the biggerblog

Racing for the Sake of Others

2010-01-11T09:32:00.002-05:00

I do a lot of talking, theorizing, debating what is important in the world. Talking about a how a world like ours could be filled with love and peace. How people could become fully alive. I'm going to start talking less and doing more. A small part of this is what I'm calling Racing for the Sake of Others. It's a campaign to raise money for wells to be dug in communities around the world where there is no clean water. See, I love to race bikes but it's been all about me and the team for too long. I thought, surely i've got this gift and passion for more than just myself! So I'm taking pledges for each mile I ride this year starting with the next three months of training for the upcoming season. If you want to join the cause of making a real difference in the world and saving physical lives please join me by making a pledge or a straight donation. Check out my webpage at www.charitywater.org/Racingforothers. I'm aiming at 1000miles in the next three months but I'll post weekly mileage amounts on the site and facebook.
Please join me!

Six months

2009-10-03T22:20:00.005-04:00

Wow! Our little boy is 6 mos already! Time flies. He's started eating cereal and had peas for the first time today. Noah continues to be such a sweet, laidback baby. He loves to jump and to laugh. We're so thankful for such a wonderful son! Here are a few of his six month pictures.

Hot Race

2009-08-11T16:04:00.002-04:00

Obviously, smokin hot and 80% humidity or more. Everyone sweating
just standing around.
Trail was in great shape. Fast with just enough grip to push it into
the turns and not slide out. There were a handful of muddy spots.
Before Start: Ben "Jeff, lets grow some nuts and push it at the start
and get ahead of some of these guys who have been beating us! Let's
make them pass us!" Jeff: "You wanna a hard sprint at the start
huh?" Ben: "Yep".
But Jeff didn't get there soon enough to get on the front of the start
line like I did. I thought he was screwd. But gun went off and Jeff
was right behind me as we held 5th and 6th place into the trail.
Three riders made some ground ahead of us and left us following some
guy who was doing ok until Cliffside trail's wet switchbacks. I
decided I'd try and pass him and make up the gap to the leaders. I
yelled back, "we need to pass this guy" and when I had a chance, I
passed on a turn. Jeff didn't make it with me but I was off and
feeling really good and fast. All was good, I was pulling those guys
in, until on a rocky section my chain fell off. It took me a good
minute to get it back on with my 1x9 chain guide in the way. 2 or 3
people passed w/o saying anything so I assumed Frame was one of them.
Finished lap one and saw Janet and asked if Frame had gone through yet
and she said "no". I assumed he'd flatted or something.
Lap two I was probably riding in 6th place or 7th until I had the
chain drop again! took another minute to put it on and that's when I
began to feel the "pinch" in the legs. I thought...."oh crap, I'm not
supposed to feel that until about 5 miles from the finish!". I ended
up dropping the chain again during lap 2, another 60 seconds.
Lap 3 I ate everything I had and going into it and was probably down
to 10th by that point. I was going really slow at this point. I knew
it was going to be painful as I was already fighting cramps in my
hamstrings. Then came cramps in my quads. When I would stand up to
pedal and reach the bottom of my pedal stroke, leg fully extended, my
leg would lock straight! I had to force it to bend again! 3/4
through the last lap my hammys were wanting to seize up when I dropped
the chain again. This time Frame came up on me while I was putting
'er back on. He asked if I needed anything, I didn't...just needed to
be finished! Got the chain on and he slowed for me to help get me
going again. I only stuck wth him for just over a mile or two and
just couldn't push my legs anymore. It felt like the Brown County
Breakdown kind of pain. My arse was friggin raw as my seat pounded me
over every little bump. I was suffering! I couldn't push the pedals
down and so my rear was just bouncing all over the place! I finished
my water 20 minutes before the lap was over. Was able to pass two
more experts before the finish though.
Finished 2 minutes and 1 place behind Jeff and we were both in the
bottom 1/4 of the results. Not our best race by any means. Tough day
in the saddle.

Dreams

2009-08-04T08:25:00.002-04:00

This is gonna be vague just so you know. Sorry.

But, two weeks ago there was no sign of my dreams coming to fruition. I had settled in my heart and mind that I would settle back into the familiar and common way I had experience in the past. My passion and dream didn't seem to working out and so I had set it aside and was in a kind of funk, but didn't want to push what could have been my own desires and not God's will. Then the intervention!
Two weeks ago I was confronted by a good friend about what I've done with my dreams and passions. He got in my face, through iChat, and told me I'd probably regret not running after this dream. He told me the things I thought needed to be in place did not have to be in place if God was with me in this. He reminded me of the way I felt alive when pursuing this dream. But there was frustration at the end of the conversation. I didn't want to have to wrestle with the dream again. It was hard to pray and to think and to process. It's work to seek God and listen. It's hard to wrestle with decisions that radically redirect the trajectory of your and your family's life. And I had settled it already in my mind and didn't want it brought back up. Then there was another intervention!
Two days later a friend from out of state, who comes into town one time a year, had lunch with me and asked about how pursuing my dream was going. I told him my fears and how I set it aside but how I had been confronted recently. And for the next hour my false perceptions of what it would take to live the dream was revealed. My confusion over my understanding of what God has called me into was clarified. I realized I was putting pressure on myself to become a different kind of person and leader because I thought the dream couldn't be realized without this kind of person. That got blown out of the water as my friend retold me my dream and showed me that the kind of person needed to pull it off what just who I am! I felt a sense of freedom I hadn't felt for a long while!
And from that day so much has happened. I mean a whole bunch! Confirmation after confirmation has been given. Family is 'on board', friends too, resources are available, mentors are saying "yes" and much more! And I'm being moved everyday with thankfulness and wondering why I get to live into my dreams and how God could be so good and his timing so perfect!
As more develops I'll be sure to post for the three of you who still look at this page!

PIcture of Heaven?

2009-07-01T09:14:00.002-04:00

Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft writes:

"Medievil imagery (which is almost totally biblical imagery of light, jewels, stars, candles, trumpets, and angels no longer fits our ranch-style, supermarket world. Pathetic modern substitutes of fluffy clouds, sexless cherubs, harps and metal halos (not halos of light) presided over by a stuffy divine Chairman of the Bored are a joke, not a glory. Even more modern, more up-to-date substitutes--Heaven as a comfortable feeling of peace and kindness, sweetness and light, and God as a vague grandfatherly benevolence, a senile philanthropist--are even more insipid. Our pictures of Heaven simply do not move us; they are not moving pictures. It is this aesthetic failure rather than intellectual or moral failures in our pictures of Heaven and of God that threatens faith most potently today. Our pictures of Heaven are dull, platitudinous and syrupy; therefore, so is our faith, our hope, and our love of Heaven." -Everything You Wanted to Know About Heaven

"If our pictures", John Eldridge says, "of heaven are to move us, they must be moving pictures. So go ahead-dream a little. Use your imagination. Picture the best possible ending ot your story you can. If that isn't heaven , something better is. When Paul says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9) , he simply means we cannot out dream God. What is at the end of our personal journeys? Something beyond our wildest imagination. But if we explore the secrets of our heart in the light of the promises of Scripture, we can discover clues. As we have said, there is in the heart of every man, woman and child an inconsolable longing for intimacy, for beauty, and for adventure. What will heaven offer to our heart of hearts?"- The Sacred Romance

The Story We Find Ourselves In

2009-06-30T10:57:00.002-04:00

Elie Wiesel suggests that "God created man because he loves stories". If we are wanting to understand the mystery of life we may want to explore it in story. We have a great hurdle to leap if we are to have our eyes opened, for we are children of the Enlightenment and the Post Modern era.

This Era, John Eldridge says, has been causing us to loose our Story. "The Enlightenment dismissed the idea that there is an Author but tried to hang on to the idea that we could still have a larger story, life could still make sense, and everything was headed in a good direction. Western culture rejected the mystery and transcendence of the Middle Ages and placed its confidence in pragmatism and progress, the pillars of the Modern Era, the Age of Reason. But once we had rid ourselves of the Author, it didn't take long to lose the larger story. In the Postmodern Era, all we have left is our small stories. It's not pentecost, it's time for spring training. our role models are movie stars, and the biggest taste of transcendence is the opening of the ski season. Our best expressions are on the level of "Have a nice day." The only reminder we have of a story beyond our own is the evening news, an arbitrary collection of scenes and images without any bigger picture into which they fit. The central belief of our times is that there is no story, nothing hangs together, all we have are bits and pieces, the random days of our lives. Tragedy still brings us to tears and heroism still lifts our hearts, but there is no context for any of it. Life is just a sequence of images and emotions without rhyme or reason." from The Sacred Romance.

So what happens if we are created in a grand story and yet don't have eyes to see it? We create our own little stories to bring meaning to our lives. Deep within us we are meant to live within a grand story and to deny that leads to searching smaller stories or creating our own. What are these smaller stories? For me...it could be mountain biking. For you? Maybe it's sports, politics, tv shows, music. Or maybe you create your own story...More on that later.

The World of the Gospel

2009-06-28T16:18:00.002-04:00

"It is a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight. It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too. It is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure who belongs to what side because appearances are endless deceptive. Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good, who life happily ever after, and where in the long run everybody, good and evil alike, becomes known by his true name...That is the fairy tale of teh Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still." - Frederick Buechner in Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale

The Search for Eden

2009-06-24T14:05:00.001-04:00

Mountain Biking and Spirituality
“The Search for Eden”
An Essay Series by Ben Biggerstaff

Deep in the depths of our memory we know we were created in most beautiful place ever by the most beautiful being ever. In our spiritual DNA we have been passed down an appetite for the place where mankind began, a place called “Eden”. This place was a place unpolluted by the hands of selfish humanity, now unimaginable, where everything everywhere at all times radiated with a jaw-dropping, eye-blinding, heart-filling wonder! All around us spoke of the craftiness of the hand of the Creator of all things. And all nature, man, plant, and animal were in one accord with the Creator is it was bliss! Some things have changed since then. Mankind became selfish and ruined almost everything. But still within us is a longing to be back there.

We mountain bikers find this deep memory welling up when we find ourselves deep in the backwoods with trees taller than we’ve ever seen! We start to remember when we reach the peak of the mountain and, from the heights, look all around at the beauty with such a macro view that it seems as if nature had not been touched by mankind. We remember when we stop at the stream to hear nothing but rolling waters over smooth stones. We long for beauty and this longing draws out of town and into nature.

We know as we leave the garage driving to the parking garage and through the walking tunnel into the office, not catching a bit of fresh air, that something is missing. We long for the weekend not simply to get a good ride in but something deeper, we desperately want to be back in Eden. We want to be back where all things are in sync with one another. We want to be back where beauty is everywhere. We want to be back where things are unspoiled, where we can be in the quiet and possibly hear from the Creator of it all. For, it is the Creator that dreamed up all this beauty in the first place. And it is the Creator that is revealed through the beauty to which we are drawn.

This longing lies deep within us all. If it is not mountain biking, it is fishing or hunting or can be seen in how we drool over a simple sunset. We are being reminded of something that has been lost, beautiful relationship with all things. But in an ancient text it says, “behold I am making all things new”. This God-Man, Jesus, is saying he’s bringing all things together again. It has begun already and will be finished one day. The beauty calls to us on the trail, the Creator calls to us on the trial through the beauty. He reminds us we were made for beauty. He beckons us to join Him in making all things new and beautiful again!

Picking A Good Line

2009-06-17T07:48:00.003-04:00

I began a series of Essays, I guess you could call them, about the parallels I see between Mountain Biking and Spirituality. Here is Essay #1 called "Picking A Good Line"

I’ve been a mountain biker for the last six years advancing from a casual weekend rider to a competitive Cat 1 racer. I’ve also been spiritually awake for the last nine years. And in the overlapping time I’ve found many parallels and insights that some times bring more clarity, and sometimes bring further distraction and confusion, to what is really important in life. This is a bit about that.

