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Jingle Jog – Playlist Time
What is your Christmas running motivation?
The Atlanta weather has been so dreary lately, so I decided to be a little more proactive on my goals that I recently set. On Saturday, December 10, I will be running the Jingle Jog and to help motivate myself, I created a Christmas playlist for the race. I am the type of person who is encouraged by music. You must have the right kind of music for whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to run a race, you don’t listen to Celine Dion, Kenny G., or Michael Bolton unless you want to fall asleep at the starting line.
Here is what will be motivating me to cross the Jingle Jog finish line:
- “Mad Russian’s Christmas (Instrumental)” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- “We Three Kings” by Pentatonix
- “Christmas In Hollis” by Run-DMC
- “The Nutcracker Suite (Baz Kuts Breaks Mix)” by Berlin Symphony Orchestra
- “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Viva Voce
- “Toy Jackpot” by Blackalicious
- “Electronic Santa” by Blazer Force
- “The First Noel” by Scott Blackwell
- “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Family Force 5
- “O Holy Night” by Code Of Ethics
- “Winter Wonderland” by Joy Electric
- “Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Mulato Beat Remix)” by Louis Armstrong
- “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” by Viva Voce
- “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” by All Star United
- “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
- “Jingle Bells” by The Brian Setzer Orchestra
- “The Little Drummer Boy” by Candi Pearson Shelton
- “O Come Emmanuel” by Chasing Furies
- “(It Must Have Been Ol’) Santa Claus” by Harry Connick, Jr.
- “I Pray On Christmas” by Harry Connick, Jr.
- “Happy Christmas” by John Lennon & Yoko Ono
- “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” by Weezer
- “Christmas At Ground Zero” by Weird Al Yankovic
What motivates you to get out and run during the holidays?
Photo Credit: By Alba Palacios
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A Change Will Do Me Good…
My life is "under construction"
With all that has been going on in my life over the past few months, I have decided to make some changes. I have specifically decided to do three things and they all have the common theme of dealing with my health. It’s going to be a challenge but I’m ready for a change.
1) Beginning December 1, 2011 I will only be drinking water. On December 1, 2010 I decided to stop drinking sodas and as a result sweet tea became my vice. This decision was also based on my last visit to the dentist when I was informed that I would need a good bit of dental work done as a result of my “8-9 Diet Dr Peppers a day” habit. Since I have accomplished my goal of not drinking sodas for almost a year now, I wanted to take it to the next level and decided to just try drinking water starting this December 1. Most people ask me why I don’t wait until January 1 and make it a New Year’s Resolution. I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions because by January 15 (or in some cases sooner) they have already been broken. If I start this on a day that is not January 1 then there is no “New Year’s Resolution” pressure and I am more prone to stick to my goal.
2) Saturday, December 10 I will be participating in Jingle Jog. I have not participated in a race since The Peachtree Road Race on July 4 of this year. The Peachtree was a 10K, so I thought I would give myself a little bit of a break and do a 5K this time around. What is so cool is one of the guys in my new small group has been looking for a 5K to run, so he and I are planning to do the race together.
3) I have been wanting to find a way to improve my over all health – encompassing eating right and exercising (two things at which I am horrible at maintaining). At the encouragement of another one of the guys in my new small group, I have decided to go through a book that he recommend that changed his life. The week after Thanksgiving (for obvious reasons – don’t want to set myself up for immediate failure with all of that tasty food) I will be starting the book Body for Life by Bill Phillips and Michael D’Orso. The guy in my small group who is running the Jingle Jog has decided to do it as well so we are going to hold one another accountable in this endeavor. Don’t worry, I won’t be forcing you to look at any before or after pictures of me (the thought of that kind of creeps me out any way). I weigh more now than I have ever weighed (my waist size is also the biggest its ever been as well) and that was one of the major determining factors for me to make these changes.
Do you have any words of wisdom or encouragement that could help me through these changes?
Photo Credit: By Kevin Dooley
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Forbidden – A Great Start to The Books of Mortals
Dekker + Lee = Forbidden
To say that Ted Dekker is one of my favorite authors would be an extreme understatement. When I heard he would be co-writing another book I was a little worried. I loved the book House that he wrote with Frank Peretti, but I did not like either of the books he wrote with Erin Healey (Burn and Kiss). I had never heard of Tosca Lee, so I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading Dekker’s latest book Forbidden. This is the Ted Dekker I remember and fell in love with when I first started reading his works with the book Thr3e.
Forbidden is book one in a new trilogy called The Books of Mortals. Imagine if you will, a time in the future where human beings are removed of all emotions except fear – this is the concept of Forbidden. Rom, the main character of the story, is given a vial of blood and discovers that when he consumes the blood he is able to feel all of his emotions once again. With such a precious commodity as this life-giving blood, you could imagine the number of people who want to get their hands on it. The book tells of Rom and those in his inner circle as they try to find the source of this magical blood, while trying to keep it out of the hands of those who have the desire to use for evil.
There is a lot of Biblical imagery like the mysterious blood (providing life, just as the blood of Christ) and several other items, which are very involved in the plot so I will not reveal them and ruin the book for you. Forbidden is an easy read that you won’t be able to put down, as it will keep you on the edge of your seat. The down side of reading Forbidden is that you have to wait until June 5, 2012 to continue reading the trilogy when Mortal (book #2) comes out in stores.
Photo Credit: By Christianbook.com
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Life Lessons From The Black Crows
Birds of the air don't worry, so why do we?
Today I was looking out the window and saw four black crows (not to be confused with the rock band that made the song “Hard To Handle” popular in 1990). As I observed the birds, I noticed they were very free-spirited and just went about their business. They didn’t worry about living conditions, food, or really anything else for that matter. I immediately thought of what scripture tells us about worrying.
Matthew 6:25-34
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Why is it that we are so quick to worry and not immediately turn things over to God? Is it a pride thing? Is it human nature? Whatever it is, how do we change this vicious cycle?
What do you do to overcome worry?
Photo Credit: By Isa Sorensen
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Pastor, Say It Ain’t So – Dealing With Depression
Photo Credit: By Lloyd Morgan
The other day I was on Twitter and was bothered by what I saw. I follow a lot of pastors, as they typically provide words of wisdom and encouragement. One pastor really disappointed me though and I won’t reveal his name, as I don’t know him personally or why he feels the way he does. He went on a Twitter rant about depression and Christians.
This pastor commented in multiple tweets that “Christians should not take medication to help them combat depression because it was of the devil” and “depression was due to a lack of faith.” How can someone who is supposed to be a man of God tell people they are suffering from a mental disease because they don’t believe like he thinks they should? He might as well tell people who have cancer that they have it because of their lack of faith. Seriously?! It’s people like this who annoy me and make me understand why people don’t like Christians.
I am very close with two people who suffer from depression and medication has greatly helped them. Depression is caused by altered brain structure and chemical function. Neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain) become unbalanced. You can’t will yourself out of depression. Depression is not a weakness either. The first step is being diagnosed and realizing that depression can be treatable – it’s not something they have done or not done and they are not a failure if they deal with it. About 121 million people around the world suffer from depression in some form.
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Scott Couey 