Life Lessons Learned on the Road - Don't Look Back

Welcome to a new Tuesday series - Life Lessons Learned on the Road. Each Tuesday I will feature a writer who is also a runner and a life lesson they learned while on the road. It will be a great way for you to meet some new friends and hear the wisdom God planted in their heart through the solitude of running.
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But one thing I do: 

Forgetting what is behind 

and straining toward what is ahead, 

I press on toward the goal to win the prize 

for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14

Some mornings I set out to run 3 miles. I have run three miles so many times that it now seems routine - not always easy but always achievable. Other days a distance of 10 or more miles stretches my ability and my mental attitude.

No matter the distance one thing I've learned is it does me absolutely no good to look back. The ground I've covered whether one mile or ten no longer matters. What's important is what lies ahead. 

Looking back while running is like living a life filled with regret. When our heart is in perpetual rewind replaying events of yesterday, last year or decades ago, our life run is immobilized. There's three reasons it's not wise to run looking back:

1) You'll Stumble - When I'm looking behind I can't watch for potholes, branches or other objects waiting to trip me up on the road. We've all experienced difficulty in our past. What's guaranteed is that we will in the future as well. When our focus is on our history, troubles in the current trip us up.

Don't allow regret to clothesline you.

2) You'll Get Disoriented - Looking back while running makes me dizzy. With my body going one direction and my head another, my tummy rebels. The same is true for our spirit when we allow regret to lounge around in our present day life. 

Don't let regret scribble on the map of your life.

3) You'll Grow Weary - Have you ever participated in or witnessed a race? Last Sunday in the Olympics, a field of women set out to run a marathon - 26.2 miles. No one particularly cheered when they reached 3 miles, 10 miles or even 26 miles. The final 0.2 miles were required to have a shot at Olympic gold. 

When I'm constantly looking back, my heart is consumed with covered ground. Freedom lies on the road ahead. 

Don't give regret permission to defeat you.

Paul told us we have to forget what is behind, strain toward what is ahead and press on. I want to sing some Boston "Don't Look Back" to all of us today. Let's stop living our lives in reverse. Stop allowing regret to boss us around and start focusing on the road ahead.

What's your biggest regret in life? How would your life change if you looked forward instead?

Breathless Moments

Yet a time is coming and has now come 

when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, 

for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

John 4:23

The moonlight danced with her skin as she hugged closer to me. In a half-conscious state of euphoria, she took her time eating. Joy slowed the clock as I absorbed every detail of my newborn baby. Never had I witnessed such beauty. 

It took my breath away.

She slid a masterpiece onto our table. The platter contained her creation, a pasta dish unlike any I'd ever seen. The first bite confirmed she was no ordinary cook. My young teen blended flavors like shades of a rainbow.

It took my breath away.

I watched her come alive as she spoke of Him. Using simple, understandable words, she introduced four and five year olds to her best friend. Each face glowed with rapt attention, drinking from the fountain of hope and life she offered. Some faces were fresh with play; others weathered by adult worry. All understood God's grace in a deeper way.

It took my breath away.

Hannah Teaching the Gospel at a Mission VBS

Hannah is no ordinary teenager. She and her friends prefer Disney to teen drama. They dream of marriage and ministry instead of mischief. Hannah isn't waiting to live out her calling. She lives a life of passion and purpose at sixteen.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus took a side trip to chat with a woman at a well whose soul was bone dry. He offered her life-changing truth and life-enfusing hope - Himself. In a single day she went from town harlot to town evangelist. She didn't wait to live out her calling. She chose a life of passion and purpose.

Jesus told her God seeks out worshipers whose message is lived in heart places and foot spaces. These worshipers are living testimonies of God's grace. They don't wait to live out their calling. They choose passion and purpose.

Hannah's life challenges me. Do I let fear, worry or regret sideline me? Hannah teaches me passion and purpose isn't something you do...it's something you are when you trust God and live your calling now. I think Jesus still take side trips. He sits at the table of our hearts and offers us Living Water - a common, everyday, extraordinary living.

The Spirit of God breathes life into ordinary moments. Let's dare to live a life of passion and purpose today. It might just take our breath away.

Is passion and purpose written on the pages of your day? Don't wait to live out your calling.

Culture of Kindness

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth.

1 John 3:18

Last year Wednesdays were my favorite day of the week. My mornings were filled with conversation, laughter and inspiration from fellow moms. Lunchtime was dessert on my morning. Nearly every week we would head to haven of kindness.


My face was greeted with a smile. My name was known. My family treated with an extraordinary level of customer service. In fact, I have never had a negative customer service experience at any location, anywhere in the country of this particular establishment.

