Mouth Painting Expressions
A good friend of Bonnie’s and mine has recently taken up the practice of mouth painting. No… it is not painting pictures with your mouth nor is it pictures of peoples mouths. Ha, ha! Katie deals with the effects of having Multiple Sclerosis (MS for short) and as a result has for a couple years now been unable to use her arms and hands as effectively. That does not stop her from expressing the “Artist” (French ascent intended now!!!) that she is becoming!
“Fun in the Sun”
“Little Black Dress”
“Little Black Purse”
The Million Dollar Message
Recently I was reading a post on my friend Alan Hirsch’s blog ‘The Forgotten Ways’ titled ‘Consumption as Spirituality’. A fellow reader named Penny made a moving comment with regards to her friend in the hospital. I won’t share much of the comment however, I feel the pain that I think we humans all feel with the perplexities and paradoxical understandings we have with regards to the issue of death.
I must admit to being reminded of a sermon I did in regards to the practices of euthanasia several years ago called ‘The Million Dollar Message’. It was a sermon I wrote after Bonnie and I had blindly rented and watched Clint Eastwood’s film ‘The Million Dollar Baby’. For those of you that know me… this was deeply a personal attack and I felt overly compelled to respond. That said, I realize that the doorway we see as “death” is shrouded in things we don’t necessarily understand. Things that I don’t understand. Looking back… maybe… I was wrong. Then again… maybe not.
The Million Dollar Message!
Introduction
How many of you have seen the movie “Million Dollar Baby”?
Well that’s great because today I want to share with you the “Million Dollar Message”! And to begin I am going to use a quote that Eddy “Scrap Iron” Dupris said in the film.
He said “If there is any magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys, and detached retina’s. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.”
What battles do you face in life? What struggle is it that you find that keeps getting right up there in front of your face and seems to make life just impossible? And after you’ve got it there, what are you supposed to do with it?
Jesus too faced these questions and he addresses them in the passage that I want to explore with you. Turn back to today’s reading in Mark 8:31.
“GET BEHIND ME…”
This is a passage where Jesus is spending some time with his disciples, probably in the evening while sitting around the fire, and Jesus is telling them about the coming events that would be happening soon.
As he explains that these events will be a hard time and he himself would be facing great suffering and pain, Peter quickly pipes up saying “No Lord, don’t say that.” “Don’t say that you will have to suffer in anguish!”
I mean think about it! Jesus isn’t just saying poor me, he’s saying every person of worldly leadership, the government, the religious leaders, and educator’s of his country and culture will despise him and murder him. Probably on a cross. And Peter who has seen the horrific anguish and torture of people dieing on the cross is saying to his friend “Please Jesus, there has to be another way?”
Jesus responds “Get away from me Satan!” That’s pretty powerful words to use. So why would Jesus say this?
If we look back at Matthew 4:1-11 we can see that earlier Satan also tempted Jesus three times. One of which where he offers Jesus all the nations of the world if he would just bow down and worship him. He was offering Jesus a way to gain the whole world without having to suffer on the cross.
In the same way Peter, although motivated by a different purpose (the purpose of love for his master and not wanting to see him in pain), was still asking Jesus to avoid the cross. He was asking for another way in which Jesus could be King without having to suffer. Whether Peter knew it or not, the temptation was directed by the works of Satan.
By saying that Peter was looking at things from a human perspective, Jesus was pointing to the fact that Peter was quick to see the promise of glory and worship that come at the end of the road but he was blind to the path that Jesus had to walk in order to reach the end of the road.
Likewise, Satan is more then willing to let us see the promises that Jesus has for us but his illusion is to blind us from seeing the road in which we need to travel in order to receive those promises. We stumble around asking ourselves why must I go through this, why do “I” have to suffer.
With God’s vision though Jesus recognizes the fact that power and glory comes after hard work, persecution, deprivation, and suffering.
Jesus gives us to results for Peter in these first few verses.
First is the command “Get away from me Satan!” “Get out of my sight!” Recognize that his temptation is a lie. Recognize that it is a feeble attempt to cloud our focus from the truth that we have to first travel the road of hardship before we can receive the riches of heaven.
Secondly he says in the same words to Peter as we see in other translations “Get behind me…” Jesus is placing Peter back into the proper position of authority to which he belongs. Jesus is the master, he is our leader, the one who is holding the white towel, and Peter is the disciple. Plain and simple, we can’t follow what we can’t see!
