Beyond Chik-fil-A

Beyond “Chik-fil-a” Politics
October 26th, 2012 by Philip Kenney
I have had glasses since I was two years old. I do not know life without them, and unfortunately most of the kids I grew up with didn’t know life with them. I was teased all the time. My teammates in basketball would snap the strap of my goggles against my head and point out my “big” eyes because of the thick lenses. But the most common and hurtful insult to me was being called “four eyes.” It made me feel alienated.
Alienation, to me, means more than being separated or cast off. The root word says it all: alien. I was foreign, a stranger, of a different species, inhuman. To alienate someone is a very dangerous thing. It does more than distinguish — it dehumanizes.
Sadly, this was one of the first things that came to my mind when asked to write about God and politics. I am not versed on the intersection of theology and politics. My interests are in philosophy and religion. My head is in the clouds, and I just hope my feet are somewhat on the ground. But I, like many reading this, have felt the repercussions of God and politics.

Go back into your recent memory to the mess that followed Dan Cathy’s comments at Chik-fil-a. Forget about who you think was right or wrong. Whatever side you were on, did you not feel alienated? Unwelcomed? That you are bigot? That you are an unnatural wierdo destroying the very fabric of America? It hurts to be blamed, pointed at and chastised. And that is before there are any public demonstrations about how wrong, intolerant and hopeless you are.
I have talked to people who were on both sides of that day. Both sides felt alienated. Yes, we need to stand up for what we believe in and communicate it, but it’s effectiveness is not based on how loud we are or how many people we have on our side.
Look at how Jesus acted when he was confronted by someone different than his lifestyle and beliefs. He had the uncanny ability to challenge someone yet affirm their humanity at the same time. When he was faced with prostitutes he did not condemn them or run from them. He sat with them and talked to them. Why this approach? The prostitute knew how others believed she was leading a horrible lifestyle, but Jesus was the only one to come and demonstrate that she is better than what she is offering yourself. He did not condone her actions, but he dignified her by lifting up her humanity.
And look at the Pharisees. Within this fold of respectable men were the Glenn Beck’s and Bill Maher’s of their day. When the Pharisees heated up politically, Jesus challenged them. But Jesus did not play a game with them. It was not a debate, a time of throwing around thoughts, accusations and insults. No, like an arrow to a target, Jesus moved from venomous debate to the real issue. And by doing so told the Pharisees, “You are better than this. The people need to hear the truth and we are the leaders they believe in! Let’s be honest.” And just like that Jesus refused to play their game and instead encouraged them to fulfill their role as leaders. In his challenge, Jesus offered an opportunity to step forward and move on to something better.
I am sad to say that some of God’s children (whether Republican or Democrat or somewhere in-between) are not following suit. There has been more of an attitude to rub the truth in others’ faces instead of speaking truth in order to build peace and move forward. Jesus made peace, even if there was no resolution (like with the Pharisees), because he was blameless in his attitude and direct in his challenge. Many Christians have done a great job at defending the truth, but have forgot the attitude and resolution-seeking you should have as you defend the truth:

• “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)
• “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)
• “So show your love for the alien, for you were once aliens in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)

I understand that there are times where common ground cannot be found and there will be disagreement at the root of an issue. And sometimes we will be attacked for what we believe. But let’s do not return persecution with persecution, insult for insult, judgment for judgment. No one leaves a verbal knife-fight uncut.
Whether you are Republican or Democrat, straight or gay, conservative or liberal, pro-choice or pro-life, these distinctions can become political weapons of alienation. As weapons, they deteriorate our communal life. Being called “four eyes” as a student not only defined me but it defined my accusers as divisive and unloving.
Jesus offers us a better example. When we find disagreement among each other, lets first dignify one another before any disagreements spew from our mouths.

*I know nothing about the blog this was written for. I only saw a friend comment on this article so I clicked on it and read this one. Here is the link if you'd like to find out more about the blog.

11 miles

11 miles sounds so daunting. 11 miles is like from my house to Oakland. 11 miles is a long way! I never would have imagined I could run 11 miles. I proved myself otherwise on Saturday. Not only did we run 11 miles but we ran them well.

