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The epic battle of running

Running, for me, is an epic battle, both emotionally and physically, every time.

Here’s how a typical run goes:

I’m pumped to run.
.5 mile in, I hate it.
1 mile in, I feel like I might be able to do this.
1.5 miles in, I hate it.
2 miles in, I start to hit my stride.
2.5 miles in, I start to hit the wall.
3 miles in, I really start cruising.
3.5 miles in, I feel like I might die.
4 miles in, I die.
4.5 miles in, still dead.
Last .5 mile, I get a little more energy.
I’m thrilled to be finished, and can’t wait to do it again.

Am I the only one that has these ups and downs…all in the same run?

See, if I’d quit any along the way, I would’ve kicked myself, because I wouldn’t have experienced that sweet taste of completion. Because there’s something awesome to be had at the end…the feeling that I did it, I completed what I set out to do, I’ve gotten a good workout in, and I feel tired and energized all at the same time.

We have the tendency, when things get tough, to tucker out. Give in. When a relationship is emotionally draining, we’ll give up on it…rather than pushing on through. When a project reaches that it’s-not-cool-anymore stage, it’s easier to quit than persevere. When life gets tough, and doing what God’s called you to do seems more than you can bear, it’s much easier to say, “God’s just closing that door” than to say, “God’s called me to it even though it’s unbearably difficult.”

It’s time to finish strong.

What project do you need to give a bit of endurance to?

What idea to you need to keep pressing in on?

What relationship do you need to pursue?

What “closed door” do you need to knock down?

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. -1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Pee Pee and steps of faith

February 21, 2011 / Ben Reed / 6 Comments

(Rex on his 4-wheeler, 2-20-2011)

On Sunday, my son ran up and down the halls of our church building (a high school, in fact) yelling, “Pee pee!! Pee pee!!”

Obviously, we’re in the middle (well, that’s probably a stretch. We’re probably closer to the beginning of this stage) of potty training.

I could’ve gotten frustrated. Embarrassed. Angry. Or indifferent. But I was none of that.

I chose to laugh. Why?

Because it’s funny! My 2 year old son is telling the whole world that he just peed in the toilet, not his pants.

Was it embarrassing? Yep.

Was it frustrating, especially because he also peed in his diaper? Yep.

But in that moment, I chose not to focus on the growth that still needed to happen. I chose to celebrate with my son.

And we’d do well to remind ourselves that our Father rejoices over even a small step of faith. Good fathers don’t punish their children when they pee in their diaper, even though they’re learning not to. I don’t scold my son, even though I’ve told him countless times that he’s supposed to pee in the toilet.

Because I have the future in mind. I know that, at some point, the battle with this will be over. We’ll work through this. This is just a step in his journey towards maturity. He’ll mature out of this, and in the meantime, I’m going to celebrate small steps in the right direction.

And I can’t help but think that God has the future in mind with us, too. He has the bigger picture of our growth and maturity in mind at all times. And yes, at times, we need discipline. But He celebrates small steps in the right direction because He can see what we cannot. And while we’re sitting in our own guilt and shame, God’s seeing the future, and is ready to offer us grace if we’ll just step towards Him.

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. (Luke 15:32)

Do you need to remind yourself that a step in the right direction is worth celebrating?

Do you need to remind someone else of that?

George Washington on Courage

February 16, 2011 / Ben Reed / 4 Comments

George Washington was a courageous man.

I knew this to be true…you can’t go through the United States public school system without studying about our country’s first President. But I’ve recently been reminded of his heroism while reading 1776 by George McCullough.

In September of 1775, Boston was under siege by British troops. Washington was the commander of the American military forces (which were a mishmash of untrained and largely unorganized farmers and other Yankees), and he was ready to make a bold move to recapture Boston, ending the siege. However, there were two problems.

1. The British forces were powerful and abundant.

2. An attack on Boston, to remove the siege, could mean the destruction of the city.

But Washington wasn’t one to sit around and wait for something to happen. So he began petitioning Congress to move troops, and begin attacking the British at Boston, because he knew how strategic and valuable the city would continue to be for the future success of the Revolutionary War.

In a letter to the governor of Rhode Island, Washington said this:

No danger is to be considered when put in competition with the magnitude of the cause.

