Yikes

I signed up for the Chevron Houston Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) today.

January 18th, 2009.

Yikes.

Musings on Heat

Ever since I moved to Texas, many people have asked me "What is worse: Arizona heat or Houston heat"?

It's not such an easy question to answer, but I think I now have it summed up.

Arizona heat is painful...seriously. Your skin literally cooks under the sun, since there isn't any moisture to act as a barrier (turn your oven to 400 deg and then put your face right in front of the door and open it...that's AZ during the summer day). You get burned faster. It also gets hotter earlier in the day (it was 100 degrees by 9:30am this morning). But it cools off nicely at night. Even if it only gets down to 80 at night, it still feels cooler because there is no humidity. You can actually sit outside and not become one with your chair.

Texas heat is miserable. You can't breathe because the air is so heavy and you are constantly feeling sweaty and stinky. It can feel deceptionally (is that a word?) cool when you first walk outside (especially in the shade)- but you spend 5 minutes outside and its "Whammo!"...nasty sauna heat. And it doesn't get cooler at night. I think the air actually gets heavier.

I will say that the "with the heat index" isn't always true. 104 in Houston (with the heat index) does NOT feel like 104 in Tucson/Phoenix. Again, this is because of the pain factor. AZ is worse.

So, both "heats" are pretty bad- just depends on which sensation you prefer: being roasted alive or being steamed alive.

Blueberry Picking

It's that time of year again. Early this morning (6am!) Sandi, Sophie, Pam, and I headed to Moorehead Blueberry Farm to pick some blueberries. We all ended up with about 8-10lbs apiece...and I just made the first batch of blueberry muffins (for the 1J folks tomorrow morning :) ). Lots of fun and the weather was just about perfect- not too hot (humid of course). We'll definitely go early again next time.

Pam, Sandi, and Sophie picking away


Really, the good berries are always in the MIDDLE of the bush


Sophie, contemplating whether that berry is worthy of her bucket


Almost got it...


Yum, blueberry goodness :)

Speak

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

-lyrics & music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend

New Attitude Pictures

Here's the New Attitude picture album

New Attitude

Visiting my cuz....

After New Attitude, I got to hang out with my cousin, Travis, in Lexington. Growing up, me, him, and our cousin Lisa (all 4 months apart) played a lot together. I hadn't seen him for 8 years! He showed me around Lexington and I got to see some of the famous horse farms where horses are bought and sold for millions of dollars. I also got to see one of the more well-known racetracks, Keeneland, where the race before the Kentucky Derby is held (the Blue Grass Stakes). I got my head filled with all sorts of horse/farm/racing knowledge, which I've found interesting since reading the book "Seabiscuit" (Excellent book). Even though it was only about 16 hours we got to spend together, I had a lot of fun!

Bench

The grandstands at Keeneland


Each of these jockeys (silks representing the owner's colors) is holding the name of a horse that has won at this track recently.


Me and Travis (I was very tired, hence the bleery eyes!)

Recap by the numbers- New Attitude 2008

This is going to be a long post, so if you want the short version, just read what's directly below :)...

3500+ singles and young married couples who attended Na (New Attitude)
1300 Bibles purchased for Uganda
100s of bananas passed out by friendly "Ninjas" (coffee and donuts too!)
8 amazing messages on "Delighting in God's Word"
5 dedicated and Godly men preaching the Word
5 incredibly blessed and changed Sovereign Grace Church of Pearland singles who got to attend
3 awesome roommates!
2 specific verses to memorize (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
1 sovereign, righteous, and loving God.

By the way, I'm drinking honey and lemon water right now 'cause I sang and talked so much I don't really have a voice left!

I had really high expectations going to New Attitude this year. And God exceeded those! The theme of this conference was "Delighting in God's Word", really digging into the Bible, and spending time reading and studying this God-breathed (2Tim 3:16) book.

IF the Bible really is God's Word, THEN we're called to delight in it and obey it

Ripping, Burning, Eating

Josh Harris started the first night off speaking on Jeremiah 15:16 "Your words were found and I ate them , and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts" (ESV). He used two other passages (2 Kings 22:13 and Jeremiah 36), to focus on the questions of: What do you delight in? How should we relate to the Bible? Does it have meaning and application for our lives?

