Daily Read August 31, 2011

Isaiah 2:2-5

New International Version (NIV)

 ² In the last days
   the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
   as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
   and all nations will stream to it.
 ³ Many peoples will come and say,
   “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
   to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
   so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
   the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will judge between the nations
   and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
   and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
   nor will they train for war anymore.
 ⁵ Come, descendants of Jacob,
   let us walk in the light of the LORD.

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Daily Read August 30, 2011

Isaiah 1:18

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁸ “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
   says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
   they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
   they shall be like wool.

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Daily Read August 27, 2011

John 11:25-26

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

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Daily Read August 26, 2011

John 10:11-15

New International Version (NIV)

   ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
   ¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

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Daily Read August 25, 2011

John 10:10

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

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Daily Read August 22, 2011

John 8:12

New International Version (NIV)

¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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Medal for the Air Force Marathon - Race Ready?

I'm almost ready for that big one in the middle.

This week is the last reduced mileage week before my final 20 miler (next Saturday).  After that, I'll start down the two week taper route toward the race on the 17th. 

Am I ready?  I don't know. 
One day I think, "Yes." 
The next, I think "I don't know." 

I've done one 20 mile run.  Most people who have trained and succeeded at a full marathon say that if you can do 20... you can do 26.2.  I'd love to be run a 25 mile run before the race, but I'm not going to have time.  I'll have to trust my training... which was been great so far... and those who have gone before me and succeeded with having run only 20 miles. 

On almost every single run... I think about that medal... I think about crossing that finish line... I think about having a General put that medal around my neck!  It gives me chills.

Jim


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Friday Fun - Jamie Grace - Hold Me featuring tobyMac

A fun little Friday music video...
Enjoy!

Check it out HERE





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Finishing a goal early... 750 miles...

Way back in January, I set some running resolutions for 2011.  One of those resolutions was to run 750 miles this year.

Well... this morning I blew past that mark (if you are checking out the Daily Mile app and wondering if I've miscounted... I didn't start doing Daily Mile until May...).  I have officially finished that New Year's Resolution in August... instead of December.  And I still have four months to go.  I'm now hoping that I can get 1,000 miles in for the year.  We'll see about that.  I've had a strong training schedule at my back driving me at nearly 37-43 miles a week for the past couple of months.  That will be hard to replicate after the Air Force Marathon on September 17th. 

Tomorrow morning... as I head out for a 12 mile run... It will be mile 751-763.

Follow me on RunKeeper HERE and Daily Mile HERE. 

Keep running!

JC

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Daily Read August 17, 2011

John 3:16-21

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

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Daily Read August 12, 2011

Luke 22:54-62

New International Version (NIV)

 ⁵⁴ Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵ And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. ⁵⁶ A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”  ⁵⁷ But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
 ⁵⁸ A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
   “Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
 ⁵⁹ About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
 ⁶⁰ Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. ⁶¹ The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” ⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

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Daily Read August 11, 2011

Luke 22:24-27

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶ But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

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Daily Read August 6, 2011

Luke 15:4-7

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

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Did Evernote just kill my Moleskine???

This has been the approximate location of my Moleskine for about the last three weeks (that's on the desk calendar on my desk in case you aren't familiar with the layout of my workspace). 

It's been coming for a while... But breaking up is always hard to do. 

As many of you know, I've been a faithful Moleskine user for quite some time.  I have several sitting already used and a new one still waiting in the wrapper on the shelf in my office.  The pages are marked with to-do lists, ideas, meeting notes, thoughts, dreams, phone numbers and the like.  I have carried them around on Sunday mornings and always in my backpack to jot down ideas or things that I need to remember.  I have planned countless events and knocked off lots of projects from my ministry to-do list.  Many of those at my church have grown used to seeing me having it with me at all times. 

But times are a changin'. 

The past two or three weeks have been a bit of a test.  A test of whether or not Evernote could handle the Moleskine's work.  And at this point, Evernote is passing with flying colors. 

If you aren't familiar with Evernote, it is an program for both computer (Mac OS X and Windows) and mobile phones that syncs up online.  The free version, which I am currently using, has a limited amount of storage per month.  But I can store just about anything that I want... pictures... lists... ideas... snipets from books that I'm reading... random thoughts... things that I've found interesting on the Internet. 

If you aren't familiar with a Moleskine, it's basically a fancy tablet with lots of blank pages for capturing ideas. 

There are a couple of reasons why Evernote is taking the lead and the Moleskine is fading out of my ministry life:

1. Evernote has limitless pages.  I can jot down a thought or an idea and move on.  I always felt bad or worried that I would lose an idea if I just wrote down one thing on a page... felt that I was wasting a whole page.  With Evernote, as long as I don't go over my monthly quota... and you can get more by upgrading... I don't have to worry about wasting a page.  Plus, I don't have to buy a new Moleskine when all the pages are full. 
2. Evernote lets me "tag" things.  Basically this is assigning a keyword(s) to a note so I can find it quickly in the future.  Nothing frustrates me more than taking 25 minutes to find something that I can't find.  With Evernote, I go up to the search tag and search for it.  Bam! There are all the notes with that word or phrase. 
3. I can save more things that simply written words in Evernote.  I can save pictures... audio files... PDFs of things that I've scanned... websites... pages that I've clipped from websites (Firefox has an add-on that makes that super easy).  If I read something or think that something might be helpful in the future, I can save it super-quick and easy!
4. All my notes in Evernote sync with my mobile phone... which is with me any way.  No need to carry two things.  
5. Evernote is free!  Both the mobile app and Mac OS app are free.  If you want to upgrade for more storage, you can for $45 a year (or two-three Moleskines).  At this point, I've never even gotten close to using up all my monthly usage.  

While I hate that I'm losing a trusted partner in crime and I hate that I'm losing the feel of paper and pen... the functionality of Evernote is making it more practical. 

So, Moleskine, is this the end?  For now, I believe it is.


Links:
Evernote in the Mac App store.
Evernote in the iTunes app store for iPhone.
Evernote websites with downloads for other computer programs (windows, Android, iPad, etc).

By the way: Evernote didn't pay me to write this article or review... Just one person passing along what's working for me. 

Jim


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Daily Read August 5, 2011

Luke 12:22-31

New International Version (NIV)

  ²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?    ²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.


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Daily Read August 4, 2011

Luke 9:23-26

New International Version (NIV)

 ²³ Then he (Jesus) said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

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Daily Read August 3, 2011

Luke 9:18-20

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”  ¹⁹ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
   ²⁰ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
   Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

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Daily Read August 2, 2011

Luke 8:4-8

New International Version (NIV)

 ⁴ While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
   When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

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Daily Read August 1, 2011

Luke 6:27-36

New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.    ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

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