Hanging of the Greens 2020

 

Pushing Through

On Sunday mornings, we have been going through the book of James in a series called “Little Brother Wisdom”, and it is one of my favorite books of the Bible. James has a way of calling believers back to discipleship and obedience to Christ, and every time I read it I am challenged and convicted. 

The series began with some words from James 1 where he says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” These words go right along with many other times where Scripture teaches us to have faith in the midst of difficult circumstances and persecution. In 1 Peter we read, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith---of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire---may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” And even Jesus recognizes the trouble His people will go through. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16)

In recent years I have realized just how easy my life is. Though I may often deal with stresses from work, family, and finances, the reality is that I have it pretty easy. I never have to worry where I will get my next meal; my fridge and pantry are stocked. I never have to travel to find clean water to drink; every tap around has clean water. 

So in recent years, I have put myself in situations to force me to suffer a little in order to learn how to push through. That’s where running ultramarathons started for me. Set a goal to run so far that I know I will want to quit multiple times. This would force me to work through those feelings in order to keep moving forward. A few days ago on my 40th birthday, I ran 40 miles and it was rough. It turned out to be a hot, humid day and I haven’t been training as much this summer. The truth is, if I hadn’t shared it all over social media, I would have probably just quit and enjoyed my day in the air conditioning. 

I say all that because this has been a tough year for all of us. The COVID19 pandemic has caused many trials and difficulties in our lives. Even beyond the vast loss of life to the virus, many have lost jobs, schools have been affected, church has had to shift our plans, and even sports have been cancelled or changed. And it’s hard on us. But it is an opportunity. Like James tells us, we have an opportunity to grow and mature in the midst of this crazy year. 

So how do we keep moving forward when everything seems so bad? A couple thoughts:

• Grieve. It’s okay to mourn the losses of this year. Whether we’re grieving over the loss of a loved one to this virus, or the loss of jobs, school, sports, etc; we need to take time to grieve. 

• Pray. God is still with us. In fact, in our most difficult moments, He usually seems the closest. Reach out to Him with your anxieties, your angers, your fears. He will be faithful.

• Offer Grace. It is understandable to be angry over all of this. But make sure you are directing your frustration at the right things. This virus is something none of us has seen in our lifetimes. The entire world has been affected by this and it’s okay to be angry at it. But don’t direct your anger at others who are doing their best to work through it and make decisions. Give grace to leaders who are making impossible decisions on a nearly daily basis. 

• Help. Search for ways to be a help to others. If you aren’t financially affected, maybe you can help by buying some food for a local food pantry or buy some supplies for your schools. If you have more time on your hands, look for ways to serve your neighbors to make their lives better through all of this.

This has been a hard year. But we have an opportunity to learn and grow as followers of Jesus as we continue through each day. Don’t miss this chance.

Blessings,

Pastor Regan

DNF - Rails to Trails 100 Miler

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I don't like these verses much. I am not a fan of weakness and especially have a hard time with the idea of celebrating my weaknesses. This is probably why I could easily see myself jumping in with the people of the Tower of Babel story; ready to show off our great accomplishments. But like God's response to Babel, His desire is exactly what Paul tells us; to make His power shown in our weaknesses. Whether we want to admit them or not, our weaknesses are an important part of who we are.

This brings me to my latest race. In my over-confidence I made the decision to sign up for a recent 100 miler after racing the KC Marathon the week before. And to make it even harder, I ran it still planning to be at church the next morning. Bad decision. 

And I learned about weakness and failure. Even as I began the race, I calculated how long it would take to finish. I knew I could run this race because last year I finished in under 23 hours and in 6th place, but could I get done in time to get some sleep before church? And how soon would I feel the tired legs from a hard marathon the week before?

In every ultramarathon I feel the miles earlier than I want to. Usually somewhere in the 20's of miles I begin to feel tired and start worrying that I won't make it all the way. What I've learned is that the exhaustion doesn't continue at the same rate after that initial feeling. So my legs often don't feel that much worse after 40 miles than they do after 20. But this time was different. Right about the 8 mile mark, I began to feel that familiar tired feeling. But it wasn't until around the 41 mile mark that I started to feel like this may not work. I was noticing during the 10 mile stretch to the turnaround station that I was slowing down more and more. My legs were tired, I was already sick of the singular trail surrounded by trees, and the hours were going too fast. At this rate I was not only going to miss my goal of 20 hours, but I may not even be able to reach my last year's mark; which means I'm not getting much sleep at all before church. 