Jesus is reminding us of the same thing. He is the one with the vision, the one who sees the invisible dream, and if we are going to be able to follow him we have to see him in front of us!
THREE STEPS OF TRAINING
Do you remember the scene in the movie were Frankie Dunn is taking Maggie Fitzgerald as his next fighter. Maggie is spilling guts out about all the hard work she’s doing and all the suffering and persecution she’s had to endure and wondering what it’s all for. Frankie finally concedes to training her under some specific conditions. He say’s “If I take you on you don’t say anything, you don’t question me, you don’t ask why, you don’t say anything except maybe yes Frankie.”
That’s exactly what Jesus does in the next few verses. Now that Peter is in the proper position to which he should be, Jesus gives three quick points, three conditions as to how we can follow him as his disciples.
First he says “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.”
Jesus was aware of the persecution that the church would later face and he also knew the purposes the Romans had for there acts in crucifying people. See the Romans would not only whip the people they were crucifying to dull the pain of the crucifixion itself but they would also tie the cross beam of the cross to the shoulders of there victims and make them carry it to the site of execution. This cross beam which would weigh in excess of 60 pounds or more would cut and scrap the raw backs of their victims and was meant to be a representation to the people of their submission to Roman authority.
Jesus is asking for that same allegiance. That we would submit inspite of pain and anguish all our authority to him right down to the place and time of our death. He was saying that the promises he has for us are greater then even death itself and they were worth sacrificing every part of our self desire for. We begin living our lives with an attitude that says “What I want is irrelevant!”
Maltbie Babdcock once wrote that “Present suffering is not enjoyable, but life would be worth little without it. The difference between iron and steel is fire, but steel is worth all it costs. Iron ore may think itself senselessly tortured in the furnace, but when the watch-spring looks back, it knows better. David enjoyed pain and trouble no more than we do, but the time came when he admitted that they had been good for him. Though the aspect of suffering is hard, the prospect is hopeful, and the retrospect will start a song, if we are “the called according to his purpose,” in suffering.”
Jesus’ second condition is that “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.”
In the early parts of the movie do you remember the scene where the character Big Willie Little is in the fight of his life and he gets a shot to the side of the head where he gets cut under the eye. Stopping the fight and sending the fighters to their corners, the ref tells Frankie (Eastwood) that he had to stop the bleeding or he would stop the fight. Not wanting to loose, Willie asks his trainer “What should I do?” And Frankie responds “You got to let him hit you?”
Although a little perplexed Willie follows his advice and just like those old Rocky movies we can see the slow motion of Willie dropping his guard as the fighter gives him a shot to the head and then those cool CSI special effects when we see the close up of all the blood vessels in his check seizing up and stopping the bleeding. It was after that when Willie could go in and give the knock out blow and claim victory.
Willie is the picture of what Jesus is asking of us. That if we persist of guarding our own lives with our own wisdom we will loose it and be unable to continue the fight. But, if we just place our faith in him, allow ourselves to drop our guard and endure the shots of suffering we receive in this world, we will begin to experience the path to victory and rejoice with the final knock out blow. That is what “real life is about”.
The third condition Jesus gives us is a series of rhetorical questions. “And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?
I’ll add to these questions; “What is your life worth?” “Can you truly understand the value of your life and how it affects everyone around you?” These are very personal questions that I have asked myself and to be truthful with myself, I cannot answer them with any certainty not because I can’t see what has happened in the past but because I cannot see the future! Who am I to judge and determine the people I may speak to, hear, comfort, or come in contact with in future? I cannot judge! I have no authority to do so!
There is a very clear point at which the movie Million Dollar Baby changes direction and for those of you who have seen it you know what I am referring too! It is at the point where Maggie after having broke her neck and becoming paralyzed, asks Frankie to help her commit suicide. I want you to think about it for a moment and the power of her statement. She says “I can’t be like this Frankie, not after what I’ve done, I’ve seen the world, People chanted my name, not some damn name you gave me, they were chanting for me. I was in magazines. You think I ever dreamed that would happen. I was born 2 pounds 1 and a half ounces, Daddy use to tell me I fought to get into this world. You know if I had my way out, that’s all I want to do Frankie. I just don’t want to fight you to do it. I got what I needed. I got it all. Don’t keep letting them take it away from me. Don’t let me lie here till I can’t hear those people chanting no more.”