“Picking a Good Line”
One of the first things I did after my first mountain bike race was get a copy of Mountain Bike Like a Champion by Ned “The Lung” Overend. The two things I have always remembered from that book are how to take a turn with all your weight on the outside foot and how to use your eyes to navigate the trail.

If a rider is to really rail a turn there has to be commitment. There has to be courage in his loins (I love that word). I love what G.K. Chesterson says about courage,
“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. “He that will lose his life, the same shall save it” (quoting Jesus) is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers (or mountain bikers, if you will). The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it…(he) needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.” –italics mine.

And so we riders find ourselves faced with this at, literally, every turn. Will we have courage to rail the turn or will slam on the brakes, put our foot down and loose all momentum? Or will we throw our weight to the outside, lift our finger off the brake and for the sake railing the turn, risk tumbling into the thorn bushes and possibly get a greater taste of our potential?

The second thing “The Lung” teaches is a rider must look where he wants to go. Don’t want to his that stump ahead? Then look at the line around it! A smooth rider must keep his eyes looking ahead, spot the obstacle and the clear line around or over it and point his bike that direction while continuing to look past it for the next line. The peripheral vision is used here. We always keep our eyes on where we want to go. Identify the obstacle and line and do it over and over and over again through the course of a ride. When the focus is brought to the root immediately in front of the tire, the momentum is lost and we find ourselves on our face in the dirt.

So many of us have been hurt by others or seen someone hurt others and made promises in our hearts that, “I will never be like that person.” This is an example of focusing on the stump on the trail. Focusing on the negative does not usually get us to the positive. And so the challenge is to focus on what we want to become or achieve and to have the courage to commit while risking failure. For me, I remember a passage in an ancient text, “Fix your eyes on Jesus”, who called himself “The Son of Man” or the spitting image of what humanity was meant to be. And as I navigate the single track I am reminded that by focusing on him I am becoming more of the kind of person he would be if he were me.

Affair

2009-06-17T07:44:00.003-04:00

I've been having an affair with facebook.com for some months now. It's tearing my relationship with the-biggerblog.blogspot.com to pieces. I'm sorry for everyone who has been harmed because of my selfishness:)

Daddy Tummy Time

2009-04-30T15:10:00.000-04:00

Noah Update

2009-04-22T18:49:00.001-04:00

Noah has gained a pound in the last week! He's now 8lbs 14oz.

"Sweet blessing/Eye of the Tiger"

2009-04-10T14:56:00.003-04:00

So I (ben) am the primary blogger on thebiggerblog but Jen wanted me to add this pic of Noah and I guess she thought that she would also suggest a title. She said, "how bout something like Sweet Blessing?". I chuckled cause I was thinking something more like "Fierce Tiger!". So we compromised!

Anyhow, Noah is friggin awesome! He has slept really well the last two nights. He is soothed easily and loves "belly time" with both of us!

This was our attempt at a portrait of Noah. I just laid him on his Moby Wrap with some day light shining in and used some iPhoto effects and there you go.

He was born on April 4th, weighed 7lbs 6oz. and was 22 inches long. He has noticeably long feet and fingers! We joke, if babies work the same as puppy's he's gonna be a big boy!

New Chapter Starts Tonight

2009-04-03T08:01:00.002-04:00

Today is the day for Jen and me to move from husband and wife to mom and dad! It's really weird watching the "page turn" arrive. There's all kinds of preparations that have taken place over the last 6 months or so. Even two days ago we were doing final...well Jen was doing final house cleaning projects in preparation. But yesterday as the page in this chapter was already standing on edge, we couldn't read what was on this side or the other side of the page... We didn't know how we were supposed to spend our last full day of just "us". So we pretty much did the same ol' stuff. Got lunch at Qdoba, took a long nap, the normal stuff. But today we are able to see the first page of the new chapter and it's reads, "pack the truck, pray, charge batteries, figure out the camcorder..."

A Name

2009-03-24T10:06:00.002-04:00

An ancient Jewish saying goes like this, "As he is named, so he will be".
Benjamin means "Son of my right hand" and that is my deepest reality, a son of God's right hand.

And so we are led to name our son Noah Ryan.
Noah means or sounds like the hebrew word for, "Rest and Comfort"
Ryans means, "Little King"
And of course you think of Noah in the Biblical text being a man of Faith and Righteousness who "walked with God".

Therefore we pray our son will become a man who will walk by faith in his place as a little King (prince) of our God who brings rest and comfort in the name of Jesus to all he comes to know.

Mitzvah

2009-03-23T09:59:00.002-04:00

"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."- Jesus

ReJesus

2009-03-19T19:21:00.002-04:00

I'm reading a new book about Christology. Simply put for leaders in the church and followers of Jesus alike we must ask the question who is Jesus? and from that answer ask what was his Mission and from that ask how we join with him in our time and place as his church (Ecclesiology). And this book is all about who this "Wild Messiah for the Missional Church" is.

He'll be here soon!

2009-02-26T18:53:00.002-05:00

Here's the latest pic of Noah. He's getting a little cramped in Jen's belly! He's is a strong boy and loves punch and kick especially with those big feet!

Franciscan Blessing

2009-01-22T09:52:00.000-05:00

“May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart. May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people. May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy. May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim.”

-The Franciscan Blessing

M.U.N.R

2009-01-22T08:46:00.004-05:00

What could bring two Ball State Professors, Two Ball State Faculty, One Ball State Grad Student, Three Bike Shop Employees and one police officer together to endure two hours of 15 degree temperatures out in the snow? M.U.N.R! That's what!

A couple months ago Layne Cameron, a Ball State Faculty and avid cyclist, had an idea to keep him cycling through the winter w/o having to resort to the indoor trainer. He called up the guys at Kirk's Bike Shop and said he'd be by the shop at closing if anyone wanted to join him for a night mountain bike ride around Muncie. So it began with three riders covered head to toe with hats, glasses, gloves, fleece, windbreakers, windproof pants, and shoe covers along with headlamps for what is now called M.U.N.R (Muncie Urban Night Ride).

M.U.N.R has grown from one guys idea to a regular "come one, come all" standing Tuesday night group ride that meets at Kirks Bike Shop at 6pm. These are fun rides but can also be what some participants have called "grinders!" and "epic" rides. This was the case this past Tuesday with 6 inches of snow on top of icy trail and grass. Many fell into the powdery fluff simply to rise up and proclaim, "That was awesome!". Some ride what has become the regular 13 mile loop and others choose to turn home early for a shorter loop. This is a great ride for all levels of riders because it stays in town, close to everyones home or vehicle.

Want to join the ride next week? Here's what you need to know:
This is a mountain bike ride so nobby tires are best. This is a night ride so put on a camping headlight, tape a flashlight to your handlebars or stop by Kirk's Bike shop and purchase a light. It's winter time! So dress warm! Don't want to do the full 13 miles? No problem. About half way through the group passes through down town Muncie again and you can cut out at that point.

Here's a couple pictures from M.U.N.R this past week

Say Hello to Noah Ryan Biggerstaff

2009-01-09T08:48:00.002-05:00

Here's Noah sleeping on his hand inside Mommy! He'll be here before we know it! April 3rd or so!

The Forgotten Ways

2008-12-22T08:05:00.003-05:00

Those of you who know me have heard me express my passion for Jesus. You've heard my desire to display the beautiful way of Jesus and to make students of Jesus. You've heard about my desire to plant new churches. Not just plant churches that exist for themselves but that exist for the purpose of joining God is the restoration of all things, namely the human heart.

But why? Why spend your life in this way? Well, there are many good things to do with one's life. There a some great things. But I believe there is only one ultimate thing. When you're talking about "ultimate" there can only be one, that's what makes it "ultimate". And I've found God as revealed in Jesus to be that ultimate thing to spend one's life, my life, on. Knowing God, glorifying God and enjoying him forever is the bent of my life.

"Glorifying" God can be kind of vague. But what I have found is that God is glorified in following Jesus' teaching. And after He rose from the grave he had some last words, "Go and make disciples/students/apprentices of all people groups, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I've taught". And herein lies the void. Why plant churches? To make more and better students of Jesus. People don't hate Jesus but they tend to hate the church. And why? Because we speak one thing and do another. We are not disciples who have bent their lives on becoming like our teacher Jesus. We say, "But we've got all our teachings on Sunday, Wednesday night services, bible studies and social events and still we can't make real disciples!". In spite of all we do we still fail at making disciples like the early church did, or the Chinese church. But what if it is exactly because of how we do things we fail to make disciples? And this is why I desire to plant churches. To do things different. And with the grace of God see different things happen.

A great book that has spurred much thought about just this topic is The Forgotten Ways by Allen Hirsch. So if you're an aspiring pastor/leader or current one I would recommend it.

The Church is not a social club for people who have decided to mentally ascend to Jesus as the Christ. It is a group of people to have surrendered and are in the process of surrendering all they have to join in what is Ultimate, Jesus and his redemptive actions in the world, namely making students of Jesus. Let's throw off all the other crap that is not accomplishing this.

Race Pics from ICEMAN

2008-11-30T09:03:00.003-05:00

Thankful for what?

2008-11-25T08:57:00.002-05:00

Fall

2008-11-14T13:48:00.001-05:00

Man, it's one of those fall days...rainy, cool, cloudy. Makes me want to take a nap in front of a fireplace or something. Guess my space heater will have to do...

Are you a real Man?

2008-11-11T17:09:00.001-05:00

So some of you know my interest in masculinity and men being men. Well I found this short clip that really nailed it on the head. So... are you a real man?

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More pics from ICEMAN

2008-11-10T21:44:00.002-05:00

ICEMAN Came!

2008-11-10T21:07:00.003-05:00

Here's a recap of the ICEMAN adventure. It was a fantastic time! We left Muncie at 1pm with Jeff, Mark, myself and all are bikes and gear loaded in Jeff's Subaru. We rolled into the hotel, which was a 4-star or better hotel about 7:30pm and checked in. We found out there were 4 restaurants in the hotel so we found one with a pasta buffet and chowed down.
After laying out our clothes for the next day we made quick use of the huge garden bath with jets...separately of course...and went to bed.
We rose at 6:30 and down stairs we went to eat a breakfast buffet. Then we packed up our bags and bikes and drove 20 minutes to the start line to get Mark ready for the race. He started at 9:30 while Jeff and I got to wait until 10am. There were about 60 waves going out every 5 minutes! Yeah...that 3000+ people and half a day to get them all out on the course.
Now for a race review.
The weather was ok. We expected much worse. it was 40 degrees and spitting rain with overcast skies. Approaching the start line there were about 60 other racers in my category so I nudged myself up to the front of the line so I could get a good start. And I did, hitting the trail at about 5th place. I quickly moved up to 3rd place as I tucked in behind two other guys as we made some separation from the pack. about 4 miles into the 27 mile race we started catching previous waves and we passed a LOT of them! At around mile 5 the two guys in front of me passed a couple people and I had to wait a few seconds to do the same and when it was time I yelled out "passing on the right" and the kid in front of me jumped out in front of me to pass at the same time. He kept doing this 3 times as if he and I were racing eachother and he didn't want me to get in front. But he was in a totally different age group! Anyway, one time he did this lead to me slamming on my breaks, going up into a front wheelie and endoing over my bars. And that led to a woman crashing into me! We were all ok but I lost to two guys I was pacing off of and was determined to pass that little jerk of a racer......sorry.... he was young and didn't know better I guess. Anyway I passed him w/o saying a word and made it my goal to catch the two leaders.
I didn't ever find them again. But I knew I'd put a gap on the group behind and was sitting in third place. So I just tried to ride hard and keep my momentum. It wasn't hard to do. The trail was sandy but the rain had packed in down and made it quite tacky! Was regularly riding at 17-18mph and bombing the downhills which had large portions of loose sand at the bottoms. But I found that the faster you hit the sandy spots the better you got through them. The hills were not much to talk about until the last 9 miles or so. The started to get steep. Not to long but steep. Most people were walking up them while pushing their bikes. Anita's Hill was one of those such hills. I was able to ride all of them w/o walking and even had an old man cheer me to the top of Anita's Hill and then push me by my seat over the crest! I felt like I was in some french road race or something!
All was well with less than 1 mile left to go and sitting in 3rd place, counting my winnings ahead of time, when a rider passed me. Now no one had passed me all day and so I had to ask the question, "Hey, what age group are you....?" "Huh?" he yelled. "Are you 25-29?" Waiting a few seconds to consider his answer he says, "yeah I am...are you?" And then I knew there would be a sprint to the finish. As though to show no competition between the two of us I said, "Yeah I am...and we've got two guys ahead of us.." My diversion tactic didn't work I guess cause he took off and so I took off on his tail until we hit another steep hill. I saw him really slow down in the middle of the hill so I attacked not know if this was the last hill or if there were more. I got ahead of him by about half of bike length but then he fought back and pulled ahead and the strain was too much for me. I couldn't catch him. He beat me by 8 seconds. It was a fun fun finish for the day!
Here are some pics from the trip.
Post race activities included sipping some local Michigan brews and playing Guitar Hero in the Meijer kids trailer! Oh, and results! Jeff got 13th and Mark was like 60th out of 75... yeah... but he got a 91% accuracy score on guitar hero which was unprecedented that day!

