To kick off the year, here’s a little recording done by my daughter Margaret and I.  She’s on vocal, I’m on acoustic guitar, with our version of Adele’s “Someone Like You.”

It’s a word that in many church circles is easily thrown around without thinking through what it actually means.

For me, it is about actively and intently pursuing a path of spiritual growth that deepens my relationship with Christ, following a path with other men.  Until last summer, I spent 2 years in a small discipleship group with 2 other men.  I then spent 6 months leading a study one-on-one with another guy after my other group ended, and now am meeting with 3 other men separately in one-on-one Bible reading.  One guy is leading me through the book of Romans while I lead two others separately through Colossians currently and Romans as well.

While it appears that I may be stretching my time, in reality I’m not, because two of these meetings occur early in the morning before work weekly, while another meets every other week over lunch during the workday.  I’ve become convinced that one of the calls I have is to be discipling other men while also being discipled by one other.  I know what I don’t know in my journey in Christ, and I’m hungry to learn more about where my walk will lead me in Christ.  It’s therefore encouraging to see men who are just as hungry about their walk as well.

So this season of life has taken me on new paths of discipleship, and I look forward to seeing these other men turn around and disciple others – because that’s how we will continue to train others in the Gospel.

This abduction hits close to home because her grandmother Shirley is a fellow labor and delivery nurse colleague of Page’s.  And she has been actively searching for her granddaughter.

Please keep Shirley and Jahessye in your prayers.  Pray that the family with have strength.  Pray that the little girl is safe, wherever she is.  And pray that she will be found.

::

Here is a link to a flyer for Jahessye from The Polly Klaas Foundation.

The fact that the Cardinals, in particular, never gave up – never showed a hint of surrender even with 2 outs and 2 strikes in both the bottom of the 9th and 10th innings is remarkable.  The fact that the Rangers kept the pressure up on the strength of Josh Hamilton’s 2 run bomb in the top of the 10th is remarkable.

No matter the outcome tonight, it doesn’t change the fact that both teams played an incredible baseball game last night with all the drama and intrigue that should be seen in a World Series.

It was a powerful illustration of what our lives should be like in Christ.  In our sin, we face our own bottom of the 9th situations with 2 outs, down to our last strike.  If we are in Christ, we should never give up…we should never surrender…knowing that the transforming power of Christ will save us.  The battle for our soul is already won if we are in Christ.

And as we come “home”, our team will greet us with a greater joy than what was shared at home plate last night after Freese’s home run.

Then at breakfast one day immediately after our Thursday morning men’s group earlier this summer, one of the guys mentioned that he had started to run along the path adjacent to the beach a couple of mornings per week.  I immediately said I would join him twice a week – and started with him the next morning at 6 am.  We started to meet regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6 am, running and walking a couple of miles and doing some hill climbs as part of the trail.  As the sun started to rise earlier, we brought out our flashlights, then decided to shift to workouts at the gym – with some higher intensity weight training.

We started at 6 am…but quickly realized we didn’t have sufficient time when both of us needed to help get the kids to school.  We rolled back to meeting at 5:15 am, added in a Wednesday workout as well, taking a break on Thursdays so we could get in a Spiritual workout in our men’s group.

These new habits have led to changes in our lives as we have become physically stronger. Both of us are now lifting a little more weight, with a little more speed.  Our weight has begun to tick downward.  And our conversations have begun to change as we not only keep each other accountable in our physical workouts, but also in the spiritual.

We recognized that part of becoming spiritually healthier includes becoming physically healthier.

It’s a new habit that could not have happened without that accountability.  And we are now stronger for it.