Compare it again to Jesus’ words “And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
At what point did Maggie become disillusioned to the fact that here soul was measured by the fight for life, the fight of celebrating 33 years of life and still punching that speed bag and not just for the simple chants of a crowd.
Titles are won and titles are lost, champions come and champions go, but in the eternity of life there is only one Maggie Fitzgerald. There is only one Erik Freiburger. There is only one you.
With this in mind I give you a quote from G.K. Chesterton. “In everything worth having, even in every pleasure, there is a point of pain or tedium that must be survived, so that the pleasure may revive and endure. The joy of battle comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the sea-bather comes after the icy shock of the sea bath; and the success of the marriage comes after the failure of the honeymoon.”
It is true that some of us endure suffering here on earth whether it be physical or not however in the face of eternity this lifetime is a mere moment before the riches of heaven.
Likewise, our soul is not set to the riches of this world but through Christ it is intently focused on the Kingdom of God making the value of this life a journey of preparation planned out by our heavenly Father for the coming of the next life. It’s value immeasurable in the hands of God!
Conclusion
If you can’t tell I am very emotionally attached to this message and moving into the conclusion I want to share with you why.
Bonnie and I watched this movie a few weeks ago. Sitting down we thought we where going to watch a movie about boxing, about over coming adversity. Instead we were flooded with images of fear, worry, doubt, self-pity, and ultimately the glorification of murder. It hurt and it cut deeply as it attacked us personally in our lifestyle.
The producer called it a work of genius and the general public would seem to agree giving it 4 Academy Awards out of 7 one of which being Best Picture. It floors me that, that same public would earlier have just rejected ‘The Passion of Christ’ film from any possibility of award for its implied message content of hatred and instead embraces the message content of a film comparing human life being worth that of putting a dog down.
Work of genius? Absolutely! Great direction, superb acting, fantastic screen writing but, orchestrated by an unseen entity to which millions will be affected which geniusely is far greater then anyone man. The film deceivingly does not allow the public to understand the message of euthanasia prior to viewing and instead hides behind the mask of Actors names and a beaming picture of the awards it has received.
At the same time bringing a message of comparing euthanasia to justifiable homicide in a society that struggles with the very question of assisted suicide. We have states like Oregon passing bills making euthanasia legal, husbands denying communion to the wives as they starve to death such as the court ordered murder of Terry Schiavo, and human beings laughing as they crack a joke about Dr. Kavorkian.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the height of the Nazi’s campaign for euthanasia wrote that “In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship.”
He was not advocating euthanasia but instead was pointing to the fact that each and every individual is vital to the community of faith despite any physical fight they may have or physiological struggle.
Jesus tells us in verse 38 of Mark 8 that we are not to be ashamed of his message. We’re not to be ashamed of his life because the life he gives us is not a life of shame. It’s a life of power and influence, of love, and compassion, and generosity to all of his creation in the midst of adversity! I know its true because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve seen it in the life of my wife’s friend Katie and her passion for friendship and sailing. I’ve seen it in my friend Mike Zunic’s life with his love of racing and race cars while expressing his faith through those experiences. I’ve seen it in the lives of Henry and Geraldine Eckert with the joy that they have in sharing stories about there grandson Nathan. And I see it in the life of my wife Bonnie and the inspiration she gives me as we share life together.
I began this message saying I wanted to share with you the million dollar message and shared with you the words of Eddy “Scrap Iron” Dupris. “If there is any magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys, and detached retina’s. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.”
It’s more then the magic of boxing. It’s the magic of life. The power of the Holy Spirit taking us beyond the physical pain and suffering of this world, beyond the psychological struggles of depression and anguish, beyond the spiritual attacks of sin and unseen enemies. It’s the power of each one of us risking everything and submitting to the dream that nobody sees but the Son of God. Jesus Christ. And when we get there we won’t hear the applauses of human hands but the choruses of Angels singing. And we will all raise our arms in victory not with the closed fists of self accomplishment but with open hands of praise and worship to an awesome God!
I’m going to close in prayer but while I do that would you do something with me. I want you to all stand up, grab the wrist of the person next to you and lift their hands in victory. We are all champions in Christ!
Pictures of Before and After: A Continuing Journey to Walking in Another’s Footprints
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
The word faith has always been in my life. Not that I have always listened to it or really understood its meaning. It was always a good Sunday practice to go to church with my mother and step-father provided I could do whatever I wanted once I got home. Church was a practice of image (mostly self delusional) rather then an honest relational interaction between myself and a divine living entity.