I hate to fail. I had never had a DNF (Did Not Finish) before, and I was proud of that fact. Even in my first 100 miler when I pulled my quad muscle 40 miles in, I had still finished the race. Not this time. At the 51 aid station, though my crew tried to talk me out of it, I was done.

What do I learn from this failure? 

First, people are generous in failure. We often think we'll be ridiculed and mocked when we fail, but people are incredibly gracious when we're down. I was almost frustrated by the kind words I heard from so many after this DNF because I didn't want to belittle the failure I'd chosen. But so many people were encouraging, I couldn't help but feel better. 

Second, I was forced to embrace this important fact, "...my power is made perfect in weakness.” My weakness is real and necessary. I am prone to the pride that I don't deserve, and my failure is a reminder that I am made for God's strength, not my own. In that story of the Tower of Babel God doesn't scatter the people because He's threatened by their accomplishments. It's because they've forgotten their purpose. We are created to need our God and to live in relationship with Him. As His created beings leaned more on their own abilities, they forgot their weakness; and forgot their God.

So fail boldly. It's frustrating. It's disappointing. And it's necessary. 


See you at the next starting line... and maybe at the finish line too.




Photo credit: Mile 90 Photography.

What do we learn from Carson King?

You may have seen the story. It's heartwarming, as a college kid asks for beer money on College Gameday and then donates the huge amounts of money coming in to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. He is then lauded as an Iowa Hero, raising over $1 million dollars and receiving the support of Anheuser-Busch too. Then it all went off the rails.

This week the Des Moines Register began working on a story about King and found some troubling old statements in his social media. When he was 16 years old, King repeated some racist jokes that he shared with the world. So now the Iowa Hero is seen as a racist and Anheuser-Busch cut ties immediately. You can read all about it here.

What can we learn from this madness? There are definitely some important lessons for us from this story.

Let's address the Register's reporting and Anheuser-Busch's reaction first.

It seems that we now live in a culture that will do it's best to ruin reputations at all cost. We no longer give people a pass for their past when growth has occurred since. If you have ever made an inappropriate statement or supported a group that the overall culture doesn't agree with, you're sunk. Carson King was 16 when he made racist statement - and to be clear, they were unacceptable statements - but he was a kid. I am so thankful that social media didn't exist when I was too young to think through the consequences of my posts. The "cancel culture" of ruining people in the public eye based on old statements is dangerous. We need to live in a world that believes in forgiveness, growth, and personal change. If everything you ever said wrong can negate anything good you could ever do, we are doing something wrong.

We also need to be clear about the change that has happened in the world. I grew up in a culture where boys called other boys "gay" or "girls" as an insult, and called people "retarded". These were never good statements, and we certainly know now - as we should have known then - how hurtful those words are; but the positive cultural shift towards acceptance needs room to recognize that we have not always understood these things. I'm grateful that my boys are growing up in a world where we don't use those words and we don't see them as insults, but we can't convict someone by today's standards when their words came from a different day. (To be clear, I'm not advocating for acceptance of any derogatory words or statements. But we must at least take the cultural context of their time into account. This is not actually the issue with Carson King's previous comments; we knew better than to make those statements 12 years ago.)

But the backlash against the Des Moines Register is equally ridiculous. By all accounts - the editor of the paper as well as King himself - the Register did not actually draw attention to King's previous tweets; he did. When they contacted him regarding them, Carson King appropriately expressed his own regret and wanted to face his past statement head on with a press conference. While the DMR did find the statements, it was King who aired them publicly first. It is completely understandable that a reporter would do their background work before releasing a complimentary story about an individual. And Carson King should also be commended for being honest, open, and regretful over his previous statements. He didn't blame anyone or try to rationalize based on his age at the time; he took responsibility. He said, "I cannot go back and change what I posted when I was a 16-year-old," ..."I can apologize and work to improve every day and make a meaningful difference in people's lives."

Let's talk about what we really need to learn from this... Our words, actions, and statements matter. And with social media, they live forever. People young and old need to learn how to filter the things you say on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We're learning over and over that you will be judged by the things that you share, no matter how good of a person you may be. You have to follow some simple rules for social media.