THE ICEMAN COMETH!

2008-11-05T17:27:00.002-05:00

So... I thought I was done racing too, after the Brown County Breakdown. But come to find out those who placed 1st in their age group at the end of the season in the Dino Series got invited to compete in the ICEMAN COMETH race in Travers City Michigan. It takes place this Saturday.

ICEMAN COMETH VIDEO

There's a couple good videos that give you and idea of what kind of race this is. Here is one of them.

Jesus For President.. Cast your Vote Today AND Tomorrow

2008-11-04T13:07:00.005-05:00

A fellow in his 70's came in the bike shop just now and asked, "Have you voted yet?" and I answered, "No I have not". He said to make sure I do and that he's never missed a vote. Then he was on his way. But the truth is I voted yesterday, today and I'll vote tomorrow too.

Yesterday I voted for Jesus' Way as I relied upon him to love my neighbor as myself, I voted for Jesus today many times already as I resisted the temptation to make my day all about satisfying my selfish desires, and I plan on voting for Jesus tomorrow as I show up for work on time and encourage my friends to serve others before themselves.

Whether or not you vote for the president of the U.S. and other government officials today or not...don't forget to continue voting tomorrow and the next for the change you want to see in the world.

Jesus, let your government come on earth as it is in the heavens.

Surely the world will be changed more rapidly by millions of people being transformed by Jesus from selfishness of heart to true inner goodness than by getting one person in a position of power.

Me Crazy? No This Guy is Crazy

2008-10-30T09:06:00.000-04:00

Check out this off-road unicycle rider!

http://www.columbia.com/pioneers/?pioneer=heaton

Missional

2008-10-28T13:15:00.002-04:00

"A church which pitches its tents without constantly looking out for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling. ...[We must] play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, and live by improvisation and experiment." -Hans Kung, The Church as the People of God

"The church, when true to its calling, when it is about what God is about, is by far and away the most potent force for transformational change the world has ever seen. It has been that before, is that now, and will be that again." -Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways

What do you think about that? Do you believe that? I am moved by that statement and slapped by it at the same time. What am I doing? What am I living for? How am I making my life count? Is my local church just a local social club? Have we forgotten our roots? That great people who turned the world upside down. Do you think the new president of the United States has more power to change the world than the church? Of course, most of us do (see our bumpers, t-shirts, buttons, signs in yard and commercials). Though I have some doubt, I feel it deep with in me that it is true that "we by far and away are the most potent force for transformational change in the world".

Check this out. How many followers of Jesus and his Way were there in AD100?
A: AD100 as few as 25,000
How many followers of Jesus and his Way were there in AD 310?
A: AD 310 up to 20,000,000!

HOW DID THEY DO THIS?
How did they do this?
How do we again harness this passion and power and purpose to be the agents of transformational change in the world?

How to bless...

2008-10-24T09:36:00.002-04:00

Numbers Chapter 6
22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 " ' "The LORD bless you
and keep you;

25 the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace." '

27 "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

To bless people, we somehow, mysteriously, put God's name on them and God blesses.

Could this be Next?

2008-10-22T20:57:00.004-04:00

A friend has invited myself and my teammate Jeff Frame out to Arizona in February to race the famous 24 hours of Old Pueblo. Could this be the next 24hr race? We'll see...
My lovely wife reminded me that this is over Valentines Day and is not that romantic...so we'll not be going to Arizona!

Brown County Breakdown 2008

2008-10-16T18:34:00.003-04:00

WoW Wow Wow! This year was the 4th year the Hoosier Mt Bike Association put on their fundraiser even called the Brown County Breakdown. And this was the 4th time I've taken part. Here's what it is. Only this one time per year do they connect 100 miles of trails that cover 4 counties and include the famous Brown County State Park trails, Nebo Ridge trails, Hickory Ridge trails and Combs road trail. Via horse trials and fire roads these great trails are opened up to mountain bikers who travel from all over the midwest to spend all day on their bikes at the peak of Fall colors to take in the beauty, thrills, and..........SUFFERING!
Can I just tell you I experienced beauty, thrills, fun, joy, fellowship and all but not until today, 4 days later could I remember those good things because all I could recall for the last few days was the suffering! Year 1 I tackled 35 miles, year 2 60, year 3 65, so I knew this was the year to go for the big 100. I had raced a great season and gotten in great cycling shape and the kicker was I had a great teammate to ride with the whole way.
The day started with awesome weather in the 50's. Usually it starts in the 30s and 40s. Jeff and I gave each other a fist bump and said "let's do it!" as we took off from the start. We cruised at a moderate pace through BCSP and reached one of the highest points in the park called Hesitation Point where we saw a really large group of riders hanging out eating and drinking. We thought, "I wonder why they are just chillin' there?" as we crossed the road and headed into the bombing downhill toward the campgrounds. This part was filled with flowing sections with small jumps where we carried speeds around 20mph and also had technical rock sections where you had to place your tire just right and balance at slow speeds. We popped out at the campground happy to see some roads to ride on before it led us to the horse trails and fire roads which were historically pretty crazy. So we downed some GU and drink as we cruised on the pavement. We waved at campers cookin' breakfast and kids playing ball. Then we hit the dusty and rocky horse trails. These things are fast and furious! 20+mph downhills with what we like to call "baby heads" (baby head size rocks) scattered all over the place make for a thrilling ride! But everything went smooth other than a tree limb that was hanging over the trail that smacked me bloodying my lip. As the trail narrowed we realized we were being led down to the secret cabin sag stop.
This was our first rest and were feeling great. We didn't stay long. Just enough time to eat at PB&J and fill up our water. Then we took a mile of gravel road to Nebo ridge. This trail is about a 1.5 mile climb and it becomes an 8 mile roller coaster where keeping your momentum is the key to a super fun ride! We knew that our tendency was to go out too hard so I led this section and intentionally coasted on the downhills and just cruised up the climbs we wanted to conserve energy because neither of knew what was coming in the last 40 mile section of Hickory Ridge. So we finished up the great Nebo Ridge trail and hopped on some paved road that quickly turned gravel until we got to the second sag stop at hickory ridge. There we found another blue grass duo playing so good ol' tunes as we fed ourselves and filled up our bottles. We were told that this next section was pretty remote and was made up of two loops of 15 and 25 miles. We joined two other guys and went for the 15 mile loop. It was really a fun section of jeep roads and pretty flowing single track. When we finished and came back to the sag stop we said to ourselves, "I think we're gonna do it!" With the affirmative we headed out for the last 25 miles of Hickory with a guy we met from Evansville. We heard that this was the toughest section of the day and they weren't kidding!
All I can say is suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer suffer and suffer! It was beautiful and all with the super remote sections of woods and streams. We saw huge pine forests where the trees where taller than I've ever seen a pine tree grow. It was amazing but I couldn't enjoy too much because I thought for sure my legs were going to seize up with cramps or simply fall off! From the SAG stop we rode on a gravel road that just would not stop climbing. It was so steep it even had a friggin switch back! What is a switch back road doing in Indiana anyway? Geeze! When we finally entered the single track trail it didn't give us any time to recover b/c it sent us bombing down into a valley immediately! It's cool to be in a valley except that you know there is nowhere to go but up! And we quickly did have to go up and these ups were steep and they were loooong! There was at least two more of them that I had to walk up. At this point I'm feeling nautious and my legs are wanting to start cramping up. I'm thinking...well I not sure that I was thinking! I was just hurting! From that point on, at about mile 55 it was simply a "suffer fest". There was the joy of the downhill and the road sections but everything else was suffering.
We finally made it out of there and sat for a while at the sag stop to recuperate. Then we headed back toward combs road that I had a history of walking up and cramping up on. I just sat on Jeff's wheel thinking, this is gonna hurt real bad. But when we got there it actually seemed much shorter than the last couple years, that was good. But we still walked up a good part of the trail.
After bombing down Nebo, a wonderful treat, we took the short one mile or so road back to the secret cabin sag and lo and behold they had PIZZA KING! And I think Jeff was a little concerned as I ate about 5 or 6 pieces! It was great. We didn't stay too long for fear our legs would think we were done. And we knew the horse trails to get back to the Mt. bike trails at BCSP were gonna be a test for us at this point in time. So we headed back up the trails soon found ourselves walking again. There were periods of 30 minutes where we didn't even talk to one another we just heard uuugh aahhhh ssshhhcht and foot steps. I was already telling myself, "I will never do this again, never again will i ride this far, this was too far, it's not worth the suffering". But something happened when we got back to the mt bike trails at BCSP. Maybe its cause Im really familiar with them, I know they have so much flow or that we're only 10 miles from the end or what but I had a new surge of energy. There still wasn't much talking but you could tell in the way we were riding we were feeling a little better. We were getting a little air over some jumps and carving some turns.
Finally we fly down the last downhill and pop out of the woods to see the finish line 300 yards away. I'm in the lead and I turn back to look at Jeff as if to say "were here man!" and Jeff thinks I'm challenging him to a sprint finish! And next thing I know we are going balls to the wall on the last 100 yards. I tuck in behind him to get a draft and then 25 yards left I pop out and come up next to him to finish neck and neck! Not sure where that energy came from but I probably shouldn't have done that because I felt so drained I could hardly think straight. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sip a beer. All I could do was shower and lay down in the back seat all the way back to Muncie! I was done! I didnt want to see another bike for a month, I didn't was to plan on doing this ride again, I had suffered more than ever in my 28 years of life that day. But now....I'm glad I did it. I'm ready to get back on the trail though I'm still soar in my legs and knees a bit. There's something about it that keeps drawing me back. The pushing yourself farther than you think you can go, taking risks and overcoming them, being out in creation. God teaches me so much from Mt. Biking. There are so many parallels He gives me.

Here's a link to some pics http://gallery.me.com/fzryasky/100059

Becoming Human?

2008-10-10T08:08:00.002-04:00

Is our body any more than a hinderance to our spiritual life? Seriously? "I messed up, I'm only human!" Only human?
Where does our body fit in with "Salvation"? "Oh, Salvation comes because I have made a conscious decision to trust Jesus to forgive me, but won't see the real result of that until I die and go to heaven." Seriously?
Did Jesus have an actual body? Real flesh, real blood? Did he have calluses on his feet from walking and on his hands from building and crafting things of wood? Some blatantly say he "only had a form of a body but not real flesh and blood". That would be called Docetism. And that would be blatantly wrong. But some really don't believe he did but in a more subtle way that may not even be clear to them. It's seen as an underlying theme in the statements people make as noted above.

What's the point?

The point is that if you don't think Jesus had a really real body then Salvation is not have any bearing on our real bodies. It's only to guaranty a spiritual existence after death. And that's only half true, thus it is false.

