Monday, August 25, 2008

Ragnar -ly :-)

Totally proud! That's how I felt this weekend after completing a great team running event called, RAGNAR. Willowbrook Church featured two Ragnar running teams (twelve on each team) for 30 hours of relay running from LaCrosse Wisconsin to Minneapolis. Our team name was - "Running on a Prayer." Isn't that creative?? We competed against 170 other teams through some of the warmest weather of the year (90 degrees and 72% humidity). We all survived and grew closer to each other throughout the two days together. For me and my wife (Terri), this was our first "big" time race together and we each ran three different legs in the 220 mile relay. Each of our 24 runners, on average, ran approximately 16 miles over a 24 hour period. When we were not running, we spent our time laughing, eating, cheering, and smelling up the vans!

This incredible event reminded me that the Christian life is all about running. Apostle Paul reference running four times in his letter to the churches. He encouraged every Christian to run the race to get the prize. There were many times in my Ragnar race that I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. But somehow and someway, persistence won out. I want to encourage all of my fellow runners in life to not stop training and keep on running - because the prize of life awaits each one of us.

To learn more about RAGNAR, you can go to: www.ragnarrelay.com

See you on the road!

Friday, August 8, 2008

What is true Worship?

The Bible says that "laughter is good medicine for the soul" (Proverbs). Well, when it comes to worship, I wonder how many of us have a good laugh with the God who loves us? In fact, as it pertains to worshipping God with our giving, the Bible says that God loves a "hilarious giver." There's something about worship and laughter that go together - it does something for the soul. I hope you enjoy Tim Hawkins as much as I do. Check out his other videos on the Youtube link. You'll be glad you did. Laugh away...as you worship.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

An Awesome Community Event

We pulled it off -

Over 1400 people from our community showed up to get a taste of Willowbrook and God granted to us some great weather and tons of people! I was so proud of our many volunteers who totally "tore it up" for over three hours! Take a look at this great little video put together by Tonicia Ferguson (her finger snapped over 200 pictures that day).