• Is it too personal? Let me say this plainly. FACEBOOK IS NOT YOUR DIARY. Your deepest darkest thoughts and secrets shouldn't be shared with your 5000 friends. (And depending on your privacy settings, anyone else that finds you.) Don't make the mistake of sharing too much. Instead, write in a diary or journal; it's good for you to put your thoughts down. Even better, make it a prayer journal.

• Is it a public attack? Whether you mean to harm someone directly or passive/aggressively doesn't matter. Online is not the place to attack someone. I've seen friends call friends out in a status and even tag them in it. Not a good idea. This is definitely true of couples. A good rule of thumb is to never criticize your spouse in public; but even more so online. If you have something to say to someone, do as Jesus teaches, and go directly to them. (I don't mean directly to their timeline either.)

• Beware of judgmental attitudes. Have strong opinions about abortion, gay marriage, politics, or religion? Fine, you can share your thoughts through social media. But don't make judgmental statements about the other side. In recent weeks following President Obama's comments on gay marriage, I've seen people on both sides not only state their opinion on the matter, but also attack those of the other side. Don't do it. You'd be surprised how many of your friends disagree with you, and feel judged when you criticize. On the other side, I have a scientist friend from college who disagrees vehemently with me about the origins of the world, but treats me and those he debates with great respect. Because of that, we've had some rousing discussions online as friends. (One more note: this includes the things you share on your timeline. Sharing an article that attacks others is no better than saying it yourself.)

• Think about what you say. It's funny how quickly we forget who we allow as friends on Facebook. I can't tell you how many of the youth of our church forget that I'm their friend and can see the way they talk online. I'm not a prude, and I understand the desire to drop word bombs sometimes, but Facebook isn't the place to do it. There's a great conversation in the movie Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne tries to tell his childhood friend Rachel that the playboy jerk he seems to be isn't who he is inside. What Rachel replies is very poignant. She says that what's inside doesn't matter. It's what you do that defines you. On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, people only see what you post, not what is inside your heart. So make sure the right you comes out. This is especially true for Christians. Your testimony - life with Jesus - is out there for the world to see. People that know of your faith are watching your every move, post, and uploaded picture. Your words, comments, and tone are noticed; and the internet never forgets. Remember, we are responsible for the people we influence for or against Christ.

In all the controversy over Carson King, Anheuser-Busch, and the Des Moines Register; we can either bask in the outrage or we can learn and grow. Based on his statements in these last few days, my guess is that Carson King will try to learn from this and grow as a person. So should the rest of us.

Running for Good

As most of you know, running is a major part of my life. What started as a way to stay healthy after two bouts of Thyroid Cancer has become a lifestyle, habit, addiction… call it what you want. It’s also my stress reliever, alone time, and time to read audio books or listen to podcasts or sermons.

Years ago I was on a long run training for an ultramarathon and I was struck by an idea. I was running 14 miles around and through town, beginning on county highways.  With no real space for pedestrians, I was running against traffic forcing many of them to go wide around me.  As I did, I found myself waving to each passing car, knowing that I was imposing on their normal driving space and trying to acknowledge their kindness in not running me over. 

I don’t know if it was the voice of the Spirit or if two hours of running is just too long for me to remain focused on the music in my ears, but I began to recognize as cars and houses passed me that each one contained people created by and loved by God.  Someone should be praying and offering a blessing to these strangers on my route. Finally it clicked and my run became a prayer run. My waves at passing cars instead became a prayer of blessing and a motion of the cross towards them. I began to pray for the people living in the homes and neighborhoods I passed, knowing that God would know their needs even if I don’t.

Then I had a thought. What if I started doing this on every run? What if I did it while driving through town. What if we all did? I can’t claim to fully understand how intercessory prayer and blessings work. But it’s clear that we are told to pray for others and there are people throughout our communities that are in need of God’s touch on their lives. What if we were a church that prayed for those we saw in passing?

Here’s what it did for me while running:

• It helped me to notice.  Before I was oblivious to the people I encountered on my run; instead paying attention to myself alone. In prayer, I noticed every house, every car, every pedestrian.

•  It eased my anger at those texting and driving. After some close calls on the highway while drivers didn’t see me cause their eyes were on their phones, I was pretty mad. My prayer running allowed me to instead see them with love.

• It reminded me that I don’t pray enough. As a follower of Jesus and as a pastor, I should be connected to God in prayer more than I’m connected to the internet. I need an “always on” connection like my phone has through its cellular network.

