Friday, October 24, 2008

Warrior Challenge Adventure Race


Adventure what?

I suggested to Ironman legend Darin A and my Missional Community sister L. Asher (an accomplished kayaker that we form a team for an 8 hour Adventure Race that started and finished in Platte River State Park near Springfield Nebraska on October 18th 2009. They actually were excited about the challenge and demands of finding up to 30 check points that spanned 3 Nebraska State Parks, three cities and a river.

The event included lots of mountain biking both on single track trails (think technical) and roads, trail running, canoeing and lots and lots of navigation. The navigation is where the challenge for this type of even lies. No GPS equipment allowed, just a map, UTM coordinates and the technical know how to position a point on a map given both an eastern and norther set of coordinate. You locate the point in the wrong location, you are hunting for a check point that doesn't exist.

I did some of this kind of racing about 10 years ago, so I was exposed to the technical aspects that are required for this kind of event, but this was my first race where I was directing this effort. My hat off to Darin for picking up the skill and also reading the map way better than I could (contours and such).

I think the team agreed that the most challenging aspect next to the navigation was the canoe section on the Platte River. Lets just say we are all still great friends, but there was some flames coming out of Darin's ears as he has steering the boat!

We finished in 7:54 (yes 7 hours 54 mins) but were assessed a penalty for skipping a check point. We were not the fastest, and not the slowest, but the overall goal going into the event was a finish!

Success!!

Live for the Adventure - Kev

Friday, October 17, 2008

One God in Trinity

I came across some clarifying content in a book I was reading titled "The Doctrine of God". Some pretty heady stuff, but the particular info that helped me in one chapter was the background on Judaism or the Jewish religion. This was of particular interest as a new friend of mine is married to person that grew up in a Jewish home and claims to be a practicing Jew. As I grow in my relationship with Christ and process life in that lens, there has been a growing desire for me to understand the 'religious movements' in the world. So the following has helped me shape those thoughts!

"In Judaism God is one and personal, but although these characteristics are fundamental to his being, they are not the most important element in Jewish worship of him. Jews tend to be preoccupied with the holiness of God, and especially of the divine name, an attitude which is inculcated by the covenant law of Israel. The main purpose of this law is to keep Jews clean, pure and undefiled, so as to make them worthy of their calling as God's chosen people. But the restrictive legalism which this has entailed is not regarded by those who uphold it as a fetter on their spiritual liberty. On the contrary, it appears to them to be the main basis of their spiritual assurance and freedom, since only within the narrow confines of the law can Jews be assured that they are living according to God's will. The law, supplemented by the interpretations of later generations, is revered as the voice of God, through which the nation enters into a living experience of its covenant relationship with him."

"In principle, Christianity subscribes to the Jewish covenant, and the belief in a holy God which that entails. It accepts the law of Moses as a revelation of God's holiness, but argues that it cannot be used as a means of salvation. In Christian eyes, nobody can keep the law in every respect, because at the bottom the problem of human sin is that of a broken relationship with God. Only when that is put right can the spiritual character of the law begin to make sense, and become applicable to us. In putting that broken relationship right, Christians agree with traditional Jews that the atoning sacrifice provided for in the law is fundamental, but they insist that this sacrifice was made once for all by Jesus Christ."

"Jews may recognize God's existence and know his law, but without Christ, they cannot penetrate the mystery of that divine fellowship which Christians call the Holy Trinity."

Friday, October 10, 2008

Athlete Question "How to go 10 hours at Ironman Louisville KY?"

A question from my buddy Brian in Alabama:

So Kevin - so what do I do now to get to 10 hrs in Louisville?!?

This is a huge question Brian. At its core is your ability to recover. Given your performance in WI you are doing the right type of training. For a 10 hr time you will need to be able to increasingly recover from long and intense sessions on a frequent basis. This is the 'core' limiter for most endurance athletes. Most have a hard time recovering given the demanding schedules that we have (marriages, family, work, and rest / sleep). So one of the questions that I have been encouraging the athletes I coach, more and more frequently, is to take a realistic look at goals and count the cost. There are several costs in pursuing Ironman / endurance dreams and as athletes set higher and higher goals the demands for recovery become paramount.

Hope this helps as I know it is kind of vague. That is why I like my initial response of Beer and Tacos - way simplier! Remember if you go this route - enjoy in moderation :-)

Kevin

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Who are the enemies of Christians now?

The following is an excerpt from a lecture that one of the professors of a class I am talking gave related to Psalms & Wisdom Literature - V. Philips Long & Covenant Theological Seminary

"We struggle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, spiritual forces
of darkness in high places. How are we to fight this battle? By praying for conversions and by actively
seeking to advance God’s kingdom here on earth. We do not want to spiritualize it entirely, because the
judgment day is really coming. There will come a day when the weeds and the wheat will be divided.
The weeds are still among the wheat and thus we cannot really go about uprooting the weeds without
danger of uprooting the wheat. From our perspective, how do we know which is which? We cannot. We
do not know until the end of the story is told at the end of each individual life. What if Christian
militants had killed Saul of Tarsus because he stood by while Christians were martyred? They would
have been attempting to destroy the wheat and not the weed. Right now we simply do not know about
people’s souls, and we are called upon to pray that God will draw to Himself those who at this point are
very far from Him. In 2 Peter 3:9, we read that important verse about God’s patience: “The Lord is not
slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone
to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” We live in a time of common grace in which the rain
falls on the just and unjust alike. But the Day of Judgment is coming, and we do our contemporaries no
favor if we obscure the fundamental truth that judgment is coming. Read Luke 13 and discover how
Jesus responded to natural disasters and public criminal acts. He pointed to them as reminders that
judgment was coming and a reason to repent. Therefore I think we do our contemporaries a favor to say,
when bad things happen, “Judgment is coming. As bad as this is, this is only a foretaste of what awaits
the world outside of Christ.” As we see with horror what is happening in this world, that should
encourage us to seek to be those instruments of God’s love who have an opportunity to see people come
to know Him."


“Judgment is coming. As bad as this is, this is only a foretaste of what awaits
the world outside of Christ.” - This is my favorite line in the whole piece! For those that live life outside of a unity with Christ, this life is as good as it will ever be. The brokenness and pain that those who do not have Christ, is just a foretaste of what waits them! Drives me in humility and prayer to those in my life that are living willfully against God and his son!

In Christ Alone - Kevin

Reading the Bible to Hear God Speak

The last paragraph in a book that I just read, really spoke to me as a man who desires to hear God's voice in the 'all' of life. Enjoy :-)

"It takes time to read the Bible to hear God speak. The bible is not a fast-food outlet. One has to pay attention to the written text, pore over it, learn the languages or consult several translations, deepened oneself into the original historical circumstances, piece out the literary features to catch the nuances, check a wide diversity of commentary readings on the particular text under scrutiny. Reading the Bible to hear God speak is not a one-person show -- it happens best in a believing communion of attuned reading saints often found in books. Once prepared -- led into a reading by those who know in faith better than yourself how to listen to the Bible -- a person waits on the Lord, wrestles with the God-speaking text, and finally hears the Holy Spirit's voice of the text which humbles you to your knees with an oracle of tough love and rough comfort, and a mission of redemptive service. One never need say, "My prayers are not answered; God never talks to me," if you learn to read the Bible to hear God speak. God speaks through the holy scriptures with mysterious clarity and empowering wisdom in a way that engenders faith-fullness, patience, joy, trust, love, and hope."

Taken from the book "How to Read the Bible to Hear God Speak, a study in Numbers 22-24", by Calvin Seerveld

Hearing better all the time :-)