Here are our splits thanks to allie's app:

Mile 1 - 10:16

Mile 2 - 10:05

Mile 3 - 9:33

Mile 4 - 9:46

Mile 5 - 9:47

Mile 6 - 9:48

Mile 7 - 10:18

Mile 8 - 10:13

Mile 9 - 10:06

Mile 10 - 9:51

Mile 11 - 9:42

Its crazy to think all we had to do was run 2 more miles to complete a half marathon. The fun part is... I now am certain we can. 2 miles is nothing after you've run 11!

We couldn't have asked for  a better day to run. It was hard to decide what to wear. On one hand you don't want to be cold, but then again your body warms up so quickly. I was pleased with my capris and long shirt. It was also my second run to power up with something mid run. I had a hammer gel when we did our 9 miles a couple of weeks ago and knew that was never going to happen again. The flavor wasn't bad (banana) the texture was like blending up cardboard and trying to swallow it. Saturday I opted for fruit snacks. Not only did the sugar help, but just the sweet fruity flavor was a huge pick me up.

After our run, my body was achy... mainly my ankles and feet, but overall I felt great. It was such a great feeling to have accomplished such a huge amount of miles when if asked just a  year ago about me running a half marathon I would have laughed in your face. Running is one thing... running a half marathon is just crazy... or is it?

Now here we are simply 32 days away!

Training

The sunday school hour is done a little differently for the students at FBCHW. Instead of a normal approach where there are teachers and students together for an hour with the teacher teaching, HW uses the master teacher approach. Everyone is all together for the first 30 minutes where we go over announcements, eat on food sundays, and then D or another leader will teach. The remaining 30 minutes is spent with the students broken down into small groups based on age and gender. They are assigned to an adult but that adult is not their teacher. Their purpose is to facilitate discussion based on the lesson or issues the students are going through. The sole purpose of these groups is discipleship. This leader contacts them throughout the week, hangs out with them, really gets to know them, and they all participate in activities together on their own.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking to our students. God has really been driving home a concept to me and I felt very strongly that very concept was what he was leading me to teach. I've already shared a good portion about what He has been doing in my life on this  blog so some of this will be repetitive, but still here's the message:

Training

 I love to run. 

Here’s the secret: though... more than I love running, I love to eat! I run so I can eat.

Allie and I decided back in the summer to train for the St. Jude half. I couldn’t do it without a few things.

Few helpful things: (showed them each item and explained)

-training  schedule

-shoes

-favorite outfit

-water bottle

-watch

-runner id

-pepper spray

-flashlight

-belt

Yes, I really run with these.

Just like the items above aid in my physical training, God has shown me there are things that aid in our spiritual training as well.

Like my physical training has essential and nonessential items so does my spiritual training.

Just as I train my body physically to reach my goal, I've learned that God's word shows us that more importantly I need to be training myself spiritually- towards godliness.

 1 Tim. 4:8

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come."

I've got the physical training down. But how well do I have the “training for godliness is much better?"

Look at a few things that will help us train ourselves spiritually

-why we need spiritual training

-how we spiritually train

-benefits of spiritual training

1. Why do we need spiritual training?

-sanctification- process of becoming like Jesus- How can we expect to be more like Jesus if we are doing nothing to achieve that goal? Must train

Look at it this way…

If I just ran once a week for a tiny bit of time would I be prepared to run 13 miles in Dec?

Same with God- come to church once, twice a week- can we really expect to know God and be more like him based on that small amount of time we've listened to someone else talk about Him?

You need to understand though that when I began running/training…

-wasn’t easy at first- hard work-make sacrifices- not natural

-I went from running to get into shape, to running to train for a 5k, to training to beat my last 5k time, now training for half marathon

Here's the deal though…

-as my love for running grew so did my desire to do whatever it took to train.

-running after work and then on Saturdays, to getting up early and running before work.

I was willing to sacrifice sleep because I was doing what I love. It is worth it to me to do whatever it takes to work hard towards my goal.

A few months ago this reality smacked me upside the head.

- willing to wake up and run at 5:00 to squeeze in 4-5 miles before work- never would have waking up even 5 minutes earlier to have my quiet time

-not a super early morning person

-had qt but squeezed in it other times a day

Running was my priority therefore I made time for it.

-sadly- Hear excuses all the time…

-no time for a qt- too busy

-homework instead of church- did you have time for friends? facebook?