So what do you think? Want to be a prayer-runner with me? Or prayer-walker? Or prayer-driver? Imagine what God will do in our community when we pray. And know that if you see me running and my two fingers go up in a wave, I’m praying for you. And God is faithful when we pray.

Hood to Coast and the legacy of #suckitpoverty

I always go into these things skeptically. And I'm even more skeptical when surrounded by true believers. And this Team World Vision thing had tons of true believers. I just wanted to run.

Let me back up. I care about the work. Team World Vision is raising funds to provide clean water all over the world, and specifically in South Sudan with this Hood to Coast race. I care about people made in the image of God having the opportunity to drink clean water without traveling miles a day for access. But I was still unsure about all this.

It all started last year when Katie and I ran the KC Half Marathon with our 10 and 12 year old sons. At the expo we came across a booth for World Vision and memories of 30 Hour Famines and child sponsorship made me stop. I met Nick Muroki and signed up for more information. I mean, why not do some good while running? That led to a meeting where I was invited to get my church involved in Team World Vision, where we would run/walk the KC Marathon/Half and raise money for this clean water initiative. And as I shared about my own ultrarunning, Nick had an idea; maybe there was room for me to run Hood to Coast.

The fundraising would be the hard part for me. I am not a good fundraiser. I don't like putting people on the spot, or making them feel pressured. And especially in my position, I don't want people to think they're obligated to give because I'm their pastor. So I put it out there on social media and planned for the race.

What a race it was. Over 19k racers, 3k volunteers, and a ton of vans made their way to Mt. Hood to begin the 199 miles run to the beach at Seaside, OR. By the time the race began, Team World Vision's 11 teams had already broken $1 million for South Sudan. We would eventually eclipse $1.1 million; the most in TWV's Hood to Coast history. Each of our teams had 12 runners, including an Honorary Captain that we'd "drafted" weeks earlier. My team from Kansas City called "#suckitpoverty" had chosen Brianne Theisen-Eaton as our Honorary Captain. Brianne was the Bronze medalist in the Heptathlon in the 2016 summer Olympics. (As the ultrarunner of the team, I was hoping for Michael Wardian to join us, but luckily I was outvoted.) Brianne was a great teammate, a joy to have in the race with us, and a killer on the course. She was a perfect choice for our team. (I did get to meet Michael Wardian and he is awesome too.)

The race is broken up into 36 legs, with each participant responsible for 3. I made sure in our choosing that I had the most miles and most difficult legs. I mean, if I'm not the great fundraiser, at least I can run the worst stuff. So I was in Van 1 with the first 6 runners, and I ran leg 5, 17, and 29.

My vanmates were great. Brett Rinker took on the first leg, with a 2000 foot decline in a short 5 miles. It had to be a killer on his quads. Then Susan Mohn took off on leg 2 with a bunch more decline; handing off to Sean O'Donnell for his first leg. The 4th leg was a long 7 miler and Brianne let Corey Mohn - team captain and driver - get in on the action taking over for her first leg.


My first leg was a 6 miler that gained about 400 ft of elevation. As usual I started off too fast and had to adjust a bit, but was glad to find a solid pace; and more importantly started getting some "kills". "Roadkills" are what it's called at HTC whenever you pass someone on your leg. Many racers add up their kills in each leg and write them on their vans. I was all about the kills. Instead of worrying how far I had to go or how fast I was running, I just kept reeling in the runners in front of me. It made each leg seem faster and easier than usual. In my first leg I ended up with 19 kills. This was getting fun.

I handed off my slap bracelet baton to Katy MacMann and she was off and running to the next exchange. It was there that we would meet our teammates in Van 2 for their turn to run the next 6 legs.

Now we had time to go get some food. Brianne took us to a nice little restaurant to eat and then what I think has become a tradition for her, taking her team to Salt & Straw for ice cream. Soon we were back on our way to meet Van 2 for our second legs starting in downtown Portland.

After a great meetup in Portland with all of our team, Brett was off for his second leg, running across the city bridges as the sun finished setting. It was now time for our nighttime runs. My second leg started at 12:30am and I had an 8 mile stretch with little elevation change. I was going to fly! This was my fastest leg. After getting "killed" by a couple guys at the beginning of the leg, I had 27 of my own kills the rest of the run, including the guys that passed me early. The sun was down, the weather was nice, and it was a great run. After handing off to Katy, our van was almost done with leg 2. Maybe we could soon get some sleep.