Washington was facing lots of dangers. Loss of significant lives. Loss of his power and authority. Loss of his reputation. Loss of the city of Boston. Loss of supplies. Loss of time. Loss of effort. Loss of the colonies to the British. But he was willing to not consider those dangers when he compared them to the magnitude of the cause…winning independence.

We could learn something from this, even today. Because far too often, when we count the cost, we show by our actions that we believe the task is too dangerous for us. We show fear when we don’t

Share our faith
Press in to know our own heart
Have a tough conversation with a friend
Take on that new project
Stop and build a relationship with someone new
Press in to know the heart of our children
Give financially until it hurts
Serve expecting nothing back
Do what God’s clearly calling us to do
Step out of our comfort zone

When we put the above in competition with the magnitude of the cause…they pale in comparison. They are still dangerous…highly dangerous. You could get burned, misunderstood, shamed, abandoned, discouraged, and broke. But, like Washington said, these dangers aren’t to be considered when we compare them with the magnitude of the cause. What is the cause that has such magnitude?

The health of our family.
The health of our heart. (living a life worthy of our call, Ephesians 4:1-2)
Serving our King faithfully.

There’s nothing else greater.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. – 1 Timothy 1:7

Have you ever felt yourself crippled by fear?

What was it that got you going again?

The Old is Gone, 11s on the 1s

January 21, 2011 / Ben Reed / 5 Comments

Graphic by Matt Gruber

In a concerted effort to use fewer words and drive home a more powerful point, I’m writing 11-word posts. You can see other posts in this series HERE.

They don’t attempt to answer every question you may have. They aren’t going to change your life. But, hopefully they’ll make you think. And since they’re so short, you don’t have an excuse not to read them.

The Old is Gone

God’s love is much bigger than your past failures. Believe it.

Faith Does

May 14, 2010 / Ben Reed / 1 Comment

There’s something that you know God’s called you to do. You’ve been wrestling with this for a while now.

Someone he’s called you to reach out to. Somewhere you just know He wants you to go. Something He’s impressed upon you to do.

And you may be thinking, “I’ve waited this long…what’s another few days?”

Because procrastination is the enemy of doing what God wants. And procrastination often takes the form of “good” things. But don’t let even good things get in your way any longer. Don’t let distractions do what they do best…distract you. It’s just not worth it. The King has called.

Faith does.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2.18

A Community Decision

April 8, 2010 / Ben Reed / 6 Comments

“You need to make a personal decision to follow Christ.”

I’ve heard that many times. Have you?

It’s something you have to do, on your time, in your heart, in your seat, that you will not regret…with all heads bowed and all eyes closed (thus shutting out the rest of the congregation).

This decision, the one that can, and should, rock your entire community…all boils to you.

Am I the only one that thinks this seems really individualistic, self-centered, and anti-community?

Salvation just doesn’t happen like that. It is true that you have to make the decision, but the decision isn’t made in a box. It’s made in the context of community (relationships with others). It’s community that leads people to a relationship with the Lord, not a mere intellectual ascent to the Truth. It’s seeing the truth lived out. Not reading an airtight apologetic. It’s experiencing the Truth in love. It’s being served. Valued. By community.

And it’s community that you’re saved to. You’re not saved to be an island. Rather, you’re saved to be a part of a family. “Fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22) When you trust in Christ, you are grafted into a family. Adopted…and given the rights of the firstborn son. And you instantly become a vital part of that community, which the Bible calls a “body.” (1 Corinthians 12)

So next time, instead of closing a service with, “Bow your heads and close your eyes and make an individual decision…” why not acknowledge the community that has led people to this saving faith, and invite people to look around and rejoice at the family that they are saved into?

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

Advertisements and Evangelism

March 31, 2010 / Ben Reed / 0 Comments

I’m reading through The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Halter and Smay. Thought this quote might challenge some folks:

Advertisements by their very nature are intended to coerce thinking and behavior. They are neded when there is no personal relationship between the seller and the potential buyer. This type of coercion is expected when you’re trying to decide what beer to drink or car to buy, but it’s highly offensive when people try to tell you important truths without any tangible relationship.