Life has a funny way of dramatically altering the course journey to which Jesus had planned for me. Needless to say that journey is not yet over. It is simply a continuing daily practice of striving to embody the existence of Jesus as he creates his image between the words in the gospels and interweaves it with the fabric of my life.
I no longer think faith is a matter of work related, image driven, self delusional garble. I instead have become enthusiastic towards striving to see the end result and ecstactically enjoying the journey along the way with the great freedoms Jesus has brought me!!!
Which Action Hero Are You?
 |
You scored as Neo, the “One”, Neo is the computer hacker-turned-Messiah of the Matrix. He leads a small group of human rebels against the technology that controls them. Neo doubts his ability to lead but doesn’t want to disappoint his friends. His goal is for a world where all men know the Truth and are free from the bonds of the Matrix.
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 |
The Parkinson’s SuperWalk: Wheeling for Healing
“There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.”
Kin Hubbard
Every year I wheel in the ‘Parkinsons SuperWalk’ in the hopes of raising funds towards the pursuit of finding a cure for this disease. My good friend Mike has battled the effects of Parkinsons for several years now and in his own way is ‘Racing for a Cure’. He and a group of Christian Drag Racers have been traveling around Alberta and B.C. talking about the desease and racing in a 1980 Cutlass while being sponsored by The Parkinsons Society.
As a Christian, I always hold hope to God making a way for healing and a cure. At the same time I recognize that by living incarnationally we too have a responsibility to pursue healing in others in whatever way we can. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:8-9, “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Perhaps that act of healing is expressed through prayer and caring for them; maybe it is in practicing and learning the skills and art of medicine, and maybe it is as simple as participating in raising funds in the hopes of financially supporting those who have the desease or sickness. All the better when you can do all three!!!
Anyways, on Saturday, September 8th a group of us will be gathering in the Glenfield area of Fish Creek for a time of fellowship and excersize. If you are not doing much on that day and would like to participate in the pursuit of a cure for Parkinsons, Click Here to register online and we will see you there!
If you would like to make a donation towards the cure of Parkinson’s Desease, Please Click Here. Thank You Very Much for being willing to exemplfy a Christ likeness in your heart and life!
Psalm 71:1-6
In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
Life Without Limbs: An Incredible Story
Bonnie and I watched this incredible story this morning about Nick Vujicic. I think the scariest moment for me was when he jumped in the pool! Dispite any fear, Nick is a great inspiration and I thank God every day for working through and with people like him. If you want to hear more about him Click Here. Anyways, I had to share this with you!!!
More Happy Quads
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m a member of an endangered species – one of the remaining members of the happy, well-adjusted, “just glad to be alive person with a severe disability” tribe. Now I’m not Marry Poppins, and I don’t go around singing show tunes all day, but I’m definitely genuiunely loving my life these days – even though I’ve been a wheelchair-using quadriplegic for the past twelve years.”
Barry Lindemann – ‘The Happy Quad’ (Spinal Columns Magazine 2007 Summer Issues Page 34)
This past weekend I was flipping through the most recent release from Spinal Columns and I came across an article by my fellow quad and friend Barry Lindemann. I have known him ever since we were floormates in the same wing of the old General Hospital shortly after we were both injured in 1994. Actually, he might not know this but I once took his electric wheelchair for a joy ride when he went home one weekend to visit his family. Man, I think I set some speed records!!!
Anyways, his article was a personal reflection to what it meant for him to be a quad and face life with a positive and Happy outlook. Beautiful to listen too and Barry, if you get to read this I hope you take heart in knowing that you are not alone in being a “happy, well adjusted, ‘just glad to be alive person with a severe [physical challenge]‘”. Reading Barry’s thoughts, emotions, and insights really led me to reflect on my own resons as to why we can all be “Happy Quads”; which I hope to perhaps convey and express here.
Live life to the holistic utmost of all of your abilities. I think to often we tend to submit to this unwritten prejudice that if “part” of are body doesn’t work we will neglect and suspend any physical activity at all. We tend to ask others to do for us rather then doing things ourselves not so much because we can’t do it but because it is easier to and/or quicker to have someone else do it instead.
It might sound radical but, why not try and make the the bed yourself, or cook rather then ordering in, or push up that impossible hill no matter how long it takes. When we are willing to embrace the challenge with a positive solution, regardless of new technique or time frame, that is when miracles happen and we end up blowing our own minds away at the possibilities and abilities to which we have!
