So I’m training to qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon.  Couple reasons.  One, something to challenge and push for.  Two, to further develop discipline in my life.  Three, I just have a few screws loose.  If you’d like to better yourself as a person and even raise a little cash for your favorite charity, decide to run a race!  Sign up for a 5k, 10k, half-marathon or full marathon.  Here are some character traits you’ll be forced to develop that are sure to carry over into all areas of your life: 

Focus: You will learn how to say ”no” to things that don’t fit into the goals that you’ve set for your life.  Focus will also keep you from straying out into oncoming traffic during rush hour, ha…

Sacrifice: Seriously, I love to sleep and I’m pretty dang good at it.  However, trying to run for two or three hours in 100 degree Texas weather is a death wish.  I have to give up sleep and get up (once last week at 3:30 am) in order to get out and get the needed miles in before the start of a busy day. 

Planning: You’ll learn to plan your calendar, your rest, your training, down time and even that most important family time! 

Perseverance: Two years ago, I couldn’t run for 20 minutes without giving it the old hand on knees heave-ho(what your high-school coach used to yell at you for).  I ran last week for two hours and forty-five minutes and felt great the rest of the day.  You are way more capable than you think you are, you just have to learn to persevere in life! 

Priorities:  Deciding to run a Boston qualifying time for a 31 year old male is a lofty goal (I’m going to have to run a 3:10 marathon in November, which is a 7:15 min/mile).  I’m no where close to this right now, but I’ve set some priorities in my life and pushing myself to my limits and experiencing new things is one of them. 

Here is a great quote to leave you with from ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes: “Unless you’re not pushing yourself, you’re not living to the fullest. You can’t be afraid to fail, but unless you fail, you haven’t pushed hard enough.”  Your life could be…..different.  This is the way it could be.  So get out and do something!  What will you do today??

A lot of you guys have asked what I’m doing right now with my time.  I thought I’d take a moment and fill you all in!  Besides being a husband of my amazing wife Macy, a father of a passionate 2yo named Meg, and a friend to as many peeps as possible, I do some fun real estate stuff and I am on staff at the Lifechurch.tv Fort Worth campus. My wheels are constantly blown off at what is happening through a group of normal people in Fort Worth and around the world that have simply submitted their lives to Jesus and asked to be used by God. Here are a few things I noticed about my church over the last few weeks that totally blow my mind: 

1. Every day of the week, people are meeting from all over the world together at LifeChurch.tv’s Church Online to worship, encourage one another, listen to Biblical messages and pray for one another. I’ve been apart of Church Online as an “attender” for some time now and have personally seen tons of lives changed on a weekly basis.  Stop by and check it out some time! 
2. My campus, the LifeChurch.tv Fort Worth campus, has grown in two years from an average weekend attendance of 300-350 people to a recent average during July of just under 1000 people.  Literally hundreds of people have found a relationship with Jesus Christ and countless others have experienced freedom from addiction, healing in a relationship, or significant life change in some way.  Um….wow.
3. A new tool was just launched called Babelwithme.com- anyone in the world can use it for free to chat with people in 45 different languages.  The sky seems to be the limit with this new tool (no pun intended church people).  The walls come a tumbling down… 
4. Small groups of people at Church Online meet both in a physical location on a weekly basis, but often invite others from around the world to join in via Skype, Tokbox or other online chat tools.  Suddenly, someone you meet online can share in community with those in your living room, pass the salsa Брат! 
5. Volunteer teams for one Church Online experience may very well represent several different countries.  Different team members commit to serving and facilitating a Church Online experience once a week from their home or anywhere in the world with an internet connection.   
6. Nearly 30,000 pastors and church leaders from around the world have used or are using free resources from the LifeChurch.tv Open website.  Millions of people around the world have downloaded the Bible on their phone as a result of the heart of a few leaders deciding to give away what has been given to them.   

I’d love to hear comments, questions or other cool things you’ve noticed lately about what’s happening with LifeChurch.tv peeps…

As I was running this morning, I couldn’t quit thinking about being older and less and less “cool” all the time.  Here are a few reasons why I’m less cool and don’t care:

1. 1. I still use the word cool.
2. 2. I write about not being cool, then twitter about it; should I even go on?
3. 3. I get up at 4:30am and run two hours for fun, enough said.
4. 4. I drive a Ford Taurus (used to drive a big truck).
5. 5. I have Veggies tales on my disc changer in my Ford Taurus and I eat a ton of veggies every day.
6. I have a GPS watch as big as my face and I dig it. 
7. I hang out a lot with Kyle Sherman and Robert Wall.

The difference is: I know I’m not cool like I think I used to be, but I don’t care.  I’d like to encourage you to not care as well.  Life’s not about stuff, what you drive, where you live, what you look like or even what you do.  It’s about who you are uniquely designed to be by your Creator; who you are in His eyes.  Don’t be cool and don’t care!  What are some things that make you less cool that you don’t care about?