In Pursuit of Community

Or "The Forming of Habits"

Despite what this photo communicates to you. I am NOT a runner. I am a not-so-regular walk/jogger. Therefore I took great pride when I successfully walk/jogged two 5Ks my junior year of college.

(and yes I beat my personal best by 7 min the second time around... but I'm beginning to think that was just luck).

However, ever since those races I've had a small dream in the back of my mind:

to run a WHOLE 5K straight through.

But what would actually help me accomplish this goal - I didn't know - so I just tucked it away in the

"Never Gonna Happen"

box in my mind.

But then it hit my last Sunday -

COMMUNITY.

I went on a "run" with two of my friends and pushed myself to almost breaking point (at least my body thought I was breaking the next day). On that 4 mile trek I told my friend Grace my secret 5K desire. She told me that if I found a 5K she'd train with me for it - not being a runner herself we'd be starting from the same point.

And so the journey began:
We

1) Found a training schedule - Couch 2 5K provides a wonderful app that tells us to switch from warm up to running to walking to cool down

2) Found a race - actually we just happened to find TWO! the Thriller in Schiller and the Schiller Chiller

3) Found community - I think I got frustrated with running in college because I always did it on my own, and I didn't know how to pace, encourage or correctly challenge myself. 

Tuesday Grace and I ran our first work out for the training. It was wonderful! I got back and wasn't out of breath, didn't have stitches in my side and felt accomplished. For the first time I felt like I was on the right path to accomplishing the goal.

This is only one of several habits that I've begun to form for life back in Chicago, and I realized this morning - I'm doing most of these activities (hopefully soon to be habits) because I'm pursuing community.

I enjoyed running on Sunday and Tuesday because of the COMMUNITY

I'm fasting and praying on Wednesdays to support my church  COMMUNITY

I'm going to a local coffee shop every morning during the week because it puts me out in the COMMUNITY of Wheaton and because it gives me solid 45 minutes of community with my Redeemer in his word.

I think I've found my secret to forming a habit -
do so in pursuit of a community.

What habits are you forming?

and Why are you forming those habits?

Expect the Unexpected

Written by Louise Cheek on a women's encouragement thread

Last month I went to a small group women's retreat.  Just an hour away in Norman, OK, it was a time to get away from the busyness of life and have time to think and pray.  On Saturday afternoon we were given about 3 hours of alone time.  It was nice and sunny but not too hot, so I sat outside (with my hat on of course, to shade my face).  I sat for quite awhile, asking the LORD what He wanted me to read, think about, pray about, etc.  I had no "bolt of lightning" answer.  But as I took the time to just sit in His presence, I thought that I would read some scripture in the same way that I work with my therapy students in reading comprehension.  Together we read a sentence, a paragraph, few paragraphs, or a page, depending on their stage of comprehension.  Actually, I will model this technique for them with the first paragraph, then they will do the second paragraph, and so on.  These are the steps we do:  

1) RESTATE the main idea of paragraph in one sentence 

2) choose a vocabulary word to DEFINE

3) ask the other person a QUESTION about the paragraph 

4) PREDICT what will happen next.

I had recently started reading in Acts, so I just picked up where I had left off at chapter 3. The first paragraph was verses 3-5.  Here are my thoughts as I wrote them down that day:

1) RESTATE

When the man crippled from birth requested monetary aid from Peter and John as they approached the entrance to the temple, Peter sought the man's full attention by saying, "Look at us!" 

2) DEFINE

ATTENTION: current thinking, presence of mind, focus of thoughts 

3) QUESTION

Why did Peter seek attention from the man, even as the man was seeking Peter's and John's attention?  (Perhaps the man was mindlessly calling out to each who passed by without paying attention.  Maybe Peter was preparing the man to receive something unexpected, something more than money.)

4) PREDICT

 the unexpected is about to happen, divine intervention!! This was unexpected to the crippled man, but it was not so for Peter.  Peter was prepared, he expected to be used by God that day and was ready for it when the opportunity came along.  Right when the man caught Peter's attention, Peter turned around and caught the man's attention.  Am I expecting God to interact with me and through me today so that I am ready to interact with what circumstances He brings my way?

I was actually amazed at how that familiar passage came alive to me in a different way to such a degree that I continue to think about this passage and am slowly continuing to go through Acts with this comprehension method.  God blessed me with His Word and I pray He blesses you in a special way today.

Louise Cheek is the husband of Earl Cheek, raised three wonderful children who are now all grown up (including myself). She spends her weeks continuing to maintain the Earl Cheek household and working from home as an educational therapist. Above all she is a beautiful woman of God and amazing role model to all who know her. 

Go.

This week a friend sent me this card in the mail:

This mornings sermon was focused on the disciples example of what a missional community looks like. There were a lot of things said - the message that I got though was...

GO!

Defined as follows -

go

¹    [goh]  Show IPA verb, went, gone, go·ing, noun,plural goes, interjection, adjective

verb (used without object)

1.

to move or proceed, especially to or from something: They'regoing by bus.

2.

to leave a place; depart: People were coming and going all thetime.

3.

to keep or be in motion; function or perform as required:Can't you go any faster in your work?

4.

to become as specified: to go mad.

5.

to continue in a certain state or condition; be habitually: togo barefoot.

My favorite word is the last one there
(no, not barefoot... although those of you who know me know I like that also.)
be habitually.
The continuation of something.