Serve to bring a positive transformational presence to your community, city, and the people around you. I have a close friend who several years ago commited to going to Poland with a group of students and serving with a team that would teach English as a second language to a group of school kids. Thing was, he was born with Cerebral Palsy and would be spending the majority of the traveling time negotiating wheelchair access and/or the lack there of. Despite these challenges, he made an impact that will forever change and inspire the lives of the kids he taught not to mention the other students that traveled with him throughout the country side.
We can make a difference whereever we are. It might be standing up for the care and treatment of those in group homes and institutions, by writting and speaking to our representitives in the government. Maybe, we can join community or social programs dedicated to saving and taking better guardianship of our natural resources and the environment. It can even be as simple as saying you will go down once a month and serve at the Mustard Seed.
By being willing to serve others outside of our own needs we can find strength and encouragement while dealing with our own sufferings and life obstacals. Francis of Assi once said, “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” We can no longer afford to wait in our living rooms, watching TV and dreaming about what we could and should do. Intead we can go out into our communities and city, serve to make a positive transformational presence, and witness the joy and happiness it brings to our own hearts and minds.
Pursue and Embrace the passions, visions, and dreams that are deep down within your heart. I honestly believe that each one of us has at least one dream or passion that is sometimes buried deep within us and is despritley trying to be expressed through our pursuites and goals. Sometimes though, I think we suppress these hopes thinking we can never accomplish them because of our own physical challenges. It is true, we may face larger, more complicated issues then others who do not have these challenges but even if we pursue those dreams in different ways then the accepted “normal” way, we can find that the pursuite itself brings us even greater joy and excitment.
In the summer of 2004, Vancouver’s own Brad Zdanivsky embraced and tackled his dream to be able to go Mountain climbing inspite of being a quadriplegic. Growing up he had always enthusiastically been envolved with rock climbing. He had even been spending years before the summer of 2004 preparing and developing the equipment and proper techniques that he would need in order to scale a Mountain side. Finally, it had all paid off and Brad’s dream became a reality when he and a group of friends together climbed Mount Squamish Chief. His impossibilities became his exemplified abilities; and his dreams became his reality!
David the Psalmist had a dream, Ghandi had a dream, Mother Theresa had a dream, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, Brad Zdanivsky has a dream, I have a dream, and yes you too have a dream! Together we can pursue each others dreams; encouraging, developing, equiping, and experienceing all the joy and happiness that comes out of them.
“All the way to heaven is heaven.”
Cathrine of Siena (1347-1381)
Seek out the real truth in all things beyond the expectations and false realities that this world and society profess to you. Over two thousand years ago there was a wise man named Paul who writting to a young follower of his gave the advice to “Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) It was a deep belief in following truth and not what this society or world enforced or dictated as a false reality.
Yes, I know, if you have looked around at the other articles that I have published on this site it is true that I myself am a Christian and follow a belief in Jesus as the embodyment of absolute Truth and as such we can then all be in relationship with him in a subjective and contextualized understanding. However, when I say seek out the real truth in all things I am not saying that you must conform to the concepts which express my faith. No, I am encouraging and attempting to persuade you to continually ask yourself the deeper questions which shape and lead to your own beliefs and faith.
I suppose my resoning for saying this is because after years of being in a wheelchair myself, I have seen so many people who have faced physical challenges, for whatever reason, and simply assumed the conclusion that life is over and they are unable to take part in any envolvement with the people around them as a result of believing in a world view that excludes people who face such physical issues (few, that was a mouth full).
It is true, we live in a society that dictates that people with physical challenges are some how less capable then the rest of the average population. Their are people who will descriminate and be less accepting of us (people with physical challenges) and most likely persecute us because of it. There is a corporate “spirit” if you will, that can and sometimes will exploite the lifestyles created by our new physical needs (those of you on AISH or apart of any government or political subsidy or have delt with any Home Care Product Need know exactley what I am saying I’m sure!)
These are all false social expectations and realities! They may be practiced and repeatedley thrust into our face but, they are wrong and untruthful. We as people, as human beings have an even greater power then to accept these falsehoods that most people go through life without being aware of. We have the power to choose!!! To ask the real questions like “Why can’t I do this?” – “How can I do this?” – “Who am I really?” – and “What purpose can I fulfill as a created being?”
