Daily Read November 30, 2009

Psalm 119:97-98 (New International Version)

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.

⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me.

Daily Read November 29, 2009

2 Peter 1:20-21 (New International Version)

²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. ²¹For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Daily Read November 28, 2009

2 Peter 1:3-9 (New International Version)

³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Daily Read November 27, 2009

Daniel 4:37 (New International Version)

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

It's amazing to me that one of the greatest kings ever... Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed and exiled the Jews from Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon's temple... eventually acknowledged the power and splendor of God. Nebuchadnezzar should remind us that no one is too great to be humbled by God.

Jim

5k Turkey Trot results

So the Turkey Trot went awesome this morning!!! (Here is Ben, Todd and I after it was done)

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my Nike+ chip was off by about a 1 minute on my pace and 1/4 of a mile on my distance.

I finished 5k in 28m 38s. (HERE are the official results... I'm on page 38.) Usually I'm about 10 1/2 minute miles... but this morning was about 9 1/2 minute miles. Which is great for me. Officially I finished #1889 out of 5054!! Not bad!!! And officially according to their timing, my pace as 9m15s.

Overall it was a great experience. It was a little frustrating to deal with all the walkers... but for my first race, it was pretty good!!

Tomorrow I start working on a 10k and my sister wants me to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) with her in Columbus in the fall... That's a little crazy.

Jim

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It's hard to imagine that Thanksgiving is here already. But it is.

It's a good day to be thankful! Here are a few things that I'm thankful for right now:

• my wife and family (she's working on some great food and letting me sit here and blog... that's great)
• our house (last year we were just getting ready to move in... now we've been living here for a year)
• our students... who are incredible.
• our volunteers... who are a great team to hang, run and work with.
• our friendships!!!
  
• of course... I'm most thankful for a God who loves me, sent His Son for me and provided me with forgiveness that I couldn't provide for myself otherwise.
  

I hope that today you spend some time doing what is most important... hanging with friends and family!!! And of course, eating a lot!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from me and my family!

Jim

Daily Read November 26, 2009

Psalm 100:4 (New International Version)

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

#1625!!!

There's my official number for tomorrow morning's race. I'm #1625! I don't know exactly what that means... maybe that's where they expect me to finish... but that's my number.

Should be a fun experience. Especially because weather.com is predicting that tomorrow morning at 8 am it is supposed to be 39 degrees with 70% chance of precipitation that is a mixture of rain and snow.

Should be fun. I'm hoping to finish in less than 30 minutes. If so... it will feel like I won the race!!!

Jim

Fall Retreat wrap-up

We had a really great Fall Retreat over the weekend. It was a great time of worship, teaching, relationship building, serving (we helped the camp stack and store firewood for the winter), and having fun together (we played, among other things, capture the flag in the large field at 10:30 pm with only a campfire to guide the play).

I was blessed with an incredible group of weekend warriors (Todd, Justin, Jennifer, and Julie) who hung with the students, had conversations with them and made the weekend possible.

The worship was incredible!!! Justin and "Yet To Be Named" (our student worship band of Justin, Will, Amanda, Alec and Nico) did an incredible job. There was jumping, clapping, singing and wanting more.

Overall the weekend was a huge success. I appreciate all those who made a great weekend a great weekend!!! But I have to admit... it totally wiped me out... It's Wednesday and I'm still recovering. But it was a very fun weekend!

Jim

Daily Read November 18, 2009

Ephesians 5:1-2 (New International Version)

¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Turkey Trivia freebie

I thought to myself yesterday, when I saw some twitter traffic about an upcoming SYM newsletter, that I should put together a new freebie powerpoint game for Thanksgiving and share it.

But I realized that I really didn't have time right now. Then I opened the email this morning and saw that my "Turkey Trivia Game" from last year was one of the featured the freebies.

Awesome!!!

Hopefully it helps some folks out there. Check out the freebies HERE.

Thanks Simply Youth Ministry for giving folks like me an opportunity to help others out!

Jim

Daily Read November 16, 2009

Psalm 108:1-5 (New International Version)

¹ My heart is steadfast, O God;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.

² Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

³ I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.

⁴ For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth.

Daily Read November 15, 2009

Hebrews 11:5-6 (New International Version)

⁵By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Daily Read November 14, 2009

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Daily Read November 13, 2009

Hebrews 10:19-25 (New International Version)

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Daily Read November 12, 2009

Hebrews 10:11-14 (New International Version)

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹²But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, ¹⁴because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Daily Read November 11, 2009

Romans 5:6-8 (New International Version)

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

With today being Veteran's Day, I thought of this verse. Take a couple of moments today to thank a veteran or a current serviceman or servicewoman for their willingness to go and fight and maybe die for someone else.

Jim

Daily Read November 9, 2009

Hebrews 9:25-28 (New International Version)

²⁵Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Diet update... week 13

The last three days have been great diet days with new low weigh-ins each day. Today I'm officially 13 weeks into my diet and weighed in this morning at 252.0.

That's 26 pounds since August 8th!!!

Overall my runs have been getting faster and better as well. With the Turkey Trot only a couple of weeks away, I need them to keep getting better.

But on the whole, the diet is going well. And I'm only 6 pounds away from my all-time-low-weight of 246.0 pounds!!! Maybe I'll get close next week. Oh wait... my wife is making stroganoff (sp?) for dinner... maybe I won't...

Jim

Daily Read November 6, 2009

Hebrews 7:23-28 (New International Version)

²³Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

David Crowder*Band - "How He Loves" OFFICIAL Music Video

Here is Crowder's new video... "How He Loves". It's great... and a great idea for a video!!!

Jim

Check it out HERE

Post 1,500!!!

It's hard to imagine, but it's true. This post is post 1,500 on my little blog. Who knew that I had so much to say... except for my wife.

I don't have too much to say here... just wanted to call attention to the fact that this is post 1,500!!!

Hope your day is memorable!

Jim

Daily Read November 3, 2009

Hebrews 4:14-16 (New International Version)

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Daily Read November 2, 2009

Hebrews 4:12-13 (New International Version)

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Daily Read November 1, 2009

Psalm 103:13-18 (New International Version)

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.