It's name is Chick-fil-a.


In the midst of a controversy over rights - both marital and speech - one thing has been at the forefront of my mind. Chick-fil-a's actions speak louder than any mayor's words. Their culture of kindness makes their restaurant somewhere I want to go.


Would that, could that be said of me?


I want my children to experience extraordinary customer service in my home.


I want my husband to consider my home a haven.


I want my actions to speak louder than any critic's words.


It was truly awe-inspiring seeing the snake of people and cars lined up Wednesday to support Chick-fil-a. Some were there in opposition to a particular group of people. Others were there in support of certain rights. I think most were there to say thank you to a restaurant who has successfully created a culture of kindness.


I will eat more chicken if it will help me eat less words. I need to respond "my pleasure" when serving those I love. I want to serve with a heart so filled with gratitude, others want to return here again and again.


I desire to cultivate a culture of kindness.


What's one thing you could do today to cultivate kindness?

Against All Odds

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, 

who for the joy set before him endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, 

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

I set out Tuesday morning to achieve a summer 2012 PR (personal record) for my 5K running course. I closed the garage to a cloudy 75 degree sky with a slim (10%) chance of rain. My chances of PR went from good to great.


Less than one mile in, 100% of droplets began to fall on my 10% chance of rain run.  As I crested my big hill, my shoe lace which has never come untied flopped open. My chances of a PR went from slim to none. 


But I didn't stop running. I touched my garage door at 28 minutes, 46 seconds. Against all odds, I set a summer 2012 PR.


This got me thinking about living life against the odds. 


According to Barna Research, there's a 3 in 5 chance my kids will abandon the church. When the shoestrings of popularity or peer pressure trip up my daughters, will I teach them to abandon their faith or live against the odds a life of faith and reckless abandon? 


There is a 2 in 3 chance my marriage will end in divorce. When rain falls on my marriage, will I stand against the odds and allow the only "D" word to pass my lips be dear? 

It is possible to live a life against the odds. Because...


Against the odds, Jesus came and lived the only perfect life.


Against the odds, Jesus crawled up on a cross and claimed my sin, your sin, our sin.


Against the odds I set a PR Tuesday morning. Against the odds, we run this race of life with endurance and finish well done.


What odds are against you? What are you doing to beat the odds?

Premeditated Love

As a man thinks within himself, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

Premeditated. 


Premeditated murder carries the most severe penalties. Taking another's life in a spur-of-the-moment, unplanned action is deemed a much less egregious crime than thinking, planning and deciding in advance to do so. Likely none of us plan to ever kill another human but...

If looks could kill


If thoughts could destroy


If judgments could demolish


I'd be a murderer. 


What if instead we tried premeditated love? What if we thought, planned and decided in advance to love our spouses, children, friends and even strangers? I wrote about this yesterday at an online Bible study I lead for my church. How about hopping on over and reading about it: http://hopewomenonline.com/2012/07/living-free-week-one-day-two.html


(We just started a new session last Monday so if you've been looking for a way to get connected to other Christ-followers, this might be a great option for you.)

Life Transforming Prayer - Lord Lessen Me

These eight weeks we have been diving into life transforming prayer have been some of my favorite. I can't believe our eight weeks has come to a close but look for a new Tuesday series starting next week - Life Lessons Learned on the Road. Until then, enjoy our last of the Life Transforming Prayers...
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He (Jesus) must become greater. I must become less.

John 3:30

Do more. Get more. Be more. These messages bounce around my life like a pinball machine gone mad. Sometimes the more within my reach isn't the one I should grasp. What if instead...

I do more with Jesus.


I get more of Jesus.


I be more like Jesus.


Trying to follow a long list of rules or live up to never-ending expectations covers my life with a cloud of less-than. I do want to live in a way that honors God. I do desire to encourage and energize my family. But the key for me is not to pray over my multitude of perceived flaws but to pray Lord, Lessen Me. 


Less of me makes room for more of Him.


Lord, make me less so my life makes much of You.


What is one way your life needs to be less?

My Thread of Hope

You are the God who sees me.

Genesis 16:13

Like this ball of string, I feel myself coming undone - a mommy meltdown is moments away. Many things trigger my unravel but feeling unseen or unnoticed seems the quickest way to knot up my life. I'm thankful the One who sees is also the One who's able to guard my mouth and keep me from choking my loved ones with tendrils of my mess. 

Today at Encouragement Cafe, we are celebrating the upcoming August 7th launch of Lysa TerKeurst's new book Unglued. Are you ready, like me, to discover how His truth is the glue to stop the bleeding of mama madness? Won't you join me today at Encouragement Cafe as we learn how He is our thread of hope to keep from coming unwound?