-all that tells me is, its not important enough to you to make it a priority

I know you've got it in you because you sacrifice things (sleep) all the time for…

-hunting

-shopping

-sports

-friends

-travel

 Because those things are important to you but…. getting up on Sunday or getting up a little earlier to do you qt... you're too tired? You're willing to sacrifice for other things but why not for whats really important?

Enough is enough.

He is so much more important than those things. He is worth the sacrifices you must make to know Him more and to become more like him.

(maybe you need to lose sleep, make new friends, listen to new music, movies)

We need to discipline ourselves spiritually like we discipline ourselves in other areas.

 Remember: You’ll make sacrifices for the things you love.

-If you claim to love Christ then you’ll make time for Him and not just squeeze him in when its convenient.

So now we know… Why we train

- to know Jesus and to be more like him

-will require sacrifices

2. How Do We Train?

-heard this stuff a million times- God laid it on my heart to share anyway

*6 things to aid in your training spiritually towards godliness.

1. read your bible- can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be

-many different methods

-start in John- 1 chapter a day

-matthew-rev. see how it unfolds

-psalm and proverb (31) everyday

-google and print off reading schedules

-quality/not quantity- read to learn- want to be able to remember all day- if someone were to ask what you read be able to tell them

-keep a notebook/pen handy - write down things that speak to you or you want to share, questions you have

2 things baffle me:

-1. How can we claim to want to know Christ when we won’t read His word?!

-If we want to know Jesus we should read the book he wrote!

-alive, affective, applies to you today

-2. How many come to church without your bible- why are you here?

-if you need a bible we have one for you

2. memorize scripture

-bible pledge- hide God’s word in my heart that I might not sin against you- protects us from sin

-google scripture memory plans

3. pray- talk to God like you’re talking to a friend- he's a personal God

            -tell him hopes, fears, what makes you happy, sad

            -he knows but this is you opportunity to draw close to him

-not just once a day- throughout the day

-1 Thess. 5:17 “pray without ceasing”… continually

4. accountability- find someone who is striving for the same things you are- same gender

            -ask the tough questions- qt? sin? Whats God teaching you?

            -take a good look at your friends- good wake-up call

- core friends need to be like minded believers

-none- pray God would give you

 5. be involved in church- not a building

-yes we meet here- Sundays, Wednesday and for fun events- much more though

-body of Christ

            -serve- hands and feet of Jesus –inside building and out- not just youth

            -fall festival this afternoon- 2:00- come help

6. share Jesus- if you really know Him you can’t help but talk about him

            -what he did for you, currently doing (before, during, after)

-dating/in love- want to brag

-God is bigger and better than any significant other

Those were 6 ways to aid in your training towards godliness

Just like I had some essential/non essential items- physical training, we also have some in our spiritual training:

-devos- great but you need God’s word

-bible study groups are great but you need the body of Christ more than once a week

-fun activities are great, but you need to serve too- ministry opportunities

 We’ve talked about why we train, how we train, lastly…

3. Benefits of training

-training schedule- day after day- helps me stay committed, stay focused- result? prepared

Consequence if I don't? I'll struggle 

John 10:10- he comes to steal, kill, and destroy- must be on guard

If we’ve been training spiritually though we are prepared for whatever he throws our way.

 1 Tim. 4:8 again

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come."

These benefits are promised to us!

-deeper love for God’s word

-joy

-obedience (easier to)

-contentment

-strong doctrinal foundation

-peace

-expanding faith

-greater love for others

Fruit/Evidence that your training is paying off. Good self check.

Not only- prepared in this life, but for our life to come

-spent our time on earth wisely- knowing Christ and making him known

-means heaven will only be sweeter

 Not excited about heaven? How well do you know Jesus?

=Hard to be excited about  seeing someone you don’t know.

Remember training physically is good and necessary, but 1 timothy 4:8… training for godliness is much better.