Why are we not blown away when a christian leader falls into sexual sin? Or why aren't we surprised when a Christian person remains bitter their whole lives? Should not we be surprised when a person does NOT continually mature and grow into the kind of loving human being that Jesus was? We are surprised when people ACTUALLY CHANGE! What is up with that except that we have an underlying belief that Jesus primarily came to change our reality after death but not our lives today.

I'm fired up b/c I am in this same position. I want to believe the things that I think about. And I mean believe them at my core and thus reflect them in my being. I believe Jesus had a flesh and blood body and that Salvation is just as much about living the kind of life that Jesus lived as it is spending eternity in paradise with Him. The Body is NOT simply a hinderance to my spiritual life but exactly the CROSSROADS OF EXPERIENCING IT!

"God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, He that has the Son has life." 1 John 5:11-12
"I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his LIFE." Romans 5:10

Wait a minute..."saved by his LIFE"? I thought we were saved by his...death... well which is it? Yup! Let's think about that together.

24hrs of DINO results

2008-09-29T09:45:00.003-04:00

Well, it started out really fast. 9 miles laps in about 43 min. Then when night fell we put on our lights, one on our helmet and one on our handlebars so we could see. That slowed our laps down to closer to 50 min. We had about 2.5 hrs to rest in between riding. While the other three people rode there laps, I would change my clothes and lay down but b/c I had taken in energy drinks and my heart was racing so much I could only see the trail and trees flashing before my closed eyes. I think I managed 15-30 min of sleep each time I had a chance to lay down.
But morning came and I was the first to race a morning lap and it took me back down to 44 min. It was refreshing to see the light again. We were really getting tired of trying to see through the fog and dust. Almost everyone had some kind of slide-out or wreck during the night portion including Jeff's broken chain with 2 miles to go. He just rode his bike like a scooter to the finish.
We were always riding in first place. By the end we had over a one lap lead.
Our goal was to break the record of 28 laps in 24 hrs which was set last year. We thought we could get 30 laps in. With 80 minutes left we finished our 28th lap and I set out to do my best to pull a 40 minute lap so to somehow give Jeff a chance to do the same so we could reach our 30 lap goal. So I put the bike in the big ring, which I hadn't ridden in the whole time b/c the hills and technical riding, and rode as fast as I could at that point. When I got close to the finish I realized I was already at 42min. But I kept up the pace just for the heck of it and came across the line with hands up high and met my team mates who had already cracked open a nice cold beer that we toasted to "us, the 24 hrs of DINO team champs".
We actually won the "team spirit award" for our good attitude, our pursuit of a new record and our punctuality to the start/finish line to meet the incoming rider. This was a pleasing surprise! We were given a digital action video camera made just for action sports.
So here's to a great, victorious season!

Here is a link to some pictures from the weekend
http://www.flickr.com/gp/22452033@N05/BFMifE

24 Hours of DINO

2008-09-26T18:34:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow at Noon our 4 man team will be running from the start line to our bikes and riding the 10 mile single track, through the woods, mountain bike trail at Winona Lake, Warsaw. We could cover as much as 300 miles in the 24 hours. The winners last year finished 280 miles but with a 6 man team. So like a relay we will each ride a lap or two then "tag" off in the transition area and the next person will do his lap(s). In between laps we'll have a camp site set up with tents and food and fun and relaxing.

Simply signing up for this race sealed our spot at the first place mtb team in the state! We are very excited about that. We also ended up with some individual state champions and national off road bike association (NORBA) champions.

Jeff Frame ranked 1st in the state in Sport and 7th in the Nation in his age group
Jeff Bracket ranked 2nd in the state in Beginner and 1st in the Nation in his age group
I ranked 2nd in the state in Sport and 1st in the Nation in my age group!

It was a really fun season. We plan to do more recruiting of sponsors soon since we have stats to flaunt! But we will have a little celebration next week at the Heorot, one of our faithful sponsors for this year.

2008-09-26T18:21:00.006-04:00

Oh Baby!

2008-09-25T07:15:00.005-04:00

You are looking at our new addition to the Biggerstaff Family, Baby Biggerstaff! Yes, we are pregnant! Baby is only about 12 weeks old but is already moving around flailing it's arms and legs. We are so excited to share this with everyone now. In March we decided to take a cabin vacation away from everything and specifically pray if God would have us pursue parenthood and we both felt at peace that we should stop taking our precautions and begin to trust God's timing to bring it about. And He saw that the time is right! So we expect Baby Biggerstaff to be born April 5th of 2009. Thank you for sharing in our Joy and praying as God prepares baby and us for a whole new world.

"For you created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
-Psalm 139:13,14

Capri by Colbie Caillet

A Heart Revealed

2008-09-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
— Wilbur Rees

Are We Serious???

2008-09-09T08:50:00.002-04:00

Just read this scripture this morning as I was struggling not to dose off during class and it woke me right up and inspired my heart.

"So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ-that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life-even though invisible to spectators-is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too-the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ." -Col 3:1-4

Liferoot Reunion for Love146 Benefit

2008-09-01T20:27:00.003-04:00

September 5th 7pm-9pm at Common Ground Christian Church on the corner of 46th and Illinois street in Indianapolis there will be a benefit concert to raise money for a great cause. Love146.org helps rescue sex trade victims and raise awareness that it plagues our world and even our nation. Come enjoy music from three different bands and donate some flow.

From Our Epic in Brown County

2008-07-31T20:03:00.004-04:00

Last Tuesday Jeff Frame and I went on what we like to call an Epic ride. Now Epic is defined as "noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style
2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3. heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4. of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

As you can see it involves something long, heroic and great. For us it was a 6 hour 58 mile mountain bike ride through Brown County State park into Hoosier National Forest and back through Brown County State Park again. There were crashes, endo's, flat tires and lots of eating, sweating, pain and rehydrating. We even wore the lube off our chains had to borrow some WD40 from a park employee on our way back! Here's a little video or two for ya!

And can I just say that my desire for a great Epic ride stems from something deep within all of us. It comes from our original purpose of being united with our Creator in a deeply adventurous relationship.

Following The Way,

Upside Down

2008-07-28T21:40:00.003-04:00

Peter the disciple of Jesus and some others got worried when they heard Jesus tell a young rich man he couldn't enter the kingdom of the heavens unless he gave away all his riches. When Jesus said, "it's easier for a camel to go through a needle eye then a rich man to enter the kingdom" they asked "Who in the world can be saved then? We've left everything to follow you! What will we get for this?" And Jesus' reply? "No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or homes or land for me and for the good news will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this life and for life eternal. BUT many who are first will be last, and the last first."
From Divine Conspiracy Willard says, "Jesus knew that much of what Peter and the others thought to be important was not really so, and that what they thought to be of no importance was often of great significance before God. Their thinking would have to be rearranged before they could understand their "reward" for leaving all to follow him."
I wonder what things I think are important that God doesn't think are important at all. And what things God thinks are important that I don't give a thought about...What are rewards from God that I think are a burden.
Willard says again, "In general, many of those thought blessed or "first" in human terms are miserable or "last" in God's terms and visa-versa.

DINO MTB Series Video

2008-07-28T09:26:00.002-04:00

Here's a taste of what our mountain bike races are all about. I'm in this video twice wearing a gold and black jersey and riding a red and white Trek. Enjoy!

Westwood Race

2008-07-27T17:22:00.002-04:00

The team did well today. Lot's of Personal Records! For overall placements I got 3rd and Frame got 5th in Sport. Brackett got 5th in Beginner and Malaby got 2nd in Clydesdale.
I wrecked at some point in the race, can't remember if it was the first or second lap. But I was about a minute ahead of everyone in Sport after my first lap. Jen handed me a fresh cold bottle into my second lap and shortly thereafter it popped right out of my bottle holder and I didn't want to stop and get it so I rode on for my next 4 miles w/o water. A nice Expert rider obliged my request for a drink 3 miles before the finish. It was a beautiful day and the trail was in great shape! Hope to post some pics soon.

Shalom,

The Shack and God's Nearness

2008-07-17T22:19:00.003-04:00

I read The Shack recently and one thing I loved about it was that it really highlighted the joy filled temperament of God. The other thing that really has stuck with me is the picture of God's intimacy with humanity. As I was reflecting on this I was reminded of how Matthew uses over and over the phrase "kingdom of the heavens". When we pray, "Our Father who art in Heaven" don't we think "far off in Heaven"? I do. But the Jewish understanding of "the heavens" is way different. Remembering biblical examples such as Hagar in the desert (Gen 21:17-19) Moses on the Mountain (Exodus 20), Abraham at the alter with Isaac (Gen 22), Jacob seeing the ladder with angels going up and down (Gen 28) all mention God speaking from "heaven" or the "heavens" which was THE SPACE RIGTH AROUND THEM. And this is most clearly seen in the incarnation of Jesus of course who being the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. The heavens is the space right around us and Our Father who art in Heaven art right around you right now.
Thanks be to God.

"And behold I am with you even to the end of the age"- Jesus

Deflated

2008-07-06T21:46:00.002-04:00

Well, what can I say...you win some and you DNF some. I DNF today...that's Did Not Finish the race at Muscatatuck Park in North Vernon today. We arrived with time to run a practice lap to scout out the trail. We found it rocky on the descents and muddy by the creek crossings yet hard packed on the ridges. Basically, a little of everything. At start time my team mate Jeff and I were coasting along in 3rd and 4th place just waiting for our moment to strike when BANG! A sound I've never heard before that sounded like a rock ripping all the spokes off a bike wheel filled the air. I yelled out, "What was that?" and Jeff, right behind me, said, "That was you!". A rock had ripped a hole in the side of my tire and all my sealant and air had just rushed out! I was done. After two unsuccessful repairs I was deflated. I walked my bike back up to the tent after only 5 minutes of racing. You win some and you DNF some.

Freedom for freedom

2008-07-05T21:06:00.003-04:00

Jen and I were talking about freedom since we just celebrated the freedom of America yesterday. In an attempt to define what we commonly call "freedom" we landed on this; "The ability to do what I want when I want". I can pretty much say with confidence that is, in general, what was celebrated by most in our country yesterday. I'm positive that this holiday holds much deeper meaning for many in the U.S. Nevertheless, God used this holiday to remind me of my Freedom in Jesus today.
John 8:31-36
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants[a] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I love this passage. And I think we can easily insert "Americans" in verse 33 for the word "Abraham's descendants" Go ahead and read it out loud using "Americans". Come on, don't be embarrassed. Nobody's lookin'.

And look at the picture of Family you see. It's family language. It's like he's saying, "You're acting like a slave or servant that's picking through the trash for your dinner. Hoarding all you can because you don't know if you'll have enough for tomorrow, thinking of only your survival. But, I'm setting you free. I'm the True Way. You're in the Family. There is an abundance in the Family so come to dinner and eat. Follow me to the table, I'll show you the Way"

God reminded me that my freedom is not the ability to do what I want when I want but, in fact, my freedom is to Want and Do what is good and loving. The ability to become what I was always meant, created, and intended to be, a member of God's family and being about the business of the Family. He reminded me that I don't know what's best for me and therefore doing what I want when I want is many times harmful to me and others. But through the life of Jesus I have seen the kind of person I was created to be. And through the death of Jesus I was freed from the chain of my selfish desires. And through the resurrection of Jesus and his dwelling in me I was given a new heart that is being shaped with new desires and the power to live them out! That is the freedom I'm celebrating today! I'm so thankful that the Son has set us free!

C.S Lewis said it's not that we are too hard to satisfy but that we are far too easily satisfied. We're happy playing in a mud puddle when we could have a day at the beach with our Father. Freedom is to desire a weekend at the beach with the Father and strength to take his hand as he pulls us out of the puddle.

Still on a Roll!

2008-06-15T19:13:00.003-04:00

We had another great team performance this weekend in Portage, IN for the 3rd race in the DINO Mountain Bike Series. Here's a team photo after the race. I placed 2nd overall Sport, Jeff placed 3rd overall Sport, Thad placed 4th overall Expert, Jeff Brackett placed 8th overall Beginner and Mark placed 1st overall Clydesdale!
Next race is July 6th at Muscatatuck Park, North Vernon, IN. Check out our team webpage here http://bkbikes.com/page.cfm?pageID=78

Boise or Bust!