[…] Paul shares his insights on posture [the nonverbal forms of communication that accompany what we say] with those who were coming to faith in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, “But we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We love you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” An expanded paraphrase might be, “Because we found ourselves emotionally attached to you all, we couldn’t just preach at you. We knew you needed time to process your faith, and the only way to help you understand the big picture was to stay with you longer. We knew the message would make more sense if you saw it lived out in our lives.” –pp. 40-41

When you think of “sharing your faith,” does your mind immediately go towards speaking? Or do you think about doing life together with people?

A Healthy Small Group…

March 30, 2010 / Ben Reed / 4 Comments

I recently said this on Twitter:

So many problems in life could be solved by a healthy small group.

The responses I received really made me think about what components go into producing a “healthy” small group.

A “healthy” small group is one that accomplishes “the win” for your system. Which means that a healthy group at our church may look a little different than the one at your church. And that’s ok. Step 1 is defining “the win.”

But there are certain things that “winning groups” do, right? Do you encourage those things?

Here are a few that I’ve come up with for our system.

A healthy small group…

…stirs your heart to action.

…helps remind you who you are in Christ.

…helps you realize the all-encompassing nature of the Gospel.

…pursues unity.

…is full of people taking steps of faith…together.

…helps you realize the fullness of Grace.

…helps remind you that the troubles in this life will one day be over.

…doesn’t wait until the group meeting to speak encouragement to one another.

…shares group responsibilities with each other.

…relies on each other when needs arise.

…isn’t satisfied with surface-level prayer requests.

…serves others.

…serves each other.

…has fun together.

…laughs together.

…gives people safe space to explore their faith.

…is a safe space for non-believers.

What would you add to the list?

It’s all relative

February 8, 2010 / Ben Reed / 0 Comments

I have lots of conversations with people from areas other than Tennessee (aka, God’s Country).

If they’re from further south, they think Tennessee weather is cold.

If they’re from the north, they laugh when we Tennesseans say, “It’s cold outside!”

A 50 degree day in the middle of July in Tennessee is freezing…in January, that same temperature would make for a beautiful day.

Cold…hot…it’s all relative, to a degree (pun intended).

One of the most important aspects of small group life at Grace Community Church is discipleship. I often say to group leaders that making disciples is the #1 priority of their group. Everything else falls under this. If your group ends up bringing 50 new people in, meet 5 times/week, and blaze through 100 curriculums/month, but don’t help those in the group become more faithful disciples of Jesus, the group is a failure.

But I quickly follow that up with the fact that discipleship is relative.

Before you write me off as a post-modern, left-wing, “what’s right for you isn’t necessarily right for me,” spiritual person, hear me out…

A step of faith for me looks different for a step of faith for you. It looks different for the guy who’s just checking out Christianity. It looks different for the guy who’s grown up in Church but is far from God. It looks even different for the student who’s been saved for 6 months and is working through different issues at school. It looks even different for the wife whose husband is deploying (to see what we’re doing to help these women out, check this out HERE).

I’m not sure we can boil “discipleship” down to 4 easy steps. It’s never easy…and it’s not going to be the same 4 steps for everybody.

Taking a step of faith, similar to your perception of “hot” and “cold,” is a matter of where you find yourself in life.

Has your small group helped you take steps of faith?

The Lantern

February 4, 2010 / Ben Reed / 0 Comments

If you live in the Clarksville, TN area, and are the spouse/girlfriend of a soldier who is, or will be, deploying, then you need to get connected with The Lantern. Started as a small group, it’s grown to a once/month gathering focusing on specific topics that those affected by a deployed loved one will face. I absolutely love the direction that this ministry is headed!

Here’s a quote from their website, telling a little more about who they are:

Our story is similar to that of most Military wives. We are a group of women made up of mothers, professionals, students, exercise-aholics, scrap-bookers, and divorcees from all over the country and all faith backgrounds, who are married to the Military, er, men in the Military. We have learned, often through painful trial and error, that we cannot continue to burden the challenges that come with a Military lifestyle alone. We have learned that when we rely on our own strengths, experiences, and plans to get through deployment and reintegration periods (often many periods), we fall short and our marriages, children, careers, and mental sanity suffer. It is only when we give our lives back to the One who made them that we are able, through His strength, love, and incredible grace, to live full lives despite our current circumstances.

Here’s a video we put together to help promote this ministry that will start on Thursday, February 18th, and continue every 2nd Thursday of the month, but check the calendar for specifics.