Remember:

-why we train- to know Jesus, more like him, make him known

-how we train- plan (read, pray, memorize, accountability, be involved, share)

-benefits of training- prepared to stand firm against schemes, promised to us- knowing Jesus, excitement for heaven- worth it

Picture with me the finishline- Dec. 1- all hard work will be worth it

-worked my tail off

-made sacrifices

-sore muscles

-strengthened my body in ways I didn’t know I could

-won’t regret the training no matter how hard/many sacrifices

Same thing with training spiritually- when we see Jesus all that we’ve done to train ourselves spiritually will be worth it

-won’t regret the time, effort put forth in your

 training

Remember training physically is good and necessary, but 1 timothy 4:8… training for godliness is much better.

I made sure the students knew I was teaching this stuff to myself  as well. I have been blown away at how God has used my runs and my other workouts to show me how many different applications can be made comparing my physical training to my spiritual one. This has def. been a great lesson that God has used to whip me into shape. (no pun intended)

 

Fat Friday

I promise this is not strictly a food blog... unfortunately my last few posts have been from one Fat Friday to the next. This is a scrapbook type thing for us and if I'm being honest, us Jerkins love food... again the reason I run. :) So when I find recipes that are worth sharing I find that I would be doing the world a disservice not to share a recipe that's so good its worth repeating.

It's hard to top that peanut butter sheet cake last week... I now affectionately call it Peanut Butter Fudge Cake. I did however find a good fall/winter apple dessert

Caramel Apple Cake

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)
2 1/2 cups diced apples, canned or fresh

 

Caramel Topping:

1 1/2 stick of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1/8 cup of milk

Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees.  

Cream together sugar, eggs, and oil.  

Add flour; mix together until well blended.  

Add vanilla, nuts, and diced apples. 

Spread into a lightly greased and floured 13 x 9-inch baking dish

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. 

When cake is done, punch holes in it with a knife and pour topping over.

 

Heat all topping ingredients together over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Let boil for about 2 minutes.  Pour over warm cake.

Serves 15-20

 

 

 

 

Fat Friday

And I'm not kidding... we're talking so good this recipe calls for 4 sticks of butter.

I've mentioned on here before that my favorite cake is Pioneer Woman's Choc Sheet Cake. Well, when I saw that my favorite cake had a peanut butter version I thought it was most def. worth a try.

Last night we had a night at home. D was doing some sermon prep which means I had nothing to do but pretend I was Betty Crocker. I really love baking. I would love it more if I had a clean up fairy to come behind me, but still... baking is fun for me. I especially love to share my goodies with others. I really find great joy in adding calories to other people.

And thanks to pinterest all I want to do is cook, eat, and run. And after eating this, I better be doing a lot of running... but I assure you its worth every bead of sweat.

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake




Ingredients:  

Cake:
2 cups Sugar 
1 teaspoon Baking Soda 
2 cups Flour  
1 teaspoon Salt  
2 sticks Butter  
1 cup Water  
1 cup Peanut Butter  
½ cups Milk  
1 teaspoon Vanilla  
2 whole Eggs  

 Icing: (I doubled but you don't have to)
1 stick Butter  
½ cups Peanut Butter  
6 teaspoons Milk  
1 pound Powdered Sugar 

Directions:

Cake:
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, baking soda, flour and salt. Set aside.
Combine butter, water and peanut butter in saucepan and bring to boil. Pour over flour mixture.
Add milk, vanilla and eggs. Mix.
Pour in large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Bake at 400F degrees for 20 minutes.

Icing:
Bring butter, peanut butter and milk to boil in saucepan. Add one pound of powdered sugar. Pour warmed frosting over cooled cake. (I doubled mine, but then again the icing is my favorite part.)

You will def. need a big glass of milk or coffee with this. It's seriously like peanut butter fudge on peanut butter cake.

 And all God' people said... amen.

This may have actually topped the choc sheet cake for me. My mouth is watering just typing this!
 

Color Run 2012

This is called the Happiest 5k for a reason... it really is a ton of fun. I didn't really know what to expect... but it exceeded my expectations.

My Saturday morning began at 5:00a.m. Allie and I had decided we'd run 7 miles before the color run to allow us to get in our 10 miles for that day. I met up with allie, amanda, and rebecca to run at allie's house this time. It was so nice to run a different route! Normally we're trying to squeeze in mileage before work so we run routes around my house so I can run in quickly and shower without having to drive home. Thankfully Saturdays allow for new territories.