2008-06-09T23:06:00.003-04:00

Boise, ID was great. We went to see if God was leading us to consider this as a potential move location and church plant when our time is up here in Muncie and he definitely spoke to us. It wasn't through the great landscape, or the great people or the connection with creation right out our backdoor but it was from a conversation at Big City Coffee Shop. I was writing my prayers in my journal saying that I would really like to connect with a leader from the Vineyard Church in town, who seems to be doing some good things, to get the spiritual pulse on the city and see how churches are cooperating together and if a new church plant would be welcomed. And not five minutes after writing that prayer guess who walks up to our table... One of the worship leaders from Vineyard Church! He noticed Jen was reading "The Shack" which he was also reading and when he mentioned he was from the Vineyard I was blown away and told him I was just praying that I could talk to someone there. He began to tell me about what they're doing in the city and how they are partnering with a couple churches to feed the hungry and house the poor. He mentioned that the city is generally friendly toward the church and that the City could really use a good church in the heart of the City (just where Jen and I wanted to be). It was simply amazing how God showed us He was in this pursuit and discovery of where we are to be after Muncie. Needless to say, Boise will continue to be in our prayers and our ears attentive to God's voice as it pertains to that City. Enjoy the pics!

The Absence of God

2008-05-29T09:06:00.002-04:00

My head is spinning.
When it comes to feeling as if God far away, I'm usually the one asking, "What did I do wrong?"
It's a similar kind of question as "Why is there suffering in the world when God is good?" But, I don't want to go there.
What is going on when you one day begin feeling as though the presence of God is gone? And that day turns into weeks? Or Months? What does that mean? Did you do something? Does that mean God is different than you thought? Do you even care enough to notice?
I'm going to process "out loud" some things I recently read by E. Peterson,

Many don't notice in the story of the Exodus (Isreal being saved out of slavery from Egypt) that prior to their freedom God is silent for over 400 years! What was He doing? There aren't many teachers of scholars talking about that fact. Peterson says, "That they haven't made much of it is unfortunate, for this seemingly unending stretch of the experience of the absence of God is reproduced in most of our lives, and most of us don't know wyat to make of it. We need this Exodus validation that a sense of the absence of God is part of the story, and that it is neither exceptional nor preventable nor a judgment on the way we are living out lives." WOW!

This doesn't usually fit into our mindset of Salvation. For those who have graduated from Salvation being 'what happens after I die' to 'living a new ressurection life today and forever' we struggle with God not being sensed in our lives today. It's not "normal".

"But it is normal" says Peterson.

See the prayerbooks, Psalms, or Church history and we'll see that, "Belief in God does not exempt us from feelings of abandonment by God. Praising God does not inoculate us from doubts about God. Meditating devoutly on God's word does not establish us securely in "the arms of Jesus." does not insulate us from all feelings of abandonment, darkness and aridity."

Psalm 22
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words
of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest."

Check this out!
"Jesus hanging on the cross used this same prayer at the very moment that he was completing the work of salvation! On Jesus' lips this prayer validates the experience of the absence of God as integral to our participation in salvation.

Why do you stand far off, O Lord?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Ps 10

How long, Oh Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me? PS 13

Why have you forgotten me? Ps 42

Wake up God! Why do you sleep, O God?
Awake! Do not cast us off forever!
Why do you hid your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? Ps 44

You get the point....

One more quote by Peterson,

"These witnesses ot the experience of God's absence in the country of salvation are enormously important. They are rarely celebrated, whether in or out of church-this is not an area of life that most of us take kindly to-and not infrequently suppressed. But (here we go!) given our consumerist tendencies to shop for a god or goddess who will cater to our appetites for coziness and good feelings, they are necessary. Necessary to keep us alert and attentive to the mystery of God whose "ways are past finding out." Necessary to prevent us from reducing God Almighty to god-at-my-beck-and-call. Necessary to place disciplined constraints on our collective (especially North American) "spiritual sweet tooth." Necessary to enlarge our readiness for salvation beyond our carefully fenced in and devoutly tended backyard spirituality gardens.

Any understanding of God that does not take into account God's silence is a half truth-in effect, a cruel distortion-and leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by leaders who are quite willing to fill in the biblical blanks with what the Holy Spirit never tells us."

For those who read it all, what are your thoughts? Its a bit freeing for me. That Jesus felt and was separated from the father and in that moment completed the work of salvation, tells me that not sensing God presence does not mean I'm out of His will or walking on a road other than the road of Salvation.

God's Joyous Being

2008-05-14T15:14:00.003-04:00

A newborn baby. The sun setting over a body of water. The elderly dancing together on their 50th anniversary. Teems of Killer Whales jumping out of the ocean. The snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains. The loving tears shed by a bride and groom on their wedding day...

"All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness."- D. Willard Divine Conspiracy

God is indeed joyous and indeed lives an interesting life!

Surrendering

2008-05-07T06:54:00.004-04:00

I'm thinking about these words from Jesus today in Mark 8.

Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?"

God, let your will be done today. (white flag prayer :)

2008-05-06T07:03:00.003-04:00

The eyes of the Lord search throughout the earth to strengthen those who's hearts are fully devoted to Him. -II Chronicles

Boasting About Tomorrow

2008-05-04T07:40:00.002-04:00

"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, send a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that..."

I've been reminded of this scripture from the book of James lately. Things just aren't going the way I planned them. And it's difficult for me to deal with at times. But in these times I'm thankful to remember that my life is but a mist, here today and gone tomorrow. I need to make today count. To do good today. To love God by following Jesus today and love my neighbors too.

So today, Jesus, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in my life and through my life.

Violence

2008-05-01T07:16:00.002-04:00

Violence spawns more violence.

Except in those "Little Jesus People".

They absorb violence and in return, offer love.

Mtb Race Pic

2008-04-26T21:52:00.002-04:00

Last week was the non-points race kick off to the DINO Series. It was muddy and there were not many people there compared to last year...but I was there! And another trusty teammate of mine. I won't even go into the details but ends up on my first lap of 3 I topple over my handlebars going down hill and crush my shoulder on the gravel trail. Ends up I separated my AC joint. But 4 guys pass me as I stand for about 90 seconds there and assess the damage. I could still move my arm though it hurt so I jump back on the bike and go. By the third lap I've caught up and passes three of the four guys and end up 4th in Sport (out of 11). I like to say I would've been first if I hadn't of wrecked but anyway. Here's a link to a picture that was taken of me on my first lap at the race. Enjoy. http://www.dinoseries.com/photos/tuneup/TU0460.jpg

fear-of-the-what? II

2008-04-14T22:16:00.002-04:00

To continue the conversation a bit farther on the fear-of-the-lord Peterson notes that none of the available synonyms in the English language- awe, reverence, worshipful respect - seem quite adequate. They miss the punch delivered by "fear-of-the-lord" Ok, so what do we do from here? Well he gives us some ideas of how to cultivate the fear-of-the-lord. AND ISN'T THAT WHAT WE REALLY WANT MORE THAN BEING ABLE TO UNDERSTAND OR EXPLAIN IT?!!
"The primary way we cultivate it is in prayer and worship - personal prayer and corporate worship. We deliberately interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to God, place ourselves intentionally in sacred space, in sacred time, in the holy presence - and wait. We become silent and still in order to listen and respond to what is Other than us. Once we get the hang of this we find that this can occur any place and any time. But prayer and worship provide the base"
Peterson says, "Fear-of-the-lord" is the best term we have to point to this way of life we cultivate as Christians." Basically, A world has been opened up to us by revelation in which we find ourselves walking on holy ground and living in sacred time. The moment we realize this, we feel shy, cautious. We slow down, we look around, ears and eyes alert for what God is saying or doing. The moment we find ourselves unexpectedly in the presence of the sacred, our first response is to stop in silence. We do nothing. We say nothing. We fear to trespass inadvertently; we are afraid of saying something inappropriate. Plunged into mystery we become still, we fall silent, all our senses alert. This is the fear-of-the-Lord.

Or we don't...

More later.

Fear-of-the-what?

2008-04-10T13:03:00.002-04:00

LORD! What's up with the Fear-of-the-Lord? Eugene Peterson says this "stock biblical phrase" is just what we need when we wonder how it is that we live responsively and appropriately before who God is, who he is a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And isn't that what, we who have been redeemed by Jesus, want to do?
Well, it turns out that the meaning of this phrase/word is illusive and maybe that's a bit of a good thing. We can't simply file it away and box it up in our mental dictionary.
First let's clear the slate and understand that fear-of-the-lord is a "bound phrase". It's four words in English (two in Hebrew) that are bound together, making a single word. Here's the deal. The meaning of this new single word is not the sum of all its defined parts, fear+of+the+lord. Fear-of-the-lord is a word all its own. We don't look up "fear" then "God" in the dictionary. Doing that gets us way off track according to Peterson.
Just consider that for a couple days and I'll add more content later.

Ps. There are around 138 occurrences of this word mostly in Proverbs, Psalms, Isaiah, Chronicles and Duet' Duet' Deuteronomy! Take a look!

Wisdom from Mother Teresa

2008-04-05T11:04:00.001-04:00

The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is shalom.
- Mother Teresa

Guess The City

2008-04-03T12:09:00.002-04:00

Love of Torah or Torah of Love?

2008-03-25T08:10:00.005-04:00

We're all familiar with with the parable of the Good Samaritan, right? A religious man after asking how he could inherit eternal life hears Jesus respond with, "Love God and Love your neighbor". And in response the man asks, "Who is my neighbor?". What he was really asking is, "Who is pure?" which was really a question of, "Who is worthy of Love?". And so responding to this deeper issue Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. What we miss is that in this story the Priest and Levite who pass by the beaten man weren't cold hearted toward the man as we usually think. They were passionate about follow the Torah which said NOT to touch dead people or they would breach their purity. The only corpes they could touch were close family all others would cuase impurity even if they got so close that their shadow touched it. So, they crossed to the other side of the road to follow their love for the Torah. What Jesus reveals is that out of their love for the Torah they have missed the point! This was a Torah OF love!

So here's the question: If we are to love God and love others, Jesus is asking his audience, what happens when love-of-God-as-obeying-Torah comes into conflict with love-of-God-as-following-Jesus That's a tough one, for all of us. But for Jesus the answer is clear: Loving God properly always means that we will tend to the needs of others.

Easter More than Eggs?

2008-03-23T09:09:00.002-04:00

I feel I could write passionately from a couple angles this Easter morning. For instance the way the god of materialism has captured the minds of so many on wonderful days of remembrance such as today BUT even more passionately I am full of hope this morning.

Just looking on the nightly news, listening to the gossip at work, hearing of wars and genocide around the world, heck even paying attention to our own thoughts we can see clearly the effects of, the first man, Adam's choice to eat of the fruit in the garden. And it's not only effected humans but the way humans have cared for the rest of the world. I would bet we might struggle to recognize the world if it were not affected by our thousands of year of maltreatment. But consider this mind blowing statement by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5,
"For if, by the sin of the one man, death reigned through that one man, HOW MUCH MORE will those who received God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

HOW MUCH MORE?! What?! You see I believe the life, death and resurrection (Easter) of Jesus can exponentially effect our lives and our world for good compared to the evil that has entered through the effects of Adam. And its not just the cross that makes it so. For if it were just the cross we would be forgiven and that's it, Jesus would still be in the grave. But we needed power to conquer sin, to rise above it and so Jesus provides us with that as well by rising from the dead which is what I and Christians all around the world celebrate this morning.

