Second Half.
It has been six months since my last post about the 'first half', and as I sit on Thanksgiving Day reflecting on the incredible blessings bestowed upon me, I continue to learn more about God's desire for our lives - and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. This month, I completed my second half, which was a goal accomplished in running a marathon this year. I never imagined being able to complete this, but with appropriate training as well as a stop in said training to allow my knee to heal, I was able to run my second in 2:34:11. Quite a pace for me - and the 'backroads' half marathon was such a different view than the Brooklyn Half. And the parallels to the changes in the lives for the KKFT are quite interesting. Every November, I read through the Proverbs with the number of the date - something I have been doing for several years now. Today: Proverbs 28:26 - "He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe."
The culture shift from BKLY to LO is not even explicable in words me thinks, but a big piece of that shift was from urban life in your face at all times to isolation in your car in suburbia. Multi-cultural days and nights to whiteyville. Small space utilized in practical ways to lavish unnecessarily sized homes that sit empty and idle. And doing all that while serving families in Flint, MI that are coming from broken neighborhoods. And the challenge for me personally was trying to take all that on in the middle of trying to guide our young ladies to success in this new environment, updating a home that needed a lot of updating, and working crazy hours trying to build capacity in a school that has been unsuccessful.
But this week, momentum is forward. 242 students singing happy birthday might have helped. A meeting at church talking about the vision of being a disciplined community trying to grow the kingdom in our lives and our interactions each day - following Jesus. And the term 'lean in' continues to resonate in my heart and my spirit. Which brings me back to Proverbs 28:26. The more I remove myself from this equation of success in work and in life, the more I get on my knees and beg God to guide my steps and my spirit, because there is no way I can ever do this, the more wisdom comes to me. The more I am kept safe in the work I am doing each moment of each day - in my hood, at my school, in my marriage, helping our girls grow, in my spiritual life. And it is good. I did not think I would be sitting in our house in LO on Thanksgiving day writing about my second half on backroads. I didn't think I would be principal of a school in Flint. I didn't think I would ever have the hottest most trustworthy encouraging loving wife encouraging me through her walk with Jesus, I didn't think watching my daughters become young adults and loving them even more was possible. But as I sustain myself in the word, as I strive to seek his will - in all things I do each day, the more exciting the second half of my life becomes, the more power I feel to overcome the darkness in this world, the more energized I am to get out of bed so damn early in the morning, the more I seek Him in each face I see in my walk through each day. And I praise Him for the glory of the church - HIS idea for what the church should be. Not a place, but a group of people on a dangerous mission with an unknown outcome jumping off the cliff into His reality of what life should be like. And landing safely on the ground in the midst of a dark war with His light shining out of each of us attracting others to what is true and right. And protecting us all the while in this battle of good and evil. And I praise Him for each moment each morsel each magnificent moment of His grace and love and help I so desperately need.
The culture shift from BKLY to LO is not even explicable in words me thinks, but a big piece of that shift was from urban life in your face at all times to isolation in your car in suburbia. Multi-cultural days and nights to whiteyville. Small space utilized in practical ways to lavish unnecessarily sized homes that sit empty and idle. And doing all that while serving families in Flint, MI that are coming from broken neighborhoods. And the challenge for me personally was trying to take all that on in the middle of trying to guide our young ladies to success in this new environment, updating a home that needed a lot of updating, and working crazy hours trying to build capacity in a school that has been unsuccessful.
But this week, momentum is forward. 242 students singing happy birthday might have helped. A meeting at church talking about the vision of being a disciplined community trying to grow the kingdom in our lives and our interactions each day - following Jesus. And the term 'lean in' continues to resonate in my heart and my spirit. Which brings me back to Proverbs 28:26. The more I remove myself from this equation of success in work and in life, the more I get on my knees and beg God to guide my steps and my spirit, because there is no way I can ever do this, the more wisdom comes to me. The more I am kept safe in the work I am doing each moment of each day - in my hood, at my school, in my marriage, helping our girls grow, in my spiritual life. And it is good. I did not think I would be sitting in our house in LO on Thanksgiving day writing about my second half on backroads. I didn't think I would be principal of a school in Flint. I didn't think I would ever have the hottest most trustworthy encouraging loving wife encouraging me through her walk with Jesus, I didn't think watching my daughters become young adults and loving them even more was possible. But as I sustain myself in the word, as I strive to seek his will - in all things I do each day, the more exciting the second half of my life becomes, the more power I feel to overcome the darkness in this world, the more energized I am to get out of bed so damn early in the morning, the more I seek Him in each face I see in my walk through each day. And I praise Him for the glory of the church - HIS idea for what the church should be. Not a place, but a group of people on a dangerous mission with an unknown outcome jumping off the cliff into His reality of what life should be like. And landing safely on the ground in the midst of a dark war with His light shining out of each of us attracting others to what is true and right. And protecting us all the while in this battle of good and evil. And I praise Him for each moment each morsel each magnificent moment of His grace and love and help I so desperately need.
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