Nope. There was not much sleep to be had on this night. After handing off to Van 2 and heading to the next major exchange, we tried to catch a few hours of sleep. Several from the van went out to sleep on the ground in their sleeping bags, Katy was feeling sick and went to the first aid tent, and a few of us tried to sleep in the van. I laid down on the seat with my sweatshirt as a pillow and slept; but not much and not well.

Our final legs would pick up in the morning and this set would get complicated. As the race got further along, the van traffic got worse and worse. By the time we sent Brianne off on her last leg, we were so backed up that she ended up passing us while we were a couple of miles away from the exchange. Finally, when we were still a mile and a half out, I just got out and ran. Brianne was likely already at the handoff and we weren't hardly moving. So on my hardest leg of the race, I added a warmup. I would regret it.

When I got to Brianne and took the handoff, I was off for the most elevation gain I would have to endure. The first few miles all made their way up and the lack of sleep and long day and night in the van had its effect. I was tired. My legs were burning. I was over this. But finally, I reached the top of the hill and knew that the rest would be down. Here we go.

It's amazing how much you can recover going down. After letting my legs get their strength back on the way down, I was able to take off. As I ran hard downhill for the last 3 miles, it started to mist outside and I made up time. With 35 kills on my last leg, I was finally done. Even better, Katy rallied from being sick and was able to finish her last leg as well. We would meet Van 2 for our last exchange and head to beach for the finish.




The beach at Seaside. What an event! Food, drinks, music, tents for merchandise; there was a lot going on. Our van got there in time for a few hours of downtime before Van 2 would make their way to us. After eating, getting some HTC swag, and playing in the ocean, we were excited to find our teammates come in just in time to meet Rebecca as she finished the last leg. As a team we ran through the finish line; finishing in 32.5 hours.

This was an amazing experience. I am proud of my team of runners and the great job they all did. Corey Mohn and Darrell Bolton were great drivers, with the hardest job of any of us. Our KC team raised over $100k for South Sudan and we got an incredible relay race experience too. Thanks to Team World Vision for this opportunity.

I can't wait for the next opportunity to "run for water; run for life."


#suckitpoverty HTC Team: Bret Rinker, Susan Mohn, Sean O'Donnell, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Regan Stoops, Katy MacMann, Jonathan Going, Adahm Faehn, Kat Mallett, Tammy McCalla, Missy Wolfe, Rebecca Dawson, Corey Mohn, Darrell Bolton

The Decision

I remember this day about 15 years ago when Katie and I went to a new Nike outlet store in the suburbs of Chicago and I bought a new pair of Nike Shox running shoes. (Yes, these were the days before my toe-shoe obsession.) I took my new shoes and went off for a run. I’d been keeping up with some exercise while serving as a Youth Minister as we played games at church, and I had my weekly flag football league with seminary students to keep me in relative health. But that day, I had decided that I needed to start running more. I went for a 3 mile run that was hard and slow; but I was excited for this new habit. I would now be a runner. The decision was made.

Except I wasn’t. I ran that day. I may have even ran the next day. But then I didn’t strap up my shoes for another run for months; maybe even a year.

Actually, it would be 8 more years before I would ever be able to claim with certainty that I was a runner. After 2 bouts of Thyroid Cancer and my new-found toe-shoes, I started running again and stuck with it. I found a half marathon training plan and followed it to the letter; preparing for my first real race. That habit would finally stick as I ran 2 marathons the next year, 5 ultramarathons the year after that, and continues to this day.  

Why didn’t my grand decision lead to my identity as a runner in the first place? I think that my perspective was that all I had to do was get started. If I’d make the decision, then I would be on my way. But the next day and the day after that, I wouldn’t confirm that decision by heading out for another run.

For me this represents the way we talk about our faith. So often in the church we talk about “making the decision”. We tell people that they need to choose Jesus and then everything will change. But the reality is, it’s not one decision; it’s a habit that we’re creating. If that one decision isn’t followed by a habitual, daily choice to be in fellowship with Jesus; then we’re not being changed.

John says it this way: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:5-7

We are to be “people of the Light” and that comes not from just claiming to be so, but by choosing to walk in the Light every day. We’re called “Christians” because we look like Jesus; or at least we try to.

I want to encourage you to make the decision; not just that initial decision to follow Jesus; but the daily habit of choosing to walk with Him. It is in the discipline of daily choosing to be with Jesus that we can grow to be like Him.

Blessings,

Regan