The Politics of Jesus

2008-03-14T10:41:00.003-04:00

You've got to pick up this book ASAP. It's as if my mind has been unlocked from a layer Imagination Shrink Wrap. Another world is possible because we don't have to live by the "rules" we have always thought told us what was actually feasible. We don't have to (or get the leisure to) leave the governing of the earth to the government but we partner with God in caring for the needs of the world as a set apart people under and among the rest of the world. No, there are no thoughts of an uprising that violently overthrows our government but in the Way of Jesus there is hope for change in acts of subversive enemy love and revolutionary subordination or how about Christian Imagination. Consider:

"Insanity is trying to get different results by doing the same things"- don't know

Are we trying to get "our man" in the white house in the hopes that things will really change? Has that ever really made much of a difference? Really?

"One thing that's clear in scripture is that the nations do not lead people to peace; rather, people lead the nations to peace." pg 306

HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS:
Today's logic goes something like this: "Calling a ruler 'Son of God'(which is what the people called Ceasar)is out of style. No one really does that nowadays. We can support a president while also worshiping Jesus as the Son of God." But how is this possible? For one says that we must love our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness of debts. to which do we pledge allegiance? Surely, one of them must have the wrong idea of how to move history. Can a servant serve two masters?-pg 167

I could share so much more from the book but you'd do best to read it yourself and in the mean time go to www.jesusforpresident.org and click on the "book" link and read the appendix sections.

Brown Co. Cabin Vacation

2008-03-13T09:59:00.002-04:00

Interesting

2008-03-04T17:18:00.002-05:00

"As soon as the Gospels were written, speech without experience began to dabble with the new facts proposed by the existence of the Church...People tried to think the new life without being touched by it first in some form of call, listening, passion or change of heart."
- Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

Let's not be like that or settle for so little.

The Way is a rocky path

2008-03-04T13:50:00.004-05:00

When one enlists in follow The Way, Jesus, one does not walk the side walks of Easy Street. One finds himself on the Rigorous Road of Suffering. But it's on this road that He finds out who he is and what he's made of. Who He is and Who made him. He finds out what is really worth suffering for and that he is in the midst of that great purpose. Following The Way strips away the comforts that keep one from the Comforter. It's a rocky path with amazing views of the horizon which is to come and it is this view that keeps one following The Way. Things are not as they should be or will be but knowing The Way is a road that leads to the way things were always meant to be is a road worth walking.

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord" -Job

2008-03-04T13:34:00.003-05:00

The Jesus Creed

2008-03-03T06:58:00.005-05:00

Orthodox Jews have a practice of reciting the Shema, which is Hebrew for "Hear", the first word of the text recited, twice a day. The text comes from Dueteronomy 6:4-9 and reads,

"Hear O Isreal, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them (all the time, basically)...

What it's essentially is saying and what the Jews understand is this commandment, LOVE GOD BY FOLLOWING THE TORAH.

Then Jesus comes on the scene when this practice of reciting the Shema is in full force and is asked what the greatest commandment is. The questioner was surely fully prepared to hear Jesus recite the Shema but what he heard was this,

"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God with all you heart,
with all your soul
with all your mind and all your strength.
And the second is this, "Love your neighbor as yourself"
There is no greater commandment than these."

Jesus amends the Shema of Judaism by adding Love for others not just God. Ultimately what Jesus is saying is we were made to LOVE GOD BY FOLLOWING JESUS AND LOVE OTHERS.

These ideas come from a book called "the jesus creed" by Scot Mcknight

Mt. Bike Team

2008-02-27T12:48:00.004-05:00

Well, After fund raising and team recruiting and jersey designing I get to rest from the team starting process. Here's a picture of our new jerseys that are in the process of being printed. Also, for those of you who don't know much about Mt. Bike racing it IS a spectator sport and pretty exciting. Some courses are better than others in that you get to see the riders more than once per lap. But all have good music playing, live commentary on the races all are in pretty scenic location (for Indiana) and you can bring your choice of beverages and a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the racing at your leisure.
I've not had anyone come watch one of my races except Jen and my Mom (she always supportive) and brother Brad. Jen really likes watching, I even talked her into racing a race last year! She finished 3rd by the way! Even after face planting once and wrecking two more times! She's competitive. But if anyone wants to make an afternoon of it and come to a race here's the schedule for 2008:

Sat April 19 Avon IN
Washington Twp Park
Sat May 3 Warsaw IN
Winona Lake Trail
Sun Jun 1 Nashville IN
Brown County State Park ("Kentuckiana Championship")
Sat Jun 14 Portage IN
Imagination Glen
Sun Jul 6 North Vernon IN
Muscatatuck Park (AMBC)
Sun Jul 27 New Castle IN
Westwood Park
Sun Aug 17 Logansport IN
France Park
Sun Sep 14 Indianapolis IN
Town Run Trail Park

24 HOURS OF DINO

Sat-Sun Sep 27-28 Warsaw, IN
Winona Lake

Races start at Noon.

The Pursuit of God

2008-02-16T08:27:00.002-05:00

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me your glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen" A.W. Tozer

Prayer

2008-02-07T08:47:00.000-05:00

I'm struggling to pray. What I mean is I'm not praying at all...of late. Now I join in the group prayers of others but I'm not asking God to give me strength for each day that I might walk in his will. Not moved by the needs of others so much as to want for them more than I can personally give and so to pray for the hand of God to touch them. How can this be? How much am I missing out on? How much is God longing for deeper communication with me? How much more of his kingdom goodness might be held up in heaven instead of on earth because I'm not praying? How much more glory could God be receiving? How much more joy could I be receiving?
Seriously, why is it so hard to walk consistently in the same direction with God. I'm like a baby that takes a few steps and then falls, feels sorry for itself, cries a bit and then tries to get back up by himself instead of walking hand in hand with the Father. Maybe the monks felt this same frustration and that's why they sheltered themselves so all they could think about was Him. Surely, I'm distracted by all the stuff the world has to offer, good and bad.
If you pray, pray that I would pray. God help me pray. Spirit of God change me more on the inside. Let the roots of my life be deep in the soil of Jesus so that I bear beautiful fruit.

Fog

2008-02-06T08:09:00.000-05:00

Seriously, What is up with all the fog the last three days? And why does it affect my mood so much? I've wanted to be a hermit all week. When Jesus comes back to wrap everything up He'll be so glorious that he'll "darken the noon day sun"! And in heaven we won't need the sun because Jesus will be our light! I look forward to that.

Hope this Sun brightens your day!

God does not call us to ease but to faithful joy

2008-01-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

The first overseas missionary from North America, Adoniram Judson, wrote a letter to his to-be wife's father asking not only for her hand in marriage but hand in the mission of God. Be inspired.

"I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal incluence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

Her father let her choose...and she said "Yes".

Again, Piper comments, "God does not call us to ease, but to faithful joy. He is closing in on some of you, smiling and with tears in his eyes, knowing how much of himself he is going to show you and how much it will cost. I pray that you will not turn away."

Good News

2008-01-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

"Gospel" Why does that word not ring 'good news' in everyone's ear that hears it? Why are there so many ideas of what it is? In our evangelism class we are supposed to do some thinking about the Good News of the Gospel (good news of the good...news..).

What is it?

What does it consist of?

What are the core elements?

Here are my thoughts. The Gospel huge. It's not simply heaven after earth. It's not simply a personal relationship with God. It's not just peace in our lives. It's not just justice. It's not simply payment for my sins. It is ALL of that and MUCH more. And thus the reason for my struggle to put it into a neat, compact, explainable package.

Here's what I've been taught the gospel is. In a simple 4 point presentation:
1. God has a plan for my life, a great plan. That's great news!
2. The bad news is that I like all mankind have sinned and fallen short of God's perfection.
3. But Jesus who was God and sinLESS took my penalty, physical and spiritual death, spiritual being life w/o a relationship with God, upon himself thus opening the way to relationship with God and this great plan he has for my life.
4. Although Jesus died for the whole world, we must each accept it personally, individually by turning from our previous way of sin and toward God who now is empowering us by his grace for a new life.

Man just writing that makes me feel refreshed. I thought I was going to use this section to bash how incomplete it is and self serving and individualistic but that's not how I understand it now. But don't many of those who live in a self serving, individualistic culture see this presentation in such a way that it feeds that mentality? Probably so. Anyhow, that is a good skeleton of the gospel, or maybe it's an appetizer. You know, it's a part of the whole meal but only giving you a taste of the goodness and quality of the whole thing. So what would I add?

1. God has a plan for my life and it includes becoming what I was always meant to be. It's like the mountain bike that's always sat in the shop or been ridden to class, chained up outside, then ridden home. Sure it's a mt. bike but it's not fully alive until it flies on the single track! The best part about this plan it that it has always included RELATIONSHIP with GOD. As a car only sits and rolls w/o gas, so we only live in part until we are filled with God's presents in our lives. We were made to reflect the greatness of God!
2. I think the reality of the KINGDOM OF GOD, or maybe better understood as the Rule of God, or Government of God or Way of God is a huge part of the gospel. When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two he told them to "go and preach the kingdom of God". In the kingdom of God there is plenty for everyone. We have all we need. Therefore, we can live selflessly in love toward all peoples when before we could only have coveted and lied and stolen and harmed them! God is now President of the World, well he always has been but the good news is that you didn't know He was and in fact you were on his list of enemies and were not receiving the benefits of his governing. Man I could go on about his protection and how he has our best interests in mind and tells us about how to live in the Bible and through Jesus...
3. Guilt, Shame, Punishment, Hopelessness can be all gone because of Jesus. Just that alone is good news! God holds nothing against you. Forgiveness has been given. Jesus took your punishment on the Cross. You are not what you've done. You can now be the person you always knew you should be but never could become on your own!!
4. PLEASURE! PLEASURE! PLEASURE! PLEASURE! AND MORE....YOU GOT IT, PLEASURE! How this can be missed in the gospel. Joy is now available with out constraint. We've been going to the wrong places for joy and pleasure. We've been digging empty wells do drink from and now a well that never runs dry is now inside of us. No longer are we enslaved to hurting others so that we can find pleasure or trapped by buying things to bring us joy just to find that that very thing causes us more hopelessness when it finally fails us. No, Now we have the most valuable, soul satisfying, pleasure giving being ever among us. And what he has done is brilliant! He has wired us to boast in, brag on, sing about, spend on, dream about, write about, paint about, WORSHIP, that which brings us most pleasure and satisfaction...and that has now become HIM. So the more we find our satisfaction and pleasure in God, naturally, the more we glorify him and thus the more we live into our created purpose and thus the more satisfied we are and thus the more God is glorified and thus the more we live into our created purpose and thus the more God is glorified and thus the more we live into our created purpose and thus... you get the point! Brilliant!
5. And finally, All this with ever increasing intensity for E T E R N I T Y! We don't fear death. We will be raised just like Jesus was and is living forever in the presence of God. What's good about this is that I, again, don't have to selfishly hoard things for myself but can be generous and thus make others glad in God by introducing them to Jesus and this Good News.

Finally, even my little unpacking of the Good News is lacking so much. Just giving it more time I know I've got more I would write. And even in writing out the details I still couldn't capture it all. Maybe that's why Jesus said things like, "The kingdom of God is like a farmer who found a treasure in a field. In his Joy, he sold all he had and bought that field"

Don't Waste Your Life

2008-01-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

My new favorite book for 2008 is Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. You can find a free online copy of the book here. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/1593_Dont_Waste_Your_Life/
It's one of those books that makes you feel like a piece of crap but then gives you so much hope for the changes that can be made in your heart, mind, life and thus world. It's one of those books that I want to read every year. Because, let's face it, WE ARE PRONE TO WASTE OUR LIVES ON LESSER THINGS THAN GLORIFYING GOD BY BEING AND MAKING OTHERS GLAD IN HIM. I'm a pro at wasting my life, how bout you? Watching TV shows that I don't like in the first place but that in the end make me want things I didn't know I wanted before watching them. Spending money on the newest gadget that will totally revolutionize my life or that piece of apparel that will make me feel like the stud I wish I was... You know you've done it! But those kinds of things are wasting my life. Check this out. What kind of questions to you ask when it comes to these things?