Several years ago I can remember watching a really popular show called ‘The X-Files‘ and every time they show the beginning credits they would include this quote; “The Truth is Out There“. The Truth really is out there but if we really want to find it, we have to get out there too! We have to be willing to ask the really tough questions and accept the fact that even if people do not accept the realities of our truthfulness we are still in a relationship with them and over time and hard effort we can bring about positive transformation resulting in existential joy.
I suppose that is enough to say for now when I think of what brings me happiness. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Barry Lindemann my quad brother and friend for making me ask that deeper tougher question myself. This list is also far from complete and perhaps, you are now asking yourself the question; “What makes you HAPPY?”
Tired: Bed rest is not all that it is cracked up to be!!!
Being stuck on bed rest for the last week has been making me stir crazy!!! I am becoming quit TIRED of it!!!
Competing in the Race: Don’t Get Cought Up on the Sidelines
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
I can remember growing up and competing in just about anything that was related to sports and athletics. I tended to be quite the jock and it didn’t matter if it was a school tournament or a local church soft ball game; I played as if it was the World Series Championships! In truth, I can remember playing basketball and stating that, “If you can’t compete, get off the court!” Competition had a much different meaning to me back then.
So then when someone would talk about racing, it meant that you had to be the fastest or at least appear as though you train to be the “best” super athlete that you can picture. I can’t help but think that this is where we first go wrong when we think of the competition or race that God first calls us too.
Competition in God’s eyes seems more about training and sharpening our own abilities to succeed and run the race in spite of our own challenges both in the physical sense and unseen realms. It was never meant to be about defeating or over coming others whether it was school friends or the self imposed super athlete. It was about taking who you are holistically in the here and now and propelling it to new levels of abilities and self understanding.
The apostle Paul calls us to run the race as to win an imperishable prize. Imperishable because the reward we receive is not one that we can see outside of ourselves but internally as we recognize Jesus’ Spirit continually transforming us as our bodies become stronger, our minds sharper, and our spirits lifted to unmeasurable hope and joy. This is the spirit of inspiration that we see in our friends, coworkers, and the people around us as they pursue their dreams and overcome the individual challenges that they face while running the race of life. This is the spirit which we can allow to flood our hearts and make our blood flow as we too face our challenges as we race with and not against our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and our friends!
This past weekend I had the opportunity to be with some of the 
super athletes in my life. Friday night was Mike Zunic’s first time racing his new dragster at Race City Speedway. He is supported by the Parkinson’s Society as they are calling this summers tour ‘Racing for a Cure’. Mike, himself, battles Parkinson’s Disease which causes him to face challenges in his motor control as well as difficulty in speaking. In spite of these “thorns in the flesh” Mike races not just for the righteous pursuit of a physical cure but in the fulfillment of a life long dream which no doubt is inspired by a deep convicting faith in Jesus Christ. His racing and traveling to speak to others who face similar battles mirrors the warriors of those who in scripture ran from town to town crying “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” The world may cry that defeat leads to death but the runners of the New Testament and Mike know that defeat only leads to Resurrection!
On Sunday my friend Jeff Keop also ran a race of his own in the ‘Mother’s Day Run and Walk’. 
To look at him you would never know that three months ago he had to undergo back surgery as he was unable to walk without serious chronic pain. So much so that he was confined to a bed. In spite of these challenges Jeff is inspiring not only himself to run the race but 40 of his patients which he has in his chiropractic practice. God’s Spirit pours out of him as he brings his faith everyday to the office and communicates holistic healing not just through his words but by the model he exemplifies within his own character.
Running the race is not always going to be on the easy road. We cannot allow ourselves though to be diminished or eliminated from the race simply because we choose to disqualify ourselves out of either self pride, lack of humility, or even self loathing. Running the race is not something we can do from the sidelines! We need to ask ourselves; what is the race that God is calling me to? How is it that I can use and improve my abilities to not only build myself up physically, mindfully, and spiritually but also inspire others to enter the race with me? Am I being all that God created and meant me to be?
I suppose that is enough writing for now. I need to go for a run!!!
“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the hole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”
Expressions
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years By Donald Miller
Follow Me to Freedom By Shane Claiborne & John Perkins
Journey to Significance By Neil Cole
Organic Leadership By Niel Cole
Sacrilege By Hugh Halter
Forge Canada
Friend of Missional
Missional Apologetics
The Missional Network
Verge Network
Recent Comments