The Christianista

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14

Before I started my Sunday run last night,  I was content with finishing my  4 miles in 28 minutes. A 7 minute a mile pace is pretty good for running 4 miles because you work up a nice sweat, yet  you’re not sprinting. I put my shoes on and in less than 5 minutes I was out of  the door to beat the  sunset. Now what happens next is not foreign and happens quite a bit to me, I’m working on this now. I started my run and was about a mile into it when a guy runs past me. In some crazy way, him passing me translated into him disrespecting me in my mind. Because the first step to getting over a bad habit is admitting it, I must admit that I am a pretty competitive person to a fault.  As the runner passed me, my pace automatically picked up and I was suddenly on his heels. I followed this random strange runner mocking his pace making sure that my feet were hitting the ground at the same time as his for about 2 miles. His pace was much faster than my pace and my  lungs were screaming, but I wasn’t going to quit and he is going to learn to never pass me again. At the end of mile 2, his pace started to slow up and I was about to make my move and pass him to show him who’s boss. To my dismay, the runner stops and starts to stretch. What?!?! This was mile 3 for me and I hadn’t realized that I had 1 more mile to go. I had an entire mile to go and my body was aching and crying for me to stop. At any point now I knew my knees would buckle and the t-shirt with “If I pass out call this number” idea that my dad gave me suddenly seemed like a brilliant idea. After I passed the runner and without my permission, my body down shifted to a crawl like jog.  As I finally made it to the end of my 4 mile run, it had been 30 minutes, I was drenched with sweat, and I felt like I needed to throw up. Does this story sound familiar to you?

collage of marathons with friends

Maybe your story isn’t exactly like mine, but have you ever wanted what someone else had or wanted to be just like someone else? Staying focused is especially hard to do when you are comparing and competing with other people. Just like my situation where I was competing with the runner, you never know what happens when you are not watching. I didn’t know where the runner started, he could have only ran 2 miles and instead of me being focused on my goal, I was distracted and lost sight of the goals that I set for myself. In life we want the life of other people, we want their cars, their jobs, their shoes, their bags, their money and in reality we have no idea what the story behind their lives. God doesn’t want us to covet our neighbor but in turn wants us to delight ourselves in Him. Trying to be like others will burn you out, the same way I barely finished my run before the sun went down because I was focusing on someone else. The Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 not to conform to this world but instead to renew our minds. Let’s challenge ourselves to only compete with ourselves and push ourselves to do what God wants us to do and not what others push us to do.

running essentials

happy running,
the christianista

It’s 2010! Thank God for giving us a New Year and a new day. Most people have New Year’s resolutions, and most people fail to keep these resolutions. Do you run into this problem? Do you always make New Year’s resolutions to read the Bible more, to exercise more, maintain a healthy diet, work on your finances? Do you ever forger about your resolutions by mid-year and plan to start them all over again at the beginning of the next New Year? If so, then maybe you should re-evaluate the power behind your New Year’s Resolution.

You say, Philippians 4:13 says “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” While this is true God also says in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So God is saying yes, you can do all of these things with my strength behind you. Yes, you can lose weight, regain your finances, maintain your healthy diet, and much more. However, you have to remain with God in order to accomplish these goals. You can’t do it alone. You may say to yourself, “I am doing it with God, I pray for strength to help me go and work out and eat right and spend right, what’s the problem”? The problem may be the reason you are doing this.

Are you planning to lose weight for vanity issues, or are you planning to stay healthy to serve God in a more efficient way?  Are you planning on working on your finances to bless your family and others by showing them God’s will or do you just want a new car for boasting rights? What is the purpose or meaning behind your New Year’s resolution. Ask yourself how will my New Year’s resolution help you serve God. When you answer this question, the answer will give you more motivation to accomplish this goal and also help to look to God and pray to him for assistance.

When you pray to God about your New Year’s resolution,  don’t just ask God to give it to you, but do the following:
1. First ask God for wisdom, on what He wants your New Year’s resolution to be. There is no need to pick your own and struggle with God because that is not His will for you. .Just make it easy on yourself and ask Him first
2. Ask and pray for wisdom on how He wants you to fulfill this goal.
3.  Don’t rely on yourself, but instead, His strength to push and motivate you.
4. Find someone to hold you accountable. Find a partner and share your goals with that person.
5. Don’t get discouraged with occasional setbacks. Instead, use them to push you even further than you thought you could go.
6. When you accomplish your goals, give the glory to God!!

I know you can do it. Find out what He wants, do it , and thank Him for it.
Remember,  He is the vine, you are the branch. Put the power behind your New Year’s Resolution!

love,

the christianista

info from http://www.gotquestions.org