I'll be honest... the first 3.5 miles were tough. I can't figure out why though. I hadn't eaten tons of junk the day before, I had plenty of rest, good shoes... yet my legs were very tired. I pushed through and the second 3.5 was much better... and it was mostly uphill! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle the color run too... until I got there and I quickly changed my mind.

We concluded our 7 miles at allie's house where emily and sarah met us. We all rode with allie down to the race and could quickly feel the excitement before we even parked the car. Driving up we saw people in weird costumes, tutus, crazy hair, crazy socks... it was a circus.

As we walked up to the starting line, we knew this was no ordinary 5k. We're talking thousands of people. Thankfully we were able to squeeze into the 3 rd waive of runners... and I say runners lightly... in each group you had runners, walkers, babies in strollers... this was no competitive race. So we knew this was going to be laid back and we'd just roll with the punches. Our bodies were tired but not terribly so. I assumed we'd still run our normal pace... maybe just a little bit slower. With the amount of people that we were around, our run became enjoyably slow. Slow enough to enjoy everything that was around us. Normally, we are so focused on finishing to beat our last time that I'm not looking around enjoying the scenery.

This race was a blast.There were color stations that you ran through where people were throwing handfuls of colored powder on you and some of the participants were even rolling around on the ground to get more color... yea, that was weird. We learned quickly though no matter how fun it is and how much you want to laugh at the craziness around you, it is crucial to keep your mouth closed... or else you'd get a mouthful of powder or it'd be stuck to your lips and teeth. We ran through, yellow, pink, orange and blue stations. Then we crossed the finish line. As you finished, you had the chance to participate in the after party. This included music, crazy dancing, and then a count down. This count down was a time for you to use the bag of powder you were given to throw in the air. We left ours in the car b/c we didn't want to carry them, but there was no need for them anyway. Others made us colorful with and without our permission. :)

When we left, we were filthy! That did not stop us from going to Gibson's for donuts though. Thankfully we were not the only color runners in there.

The owner was curious about our look... and about Laura.

 

So glad to have been able to participate in the happiest 5k on the planet!

New Developments

I found this picture in my desk drawer at school and was reminded why I love running.

Friday morning we hit a new milestone together. 9 miles. We were a little excited.

Friday night was D's 10 year high school reunion. Yes, we're feeling old. It was fun getting to meet some of his old school friends and hear their stories. Even though we were together back in high school, there were still  some I had not met. We were surprised at how few people showed up for it. We enjoyed a quick dinner and a few minutes of the football game before we got blown away by a storm and had to say quick goodbyes.

I went Saturday and got my new shoes. Brooks Adrenaline.

Sunday I found my absolute favorite coffee creamer. It's a holiday creamer and I was surprised it was out so soon.

Last week I had auburn added to my hair. I have been saying for years I wanted to do something different in the fall and I always chicken out. Well, this year I did it. I'm actually going to go back and have more added. These are weird pictures but you can tell from these pictures whats been done.

Disney World

2 weeks ago, I boarded a plane with my sister in law, Bethany, and we headed south to Orlando. We went to meet up with my in-laws and Julie and her kids. I've mentioned before that when my father in law has business meetings in fun places, we sometimes tag along and do fun things with my mother in law. I am so very grateful for these opportunities to get away, do fun things, and make lots of sweet memories.


This time was no different. Lily's birthday just happened to fall during this trip so she convinced Papa to take us all to disney world for her birthday. :)

My fall break was thatThursday and Friday so it worked out great that I was able to go and not have to miss any work.

We stayed at Disney's French Quarter so  I had the option to eat this delicious beignet for dessert every night.

Our schedule ended up working out great and the kids did awesome. UP and out by 8:30-ish every day and back, dinner eaten and the kids in bed by 8:30 every night. Considering we were exhausted, I know they really must have been.

Julie did a great job of planning our meals. We had one big meal a day... at a park... either a late breakfast or lunch with the characters and then dinner we had at our resort each night.

Here was our park schedule:
Thursday: Magic Kingdom
Friday: Hollywood Studios
Saturday: Magic Kingdom
Sunday: Animal Kingdom

My love for roller coasters was def. reignited  on this trip. Even though there are only a couple of good adult rides at each place, we still thoroughly enjoyed them!

