Winning the race

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Finding success in failure - how to hit the ground running in 2019

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Finding success in failure - how to hit the ground running in 2019

I saw two amazing statements quoted on social media this week. Here’s the first:

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

Few people in the last century had the ability to express profound truth more clearly than C.S.Lewis, and this statement proves it.

People make two mistakes in relation to past failures. The first is refusing to admit they failed at all, papering over their issues with other peoples’ alleged shortcomings, and moving on fearlessly to new failures in the future. And they succeed in reaching their goal.

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What's your spiritual resume look like?

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What's your spiritual resume look like?

I had to construct a resume - a “curriculum vitae” in more official terms. It’s been a very long time since my last one! But the institution for which I am teaching this summer required it.

To be honest, my resume writing skills were so rusty I had to borrow one from a colleague to use as a template. As I read all his impressive achievements, I began to wonder how mine would stack up. Not very well, at least in the academic context.

The word curriculum in Latin means a race. Vita means life. So a curriculum vitae means literally the race of life.

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How to measure your maturity

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How to measure your maturity

Maturity is measurable. Sanctification is measurable. But how?

It all comes down to movement.

The meaning of the Hebrew word we translate “repentance” has the basic meaning of “return.” A person who repents is one who has spent the first part of their life moving away from God. But then they are arrested by an encounter with Christ.

The rest of their life is meant to be spent in a continuous movement back to God.

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Run to win

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Run to win

I have been running a lot. Only on treadmills, I admit, as I’m not dedicated enough to knock myself out running and freezing at the same time.

The truth is most of us spend a lot more of our lives running than we think. We are usually found either running away from something or running toward something.

We usually make mistakes at both ends.

Instead of running away from our fears or difficult situations, we should stay and face them. The only way to conquer fear is to look it straight in the face and ask God to show himself as the one whose perfect love casts all fear out. It is not easy, it is a process, and we desperately need God’s help and the help of others, but in the end it’s always worth it. Sometimes I think my whole life has been a process of overcoming different kinds of fear.

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Facing the assault

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Facing the assault

I admit it. I was wrong.

I really had thought spending the winter in south-western Michigan would mean escape from 35 years of relentless snow. Until well into February, I was right. The total snowfall had been negligible. And so when the forecast called for six to eight inches and everyone started to panic, I called it Michigan snowmageddon and mocked the locals who were rushing to the supermarket to clear the aisles of bread and milk and cancelling every event in sight. Even without a snowblower, my superior level of fitness and a trusty shovel would be enough to face any challenge a feeble American winter could throw at a battle-hardened Canadian.