So this week I'm GOING to start a new habit.
Starting is the difficult place to sit.

 It means you have to work through all the good excuses NOT to make something a habit. 

The things that allow you to stay the same.
The things that allow you to be safe, and lazy, and apathetic.

But NO!
The disciples were going!
We, as disciples should be going.
So I will.

Tomorrow I'm going to set aside time for prayer and scripture reading. 

In a public place. 

Where I can get to know people, and get to be known. 

Where I'm visible and missional.

Where are you going this week?

Being Missional

This was the first weekend I haven't traveled away from home (being Chi-town) in over a month.
And it was the first weekend back at Jericho Road in over 3 months...

And it felt

GREAT!

While I've been gone they've been talking about Missoinal Communities.
So today Jeff talked through Luke 9:1-3

Missionares...

1) Go with the power of Jesus Christ

2) We are sent by God RIGHT AWAY

3) It is both actions and words

4) Rely on God to provide

5) You represent Jesus

All important things to remember as I try to live for God in ALL aspects of my life.

Then we talked through how/why/difficulties of living this Mission Life (to use an LT term that I talked about with students week in and week out this summer.)

We got a nifty handout with 10 Simple Ways To Be Missional by Tim Chester

1) Eat with other people

2) Work in public places

3) Be a regular

4) Join in with what's going on

5) Leave the house in the evenings

6) Serve your neighbors

7) Share your passion

8) Hang out with your work colleagues

9) Walk

10) Prayer Walk

So what's the first step you ask?
Just that... a step. Something specific and attainable.
Here's how I'm going to try and be missional

1) Continue Crock Pot Wednesday's this year at LT (accomplishes #1,7 & 8)
2) Walk after work 3 nights a week (#5,9,10)
3) Go to La Spiaza - the coffee shop my Community Group chose to be our "hub" or hangout (#1,2,3,4,5,7)
4) Step out of my comfort zone - approach a stranger who I feel led to talk to.
         I did this last Saturday at La Spiaza. There was a musician who was setting up for his set. There weren't a ton of people in the coffee shop and he seemed a little nervous. So I just asked if he needed help moving tables. His name is Matt and he writes his own worship songs, works with a church down near the Loop and lives a little further north. 

So what are you going to do this week to show God's love?

Because you might be the only person who shows it to someone.

Ignore it or Return It

To jump back from my terrible blog update months - Here's a story of how God spoke to me from one of the most mundane un-biblical things in my life right now...

BUYING A COMPUTER.

The first big purchase I ever made with my own money was a laptop the summer before I left for college.

That was over 5 years ago. And I've still got that same laptop. So, she's kind of dinosaur like when it comes to the current shiny and fast models others have now a days.

Which means that it's finally time to look at some new options. 

After several weeks of research and conversations with computer people savvier than myself -  I finally decided on a Samsung Series 5 Notebook. Happily ordered it from Amazon and waited patiently for it to be mailed to the office.

On Wednesday the large box arrived at the office and I excitedly opened it up and slowly starting transforming it from a stock computer to MY computer.

A mere 8 hours later my "new computer" joy popped.

The mouse buttons had stopped working. 

Kind of a vital piece for a working laptop, CORRECT?

I'll spare you the gritty details about online chat help, long phone calls one too many people with difficult to understand accents and not enough answers and terrible wait music, but I discovered over the course of Thursday, that this was a recurring problem with the laptop and although "fixable", still a problem. By Thursday evening I had got the mouse working again and played around on the computer all day enjoying all its other features
fast processing speed, Windows 7, great speakers, keypad that is comfortable to type on

but with the threat of the mouse possibly not working again, I felt un-easy about my computer purchase.

So I prepared my shiny new friend to return to Amazon with the promise of a refund. 

Last night as I wiped any memory of my stuff off the laptop in preparation for its return journey I thought...
"I was so excited!
And everything else worked really well...
And it's working now...
Is this really worth giving up and going through this mess?"

YES!!!
my mind screamed.
It's the mouse... it is a big deal!
Get it out of here!

And then God poked me -
"sort of like that one sin you've been dealing with.
Everything else looks great, and it can seem like not a big deal.
But to me, sin is sin.
And I call you to love me wholeheartedly.
And I want you to be holy because I am holy.
So get it gone!
Return it now... don't keep it a second longer!"

And He can do that you know. He's the Creator and Savior of the ENTIRE world. He can get rid of my sin just as quickly as I got rid of that laptop.

The only difference. It cost me $12.85 to ship the laptop back (I stupidly threw away the box)
Christ asks me for my whole life.
It sounds like a bigger sacrifice.
But I'm actually finding it to be true freedom.

I promise I'll be updating more regularly this fall.
Things to look forward to:
Summer Rewind: I'll post my weekly updates that got sent to supporters and probably a couple great pictures and stories from my summer service in Dayton, OH.
What My Summer With LeaderTreks Taught Me: A mini series with guest writers Adam & Alissa (the two best interns a gal could ask for) and myself sharing a little bit of what God taught us from our summer in Dayton together
Grateful Journal: This year God has taught me a lot about living a grateful attitude, and I'll begin to share some of the things I've been thankful for throughout the month
Sunday Reflections: Short posts about what God is sharing with me and changing me through the amazing community at Jericho Road Church

So check back soon!