What's wrong with it?
What's wrong with this movie?
Or this music?
Or this game?
Or these friends?
Or this way of relaxing?
Or this investment?
Or this restaurant?
Or shopping at this store?
What's wrong with going to the cabin every weekend?
Or having a cabin?

Piper says, "This kind of question will rarely yield a lifestyle that commends Jesus as all-satisfying and makes people glad in God. It simply results in a list of don'ts."

Rather how about these kind of questions.

How will this help me treasure Christ more?
How will it help me show that I do treasure Jesus?
How will it help me know Jesus or display him?

So the questions are mainly positive, not negative, How can I portray God as glorious in this aaction? How can I enjoy making much of him in this behavior?
Because, remember, not doing something bad doesn't mean I am doing something that's good and that's right, important, worthy, glorious or unwasteful.

I'm wasting my life in many ways and though I know of some changes God wants to make in me I know that in a way there will always be ways I waste it and that fact give me more thankfulness for the grandness of God's grace. Until the end comes I will continually fall short of the glory of God even while becoming more like Him.

Meet The Team

2008-01-17T17:04:00.000-05:00

The Kirk's Bike Shop Racing Team is coming together pretty quickly.
We now have six members and 4 sponsors. Our sponsors are Kirk's Bike Shop, Community Storage, The Heorot and AWC.
Meet the team:
Mark has been racing for 11 years and has won Championships in
Indiana and Oklahoma. Mark will be racing in the Clydesdale category
this year.
Jason is a newcomer to racing this year and will be racing the Beginner class. Jason is the manager at Kirk’s Bikes Shop.
Thad is a seasoned racer who has taken a few years off but is ready to jump back into the Expert class. Thad is a mechanic at Kirk’s Bike Shop.
Ben has been racing for 5 years and will be in the Sport class in 2008. Ben works at Kirk’s Bike Shop
Jeff Frame: Jeff is a seasoned racer looking forward to racing in the Sport class as well. Jeff works at Motion Analysis and Therapy Complex
Jeff Bracket: This is Jeff's first season racing and will start in the beginner category. Jeff is a professor of religious studies at Ball State.

Cycling Team

2008-01-11T07:34:00.000-05:00

I've been spending much of my time the last few days preparing a proposal for potential Mountain Bike Racing Team sponsors! It's been pretty fun to use my mac to put the thing together. The mac can do so much more creative stuff in much less time than the PC. Anyway, right now we have a 4 person team and plan to have up to ten people. We are going to race the D.IN.O series this year, www.dinoseries.com, made up of 7 races in different Indiana cities. We'll race another 24hr endurance team race and two Xterra triathlons. We estimate our expenses at $4000 which includes entree fees, travel, jerseys and membership fees. We have one "Title" Sponsor and we want one more. Title Sponsors will be the main sponsors to get the most promotion and we are asking for $1000 for such sponsorship. The next level is a "Medium Jersey" Sponsor who will get a medium sized spot on our jersey and the cost is $250 then finally we have the "Small Jersey" Sponsor who will get...you guessed it... a small spot on our jersey. We have space for 2 Medium and 7 Small Sponsors. We want Muncie local businesses to be involved. We are thinking Pub's and Coffee shops would benefit from being advertised to the "off-road" community. So if anyone out there has any leads, let a brother know!

Happy riding,

Happy New Beginning!

2007-12-31T08:11:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that New Years Eve/Day is my favorite holiday? That may seem weird compared to all the great holidays like Christmas or Easter or Presidents Day...yeah. But this holiday brings to mind the way I'm living compared to the way I want to live and the hope of a new beginning. I'm not talking simply about gaining more muscle or loosing a few pounds but more about deep longings of the heart. For instance, "Is my life making a real difference in the quality of this world?", "Am I really living in such a way that my life will have really counted for things that are eternal?", "Am I becoming the kind of person that naturally does the kinds of things Jesus did?". And I find myself asking questions of God like, "How did you work in my life this past year?" and giving thanks for it. And others, "What things do you still want to change in me?", "In what ways do you want me to trust in you more?", "What dreams do you have for my city that you want to include me in?". This one I love to dream about, "What do you have planned for my future and how do you want me to be intentional with my year so that I am prepared?". That one keeps me going these days. I can see what may be coming in the future where I am able to serve God in my "sweet spot" where I am most gifted and affective alongside my bride and deep spirited friends. That helps me to be intentional with my time and opportunities in the present. God is good.

Happy Reflecting,

ps. the pic is of my Uncle and I on our birthday in Oct. He's my Dad's twin so having the same DNA he is technically my Dad as well but going by the law and also by the birds and...um...the...you know...bees...well...um...yeah...

O Come O Come Emmanuel!

2007-12-24T07:40:00.000-05:00

Just a little something to give your Christmas a different perspective...

Isaiah 9:6-7
"For to us a child is born, to us a child is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace/Wholeness. Of the increase of his government/reign and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty (The Lord of the Angel Armies) will accomplish this."

Mary's Song
Luke 1:51-53
"He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty."

So what is she singing about the very first Christmas?
She's singing about how EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW! God has entered the world in a way never seen before and now there's real hope that all can be different and aligned with the way God wants them.

Where do you need God to move in your life? Where have you lost hope?

Celebrate our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Shalom/Wholeness/Completeness today.

T.U.M.R

2007-12-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

Trees for Underspirited Muncie Residents

Apparently there is an organization who's mission statement is, "Brightening Muncie...One Tree At A Time."
And apparently they saw a need to brighten our Christmas Spirit by dropping off a Christmas tree to our Christmas Tree-less porch.

The deliverer rang the doorbell and took off with out identifying themselves. Have a look at the note that was attached!
What a great Christmas treat that has definitely "brightened" our living room and spirits!

life as ministry, work as mission, play as worship

2007-12-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

The Shema was repeated everyday by the people of Israel "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." It's found in Dueteronomy 6:4. We usually use this statement to prove the pure nature of our God. Our God is pure in the unity of His Godhead but according to "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Hirsch and Frost this Shemawas introduced at a time when gods were plentiful. God of the field, god of the sky, god of the stream, god of fertility etc. And this statement was an attack on the heathen religious polytheism (many gods) rather than just a statement about theology. It was a call for the Israelites to live their lives under the Lordship of One God. It was PRACTICAL not just theological.
The call is to live under the God who is the God of every sphere of life. Where Polytheists can compartmentalize their gods the people of God cannot but live their whole lives out under the Lordship of one God. God of our politics, God of our finances, God of our family life, God of our office work, God of all our life. "It frees us to see life as ministry, work as mission, and play as worship. If all are embraced under the impulse of the unification of life under God, then life itself becomes missional worship."

Snow

2007-12-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

"I hate snow, I hate snow!" Those words didn't come out of my mouth today. Though they did come out of my buddy Danny's. You're insane man!

I've been so happy today because of the Snow. Here's some reason I think this is so.
Hope: Things are visibly different outside than they were yesterday. What else could be different?
Quiet: It's not as noisy outside after it snows. The snow soaks up all the echoes. It feels like things are less chaotic. It's peaceful.
Clean: Things that are ugly are covered up. They now appear crisp, clean and pure. Surely similar to how our Creator sees us after being washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Bright: No interior lights needed if you open the shades today! the light is just reflected off everything. cars, streets, ground, roofs, window sills, trees, fenses, hats, shoes...you get the point. And I wonder if this reflection of such bright light that brings me such joy will be exponentially outdone when in heaven God radiates with such brilliant light that we don't even need a sun!

Danny there may be a snow like affect in Heaven buddy! You know it's too hot in Hell for it.

Happy,
Ben

Amazing Grace

2007-12-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

I watched Amazing Grace for the first time today. I have been deeply moved by the passion, courage, perseverence and singleness of mind in William Wilberforce. He didn't waste his life. He had a conviction about how the world should be. He had a gift of speaking and singing that he leveraged unto that conviction. When he was loosing sight of the dream he had a wife that breathed on the lingering spark and inspired him to carry on, a true helpmeet.

Jen and I just last night were directed to John 15. We imagined a life that produced fruits of all different kinds from every action and pursuit it put effort towards. This life when presented before God would arrive with all the fruit it produced. The fruit that was motivated by a love for God and a love for other people, that added to the furthering of God's everlasting Kingdom, that would be "at home" with God forever would remain when tested by the presence of God. But the fruit that represented the pursuit of selfish gain, popularity in the eye's of man, passive comfort, indifferent laziness and prideful disobedience would be burned up and disappear. The life would then be standing there before God with the realization of how it was wasted or how it was leveraged for the eternal purposes of God. The most intense moment and most important moment it will ever experience.

We don't want to waste our lives. In John 15 Jesus says we must remain in him to bear fruit that will last. Remain all day long, every day long, our whole life long. The comforts of the world can be bypassed when I think of the reality of life eternal. Suffering can be endured when I know the fruit will be the kind that lasts forever. We want to stand before Jesus and the kingdom and know that our lives were poured out and counted for part of the beauty that we now see!

doxy or praxy?

2007-11-27T20:12:00.000-05:00

So once a week we have a church history class where lately we have been surveying creeds.

I read this tonight from The Shaping of Things to Come:
"What is more interesting is that none of the creeds get to talk at all on right living, the very topic the Bible itself cannot seem to talk enough about. In its Hellenistic bent, doctrine shifted from right acting to right thinking. This has been referred to as the distinction between orthopraxy and orthodoxy. Orthopraxy is a system that believes that right living provides the context for us to embrace right thinking...The reverse is called orthodoxy. It assumes that if we change a person's thinking, we will change the way he or she lives. But there is too much evidence to the contrary. Many great theologians have "thought" rightly about Christian teaching, but their lives have not necessarily mirrored their beliefs."

New Photos!

2007-11-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

Our good friend Brandy Cunningham is a professional photographer (www.brandycunninghamphotography.com) who does portraits, weddings, babies you name it. She just snapped some pics quickly of us when she and some friends were over for dinner last month. Here's some of what she shot. Enjoy!...actually i'm having trouble loading them. So I'll get them on here later!
Thanks Brandy!

Friends

2007-11-05T14:16:00.001-05:00

So Michael Jackson is a disturbed human being but he penned some great lyrics,

"I'm gonna make a change, uh, for once in my life. It's gonna feel real good. It's gonna make a difference. Gonna make it right....I'm starting with the man in mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways."

I've made lots of changes in my life and the most recent has been to withdraw from Seminary at Anderson which I haven't commented on yet here. But here goes.

What did I want out of Seminary?
I wanted a season set aside to dig deep into the great history of this story we are a part of (church history). I wanted to wrestle with questions of who God is, Why he made me, and What that means for our world. I wanted a season to dig into the bible and discover afresh what it has to say. I wanted to do all this among a group of deep spirited friends in the context of life and service and relationships.

What did I get?
I got all the resources I could handle informing me of new ideas, questions, and answers in the form of books. I was learning much as I sat in my chair at home and read. What was completely lacking was a sense of connection and relationship with the professors and students that I desperately wanted in order to really wrestle with the content and apply it to life in real time. How can we accurately discern the things of God in a vacuum? That's what I felt was happening. Now mind you I'm not bashing seminary but I was not in a place to interact with anyone accept during class time as I lived and worked in Muncie.

What I did?
I found what I was looking for in an internship at Muncie Alliance Church. From 8-12 M-F we wrestle with the contents of the Bible, the Mission of God, the changing Culture, Church History, and so much more. We serve together at the Muncie Mission and clean the facilities here at MAC together. We eat lunch together every day and we worship together and live in community (many in the same house together). There are 12 of us. We teach eachother, challenge eachother and all in the context of real life, in real time. Wasn't that how the disciples learned?

How It's going.
I love it. "It feels real good". I've made deep friends and feel like I've got family up in Muncie now.

