, the authors mention that the single most fundamental tenet of exercise physiology is the principle of stress and adaptation.  According to the authors, there are three main phases in the stress and adaptation process: "an initial alarm stage, followed by a period of resistance or adaptation, when the organism gets stronger and performs better (which is, of course, where you want to be as a runner). This leads, if the stress is not removed, to exhaustion." Lactate Threshold training is all about riding the line between adaptation and exhaustion, with the purpose of pushing that line (or threshold) higher.

Last week, I talked a little about the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and the metabolism of stored fuel into usable energy.  One of the products of the metabolism process is lactic acid.  As lactic acid is moved from muscle cells into the blood stream, it is converted into lactate.  Lactate, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.  In fact, blood lactate can actually be metabolized and used as an energy source.  The body is always producing lactate.  As it produces lactate, it also removes it from the blood stream and uses it.  During exercise, the body produces more lactate, and also uses more lactate.  Because of that, things stay pretty balanced... that is until you reach the lactate threshold.  As exercise intensity increases, there comes a point at which lactate removal fails to keep up with the rate of lactate production. This point is referred to as the lactate threshold.  Interestingly, for many runners, the lactate threshold occurs near the same effort level that marks the switch from aerobic exercise to anaerobic exercise.  This is why many times the lactate threshold is also referred to as the aerobic threshold or the anaerobic threshold.

One of the changes that occurs as lactic acid is converted to lactate is the lactic acid's loss of hydrogen ions.  If you remember from last week, during aerobic exercise, oxygen is present during the metabolic process.  As a runner is exercising in their aerobic zone, those hydrogen ions are combined with oxygen to create water, canceling out any negative effects.  Once a runner slips into the anaerobic zone, the muscles begin producing more lactic acid than the body can effectively remove, and hydrogen ion concentrations begin to rise because there is no oxygen present to "neutralize" it.  As hydrogen ion concentration increases, the muscle cells become more and more acidic.  This process is called acidocis.  Currently, acidocis is thought to be a primary factor in muscular fatigue. It interferes with efficient and proper muscle contraction, and as a result, power output drops, suffering increases, and eventually, the runner is forced to slow down or stop.

God created the human body to be extremely adaptable.  If you stress your current bodily state, after some time and consistency, your body will adapt to better handle the stress.  That is what training is all about: stressing your body so that it adapts in a positive way, allowing you to perform better. If the stress of training is of optimal duration and intensity, your body begins adapting.  If the training stress is too hard, you will break down, develop injuries, feel fatigued, and fail to recover from one day to the next.  If the stress of training is too weak and does not test your bodily systems, your body will not see the need to make any adaptations.  If there are no stresses placed on your body, then your body will adapt to that as well by becomming less and less fit.  Lactate threshold training is all about hitting the optimal duration and intensity that causes your body to adapt by improving on lactate absorption, aerobic metabolism, and oxygen consumption, so that you the runner can run furter and faster without hitting that lactate threshold that eventually leads to fatigue, burn-out, and pain.

The theory behind lactate threshold training is that if you run for a somewhat extended period of time at your lactate threshold, then your body will make the proper adaptations and move that threshold point higher.  Since threshold training is performed at the very top of the aerobic zone, it is not going to feel extremely comfortable.  These are not easy and relaxed base training runs.  I have heard threshold runs described as being "comfortably hard."  When running in that zone, you aren't sucking wind like a hyperventilating asthmatic... but you aren't able to carry a conversation for very long either.  If you use a heart rate monitor, typically lactate threshold training is performed around 80% - 85% of your maximum heart rate.  If you have run a 10k race before (actually run it to your best ability, not jogged it) then threshold pace is about 10-15 seconds slower that your 10k pace.  If you don't have a heart rate monitor and haven't run a 10k recently, then comfortably hard is probably the best descriptor of how you should feel: your breathing is no longer a relaxed "2 steps in, 2 steps out" rate, but has transitioned to more of a "2 steps in, 1 step out" rate.  A popular Lactate Training workout is known as the "Tempo Run."  It's not complicated, but it is challenging: first warm up, slow and easy, for about 10 minutes... then gradually speed up to a lactate threshold effort level/pace and stay there for about 20-30 minutes... then slow down and cool down at a slow and easy pace for about 10 minutes.  That gives you a really good 40-50 minute workout.  Once you have a good aerobic base established, if you add one tempo run to your weekly running plan, you will begin to see some definite improvement to your fitness and your performance... and with consistancy, will be able to go further and faster.

Just as our bodily systems need to be tested in order to see improvement, our spiritual walk needs to be tested in order to experience growth.  That is why the Apostle James (the brother of Jesus) wrote this in His epistle:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4

And why the Apostle Paul wrote this:

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:1-5

This is an interesting commentary on human nature: if you have been following my blog for a while, you know that true followers of Jesus have been transformed... they have been reborn spiritually with a new nature... a nature that is free from sin.  However, though we are reborn spiritually, we still live in the same bodies - the same flesh that we were born with.  And though we are promised, as followers of Jesus, that God will give us the power, ability, and desire to do all that He asks of us - when the going begins to get tough - we go to the flesh.  Instead of relying on what the Bible calls the all-sufficient grace of God that we receive through the Holy Spirit, we rely on our own abilities.  It's almost like we don't trust God to actually help us, so we fall to our own resources.  For me personally, this is a big challenge.  I'm always trying to do the hard things in my own strength.  Just as we found out last week that we can run with much more endurance when we run aerobically rather than anaerobically, we can also run through the tough stuff and come out winners when we run by the Spirit instead of running in the flesh.  What we need is to see our Spiritual lactate thresholds raised... so that we learn to do much more, and more difficult things in the Spirit instead of falling back on our flesh.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to face a difficult trial completely in the grace that God gives instead of sweating it out and burning ourselves out in our own stength and understanding?  That's why James said to count trials as joy, and why Paul said to glory in tribulations.  They knew that if we allowed trials and tribulations to have their proper place in our lives, we would be changed for the better.  Adaptation is a natural process... and when we allow trials and tribulations to have their place, there are adaptations that occur in our lives - but here is the even better news: Not only can we count on adaptation - by the Holy Spirit, we can count on complete transformation as well.  That's right!  Where adaptation is temporary, transformation is complete.  If we embrace trials and tribulations and challenges, if we lay aside personal preferences and pleasures and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we will be transformed... we will become mature and complete... we will have spiritual perseverance and impeccable character.

I've been planning on writing this post for several weeks, but the timing in which this post fell is pretty amazing.  Just yesterday, the leaders in our church called us to a 52 day challenge: 52 days of focused intensity on the things that God has called us to do: as in not just talking about them, but actually doing them.  I'm looking at these next 52 days as a Spiritual Tempo Run... where the pace picks up and it gets a little uncomfortable... and I'm also believeing that in the wake of this, there are going to be some serious spiritual atheletes, with an increased capacity to run the race, and run it well.

So... let's embrace the challenge... let's run the race... and look forward to the benefits.