"Reading the Word becomes a delight when you realize that it is not what you do for Him, but what He has done for you"
-Josh Harris

The Authority of Scripture

Mark Dever spoke at the Sunday morning session on the Authority of Scripture. I really loved how he organized this message. The first half was aimed at those who do not yet believe that the Bible has authority, that it is not just a story (although still applicable to us believers!). He discussed the following questions/arguments that non-believers have:
1) There are too many translations (paraphrased)
2)Is this really what was written down all those years ago?
3)What was written down, is it accurate?

The second part was directed to those who have accepted Christ as their Savior- how important it is to be in the Word. The Word is God-breathed, it is active, it teaches Truth.

"You can't just know Scriptures and not put them into practice. Knowing and practicing Scripture go hand in hand"
- Mark Dever

Bible Q&A

Yeah, so I have about three things written down because I just couldn't keep up with Al Mohler and his vast amount of theological knowledge. This session convicted me of needing to dig down further into God's Word and learn the theology, the history. Why do I believe what I believe? He talked some tough questions taken from the audience. I'm going to have to listen to this message again and again to soak it all up.

The Troubled Soul: God's Word and Our Feelings:

CJ Mahaney is just awesome. So wise and so humble. He spoke on Psalm 42 and how we need to talk to ourselves and talk to God. Sound weird? Well, a lot of times, we listen to ourselves too much (in Melissa terms, I call this "self-pity"). We listen, when we need to be talking to ourselves. What do we need to be talking to ourselves about? Truth! We need to be telling ourselves Scripture and reminding ourselves of God's promises, rather than listening to ourselves.

Some nuggets from this message:
"Troubled souls cannot be trusted and circumstances can lie to us"
"The psalmist felt forsaken by God, but the Savior was forsaken by God"
-CJ Mahaney

What's the Point- Growing in Vision for Diligent Study
Eric Simmon's message was full of application. We're getting all this wise teaching, so what do we do with it? Is used 2 Tim 3:14-16 to encourage us to continue to study and why we should study. In these verses, Paul is encouraging Timothy to continue in what he has learned because this learning makes him (Timothy) wise for salvation.

"All of the Scriptures testify to Christ and the salvation that he offers"
-Eric Simmons

William Tyndale- A life transformed by God

I finally got to hear John Piper speak in person. The passion this man has for the Bible and for clearly communicating what it says to others is astounding. He spoke on the life of William Tyndale...who is that you ask? He translated the Greek New Testament to English in 1526. It was the first time EVER that the entire New Testament was in English. 9/10 of the King James Bible was created from Tyndale's translation. He was martyred in 1536, burned after being strangled, by the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Piper said that to live a life like William Tyndale (forsaking everything to glorify God's name), we must die to two things:

1) Die to the notion that you don't have to work or think hard to achieve spiritual goals
2) Die to the notion that working and thinking hard are decisive for achieving spiritual goal

Those two statements aren't contradictory. 2 Timothy 2: 7 states "Think over everything...because the Lord will give you understanding".

Fighting for Faith

Dr. Piper spoke again at the Monday evening session on fighting for faith. He spoke on the following points:

1) The fight is a mortal fight- to the DEATH. You can't stop after 10, 20, 30 years of being a Christian. You fight until the end.
2) The fight for faith is a fight for joy (he had several other points to elaborate on joy- listen to the message- I can't do it justice :) )
3) Your major in life should be the Word of God.

To accomplish #3, you must be both disciplined and spontaneous. You have to have a plan to study the Word. He had us write down a time, place, plan (what we want to study in particular), and what we will memorize next. The memorization is what helps you to be spontaneous. When you are walking down the street and suddenly feel anxious, stressed, afraid...what are you going to pull out of your Scripture bag to combat that?

God as Father: Understanding the Doctring of Adoption in God's Word

For the last message on Tuesday morning, CJ spoke on Adoption, biblical adoption, adoption into the family of God, that we are His children, and what that means. He gave some specific resources for understanding our adoption as well (Kowning God- john Piper, Children of the Living God- Sinclair Ferguson, Adopted into God's Family- Trevor Burke). Sometimes it is hard to believe that God loves us, although we know we love Him. Understanding adoption allows us to see that it is God's love for us that allows us to love Him.

The summary? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" John 1: 1-5 (ESV)

To Him be all praise and glory and honor.