Shalom,

Surviving the Breakdown

2007-10-01T20:24:00.001-04:00

The Brown County Breakdown almost got me! It was perfect weather, low 50's, when we took off from the North entrance of BCSP. I took off with the second group of riders toward the highest point of the trail at Hesitation point where I took in the sights of the rolling forested landscape and downed a cliff bar and water. Then we crossed the road to some brand new, never ridden trails. I was pleasantly suprised by their flow (ability to ride with momentum for you non mt. bikers). That trail took us to the roads in the campground area which connected us with the fire roads down to the first sag stop. After eating some bananas and filling up my camelback I joined a new group of riders toward Nebo Ridge in the Hoosier National Forest. We got to the trail head from a mile or so of gravel roads and began our 2 mile climb. By this time my legs were yelling at me. I was about to yell back at them when I got to the last two miles of the trail which are fast and rolling. At that point I pushed 20+ mph to the end where we took another break with a total of 31 miles under our belts. Now we would have to decide to go for the 75/100mi route or the 60mi. My legs began to yell at me, warning that they may let me down if we head for the longer route. So I gave in remembering last year's pain and agony of walking up hills unable to pedal. A jeep trail led back in to Nebo Ridge and then back to the first SAG stop where this time they were serving Pizza King and had a blue grass band playing! I had three pieces, two gels and some liquids to help get me back through BCSP. I wasn't looking forward to this last part. I'd already been walking up some hill on my way into Nebo Ridge. I remembered the long pleasant descent down to the SAG stop where I was sitting and that meant I had to climb all the way back up. I had 18 miles to go and figured if I put it off too long I might not ever get my legs moving again. So of course, in pain and agony with some joy, I walked and biked up the long rocky fire roads and determined when I got to the paved roads of the park I'd take them as a shortcut back to the car but when I reached the familiar landscape of the mt bike trails some new inspiration hit me and I decided to hop back on the trail and tough it out. In the process I ran out of water and decided to go ahead and cut the ride a bit short of the sixty. The day ended at 53 miles. I burned 4312 calories but got to enjoy a cold malted beverage, pulled pork, potatoes, pasta and rolls with apple butter in an attempt to replenish them. It was a good painful day. I think I learned something about suffering in the process. In Mt. Biking its a given that there will be times of suffering. It's intrinsic to the sport. The question is will you suffer well? You suffer well by operating a few disciplines. Those are: pacing yourself, keeping your eyes ahead at the goal (top of the hill) and keeping well nourished. I find many parallels here to life, don't you?

The Brown County Breakdown

2007-09-28T15:00:00.001-04:00

I'm getting my bike and body ready for this year's Brown County Breakdown. This is the 3rd annual epic ride that raises money for the Hoosier Mt. Bike Association. I have ridden each year. Year one I rode the 35 mile loop in the freezing rain and mud. Last year was great weather and I rode the 55 mile loop. This year there is going to be great weather and a 100 mile loop that I plan to conquer! It'll be a slow going day enjoying God's creation and the site of turning leaves.
This video was taken at the 2005 breakdown and includes the song from which the event was named. Pray my legs don't give out on me! Shalom,
Ben

Hey, Hey, Hey

2007-09-21T07:32:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Boulder! What a great trip. Leading worship for a city-wide prayer gathering and Roots Church worship not to mention spending time with my buddy Ramin on the mt. bike trails in the mountains! Here's a pic of Ramin and Isaiah. I got to hang out with that little guy too.
Here's another pic of Ramin's back yard. Yep his back yard is a mountain!
BTW you can keep up on all the roots happenings by vistiting thier website rootschurch.com
Shalom

Caught between truths

2007-09-05T12:04:00.000-04:00

I've had my first day of class which included to classes, a chapel service and comunity lunch. It was a good day. One of my assigned readings is a book called "Caught Between Truths". Its an interesting look at the paradoxical thoughts and ideas in the Christian faith. The idea is that truth is found in the midst of these pradoxes. Here's a couple examples of biblical paradox
1. In Exodus it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and also that God hardened it. Which one was it? Both.
2. Jesus said salvation is available to the one who choses to come, although none choose to come unless the Father first draws them. Paradox

The Hewbrews had no problem fitting these kinds of things together even when not fitting together comfortably. They were judged to belong together. But we are more influenced by Greek and Roman culture so we find this extremely difficult at times and resort to excluding what we don't understand and focusing on what now has become a "half-truth".

Interesting.

Better

2007-08-30T21:25:00.001-04:00

I'm feeling better today. I connected with some people that I didn't get to connect with yesterday at the orientation. God has given me more hope and joy. Those two things are so powerful are'nt they? Hope and Joy? Can't you just see it on my face?

PS. I read Psalm 40 outloud this morning and with the passion I imagine the writer had when he wrote it and it simply moved me. Try it. It expressed my hearts cry this morning.

A New Chapter

2007-08-29T19:22:00.000-04:00

Imagine a book where nothing really changed from chapter to chapter. The main characters are living in the same place, they are experiencing the same emotions, they are interacting with the same people about the same things, things are just always "good" and never change. Would you buy that book? Would it be a good story? No!

God asked me that today as I sat in fear at the Seminary orientation. I was really scared and asking questions.
"God, do I have what it takes to succeed in this?"
"God, do I have the support I need to make it through this?"
"God, do I really connect with these people in this room?"
"God, did you really call me to this, or was this just one of my good ideas?"

Relationships are so huge for me. If I have a group of trusted voices encouraging me in something I know I can do it. But, I am majorly separated from those up here. Jen is strapped to the call schedule and doesn't always have much to give. I feel vulnerable, scared.

In the midst of those feelings God reminded me of the story he's writing. There will be certain threads throughout the story but many things will change. Location, emotions, jobs, friends, some times will be climactic and some will be low and building times. Its these ebbs and flows that make a good story. And God is authoring a good story.

I still need those encouraging words and prayers for my fears are not gone. I still greive my friends back in Indy. To every season turn, turn, turn,

holy smokes, it's been a year minus a day!

2007-08-27T08:22:00.000-04:00

As you can see I haven't been blogging at all for the last 364 days. I guess I didn't have a reason too. I lived in proximity to all my friends and family. I didn't need to have an online "jounal" cuase I already have an "offline" one. But now my bride and I have moved to Muncie and have a much harder time keeping in touch with everyone. So I'd say that's a great reason for a blog. My goal is to write about what is going on in our lives, hearts, and minds during our time in here in Muncie. Please feel free to check this often and even use it as a discussion board for whatever may come up.

Just a short update to get started. I just finished a Greek intensive class at Anderson University. It was the first class in a plethora of classes I'll be taking for the Mdiv program. It was crazy hard but rewarding. I studied way more in the past three week than in a whole year of undergrad! (undergrad was more of a social education for me...) So I have a few days off then will begin the fall Semester with 4 classes: Spiritual Formation, Constructive Theology, Life and Thought of the Christian Church (NT), and Formation of the People of God (OT). This will be more up my alley. Lot's of reading, thinking, discussing, writing and living.

Shalom,

Ps. Here's my friend Steve who came up this weekend. He's a handsome chap!

"following" Jesus

2006-08-28T16:08:00.000-04:00

I'm a guy trying to follow Jesus. I believe that he said, "follow me" to many people when he was alive in the flesh and that his desire is still for all people to "follow" him. Here's the deal. There seems to be something lost in translation from what he meant by "follow me" then to what he means now.

For instance, to follow Jesus then mean to be physically with him as a student, apprentice, disciple learning to do what he did and become the kind of person that he was. It meant leaving all else that stood in opposition to the new purpose in life. Many times that was family, comforts and jobs.

For a guy today that wants to follow Jesus it doesn't make sense when someone tells me that your just supposed to believe that Jesus was who he said he is. That doesn't sound like following him. So just what does that mean for me today? I guess I have an answer in my head and am trying to live it out. But I guess I wonder more if we all think that Jesus is still speaking the invitation to us today. "Follow me"?

the earthly "society of Jesus"

2006-08-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

This is a subtitle in chapter 8 of Willard's Divine Conspiracy. I tell you this book is rich with wisdom and understanding. I'm going to start with quoting from this chapter.

"The assumption of Jesus' program for his people on earth was that they would live their lives as his students and co-laborers. They would find him so admirable in every respect-wise, beautiful, powerful, and good-that they would constantly seek to be in his presence and be guided, instructed, and helped by him in every aspect of their lives. For he is indeed the living head of the community of prayerful love across all time and space."- does anybody see Jesus this way? Is he seen as the treasure in the field or the pearl of great cost? Or is he seen as, and what he offers, look more like an outhouse on the beach?
"On that assumption, his promise to his people was that he would be with them every moment, until this particular "age" is over and the universe enters a new phase (Matt. 28:20 the great commission). More generally, the provisions he made for his people during this period in which we now live are provisions made for those who are, precisely, apprentices to him in kingdom living. Anyone who is not a continual student of Jesus, and who nevertheless reads the great promises of the Bible as if they were for him or her, is like someone trying to cash a check on another person's account. At best, it succeeds only sporadically."-so Jesus wants students, followers, disciples, apprentices (people who leave the significance of their previous way of life to live with and be like Jesus). And in the assumption that this would happen he made promises like being with us at all times found in the Bible. So why would he be with me at all times if I have not committed to being his student?

"The effect of such continuous study under Jesus would naturally be that we learn how to do everything we do "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col 3:17); that is , on his behalf or in his place; that is, once again, as if he himself were doing it. And of course that means we would learn "to conform to everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20 great commission). In his presence our inner life will be transformed, and we will become the kind of people for whom his course of action is the natural (and supernatural) course of action."-so the goal then, we see, is the transformation of our inner life so that the natural course of our actions would be what Jesus would do if he were us. But again, if we don't want to be like Jesus and live according to the Kingdom ethics then we should not expect the benefits of being a student of Jesus, namely his protection and unfailing presence.

the biggerblog

2006-08-03T12:58:00.000-04:00

I'm reading an amazing book by Dallas Willard called Divine Conspiracy. Willard says, "Jesus' basic message is 'Rethink your life in the light of the fact that the Kingdom of the Heavens is now available to all'"

With this message from Jesus we should naturally be led to become his students whereby we learn to rutinely obey his way of love. And in doing so will we find ourselves living into the present Kingdom of the Heavens and the salvation that we all hope for.

It's not about doing a few great things for God or even having the right doctorine whereby you can talk like you're in Gods family(Mt 7:21-23). It's about treating your neighbor as yourself in love on a regular basis. Mother Teresah said, "we can do not any great things, only little things with great love" remember (below).

Maybe the desire to do great things paralyzes us from doing anything at all because we realize we really can't do anything great. But if we can know that God's desire is for us to live a day-to-day life filled with little things of great love we would be set free to act.

Those of us who believe Salvation is entirely about life after death won't understand anything I'm saying. Only when we see that this life today is part of our salvation will we begin to understand why Jesus wants us to be his students, disciples, apprentice.

Quit waiting for heaven! Jesus said it's here today. To experience it we must apprentice ourselves to him. And in following his way of love toward God and others, from a heart that's been transformed with his indwelling presence, we will live into the eternal kind of life that we were originally created for.

after xterra thoughts

2006-07-31T13:03:00.000-04:00

- it was the hardest competition I've ever done.
- i'm not as sore as I thought, at all.
- i'm going to train harder for the swim and run on this next tri.
- having a screaming wife and mom really help.
- i'm gonna try a new bike-to-run transition technique next time where you undo your shoes while on the bike and slip them off leaving them attached to the peddals.

It was a ton of fun. I wanted to quit on the first lap of the bike but pushed on. My body got used to the hurt and I continued on. It's funny. The fastest portions of the race were the end of the swim, the beginning of the 2nd lap of the bike leg and the end of the run. All of them were when the crowd was yelling, especially Jen. She's definately my biggest fan. But she would scream, "GO BEN!! GO!" and that just fired me up and I would hammer on the peddals.
God knows it's not just the case with sports but also with the journey we are on with Him. He says we should encourage eachother while it is still called "today". That means every day. My best man Matt just encouraged me on the phone. He didn't say anything profound but just in calling it showed me he cared and that I'm not alone in the world today. What a difference it would make in this journey if we made it a practice to encourage one another!