I will say I had a great time and will def. go back when we have kids, but I'm not sure what the draw is if you go with only adults or go for your honeymoon. It is clearly designed for kids. We had a great time because of the excitement from the little ones, but there's no way I'd go back just me and D. I do look forward to taking our kids there one day though.

 First day excitement

 First glimpse of the castle and it did not disappoint. And yes, there were tons of people there.

 They were putting up christmas lights on the castle. Notice the lovely crane.

Birthday Girl

Cake time

 

Lunch with Tigger, Pooh, and Piglet

 This is basically what Hallie did every time a character would get close. And Will just got  the look of sheer horror on his face and then cried.

We enjoyed some pool time.

Found a new coffee lover

Even breakfast was fun

The big girls had fun too.

I wish you could see our faces. These pictures were hilarious. This also documents Maggie's first time to ride alone.  And she loved it.

I had a great place to run while we were down there.

 

 

We had such a great time! Thank you Papa and Grammy!

Early Mornings

I use to think waking up at 8:00 a.m. was early. Then when I started my big girl, full time job 6 years ago, I thought 6:45 was early. Then when I started running I thought 5:45a.m. was early.

I had no idea.

I have always loved sleep. Well, maybe not in kindergarten because I just remember getting in trouble for talking rather than sleeping... but the rest of my life- sleep and I have been best buds. As I teenager, I could easily sleep until noon. And to this day, I treasure naps.

So when this idea of getting up early to do my quiet time was thrown my way in high school... I laughed. There is no way I could ever wake up early and do that. I couldn't concentrate to even make it worth my time. So for many years I used that excuse and did my qt at night... when I wasn't too tired or another time during the day when I could fit it in. When I became a teacher, I gained free time after lunch due to their nap time, so after I finished up all my planning and preparing, I would do it then. Yet, again making excuses and putting it on the back burner. And still the thought of waking up early to have my qt wasn't even an option.

Most of my life, I have known how important a quiet time with the Lord is to my spiritual growth, but what was I doing to see it through? Trying to squeeze it in when I could? Hoping to not be too tired or too busy? For something that I knew to be so crucial to my walk with the Lord, why was I putting it on the back burner?

Then I became a runner. At first it was a run 2x a week, then 3x. I went from running to get into shape, to running to train for a 5k, to running because it was fun. Here I am now running because I love it. Now we're running 5 days a week and training for a half marathon! Here's the deal though, as my love for running grew so did my desire to do whatever it took to train. I went from running after work and then some on Saturdays to getting up early and running before work. I was willing to sacrifice sleep because I was doing what I love. It was worth it to me to get up before the sun to work hard towards my goal.

About a month ago this reality smacked me upside the head. I was willing to wake up and run at 5:45 to squeeze in 4-5 miles before work when I never would have even considered waking up even 5 minutes earlier than was necessary to have my quiet time with the Lord. How messed up is this?!

I claim to love Christ. I preach to students and peers how important our qt is and how crucial it is to make time for it yet I was not willing to put forth the effort to spend time with the only One worthy of my time and effort.  Running was my priority in the mornings. It was what I was willing to sacrifice things for.

And it had become my God.

Our purpose is to know God and make Him known. Anything we value more than the one true God, can't live without, where we spend more of our time, energy, and money... that thing has replaced the one, true God in our life and ultimately sits on the throne.

So did I quit running? No. I love to run and I truly believe God has given me this passion to use for His glory, but God did show me that I could easily make some simple changes. If I'm going to meet Allie and run at 6:00a.m. Then my alarm goes off at 4:50a.m. so I can spend time with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe first and foremost. I love running, but I love Him more. He is worth the early wake up. He is worth the lack of sleep. The more time I spend with him, the more I love Him. The more my love for Him grows so does my desire to do whatever it takes to draw closer to him. I've gone from trying to squeeze him in when its convenient to starting my day in His word being challenged and encouraged first thing... and what a difference it has made in my life! I am now willing to sacrifice sleep because I am doing what I really love.

I don't say any of this to pat myself on the back because its still hard! I still love sleep. Ask D, I'm ready for bed by 8:00p.m. every night! I say this to encourage you that He is worth it. Coming from someone who thought they never could get up early... trust me, you can and its worth it.

Enough excuses because you will make time for whats really important to you.