The Real Me vs. The Fake Me

So I know that there are two of you. There is the real you..... and there is the you that you let others see. I'm on to you. It's ok. I'm that way too. We are all. But why? Why is it that we pretend to be someone else?....

This all started while I was reading a news article online about a singer who had collapsed on stage. This singer is in a band that I used to like a while back and so it caught my interest. I read the article and scanned down to where people can comment on the news. BIG MISTAKE.


It's interesting because the two places that I see two sides of people is online and at church.

In this article the comments went on and on about how the singer wasn't any good anyways and that his collapse probably had to do with the fact that he was a terrible musician... Honestly this frustrated me because I feel like the singer was fairly talented. I wanted to write something mean to respond to those comments. I wanted to show them up. I wanted to belittle them and make them look stupid. I wanted to be....just like them.

The internet allows us to be whoever we want. I can say mean things and rip you to shreds because I will never have to face you. As I was sitting and thinking through the the things I could write, a thought hit me. If this guy was standing next to the singer, would he call him a "no talent hack"? No. In fact, he most likely would stand there quietly and wait for the singer to leave before insulting him.

There are two of each of us. It's sinful nature at it's worst. Paul says in the book of Romans that he struggles with this. He says that he does everything that he DOESN'T want to do and he doesn't do everything that he wishes he would do. He is torn between his two natures.

You and I are the same way. Everyone struggles with this. It is a part of our very being.

Paul goes on to ask, "who can save me from this?" He goes on to say that it is through Jesus that we are saved.

My prayer for you today is that you will understand that we are all this way. We all have two natures that are always fighting each other. I pray that you understand what Christ did for us and that it will help you through times when your more hateful nature begins to come through.

And I pray that God will guide us away from the sinful side of our lives so that our lives can reflect His love. That's my prayer today.

Running in the Rain

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am starting to run. It's proven to be quite the challenge. My shins burn nearly constantly now. And every morning that I'm supposed to run, my bed is that much more comfortable. This morning was that morning. I slept an hour later than I was supposed to and therefore ran an hour later than I should have. It seems innocent enough, but today it was absolutely crucial...let me explain.

I run with my training team on Saturdays. This is where I push for distance and time. This past Saturday I ran 2 miles. I've never run two miles in my life. It was ridiculously hard for me, but there were at least 75 people with me so I made it in decent time.

Mondays are my re-coup run day. I run the same distance that I did on Saturday but I take an easier pace and walk if I need to. So today I was running another 2 miles. 2 Miles for the second time in my life. And it kicked my tail. I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked, then walked, then staggered, then ran....you get the picture. I was on my way back to my house after having been roughly 1.6 miles. I had walked for about 2 minutes and worked up some energy to run for a bit.

I told myself. "You have to make it to this street. You have to run until you get to this street." So I started to run. Every part of my body hurt. I was having a hard time catching my breath. I was sweating and hot and sweaty. Every piece of me wanted to quit. And then something interesting happened....

It started to rain. A sprinkle at first. Then some bigger drops. And then an all out rain. A heavy cooling and refreshing rain. It was exactly what I needed. I cooled me off and gave me an extra bit of energy to run. At the same time the song "We Win" by David Crowder Band came on my ipod. The music built up, the rain fell down. And I ran. I ran past my goal and kept going. I ran past the next street and ran all the way back to my street. It was amazing....

Sometimes I feel like my life is that way. I feel like every part of me wants to quit. Whether it's tough times with work or maybe I feel far away from God. Maybe I just can't figure out what God wants me to do next. These are the times that we face and we just want to give up on following God. These are the times where we just crave for God to rain down on us....

The amazing thing about God is that He always will rain down on us. It might not be on our time table. We might even have to run on despite everything in us telling us to quite. But God is faithful. God will rain His comfort, peace, wisdom, .etc down on you when you need it most. You just have to keep running.

Until Next Time,
Jon