Son of Hamas

Son of Hamas by Mosab Yousef, is the account of a man who grew up as the son of one of the first founders of the Islamic group Hamas. Growing up, he lived mainly in Palestine and maintained a relatively normal life despite his father being linked to Hamas. As he approached high school graduation, he became increasingly frustrated with the Israeli soldiers who occupied the area and generally harassed them.

He was arrested and sent to prison where he was interrogated for information about Hamas though he knew very little at that time. During the course of his incarceration he was eventually convinced to become an agent for Shin Bhet, the Isreali intelligence agency similar to the CIA. Though this went against everything he believed in and he did it partly to escape torture, he came to see the increasingly militant activities of Hamas as bringing destruction and harm to the world and saw that assisting to prevent these activities would be of greater good than participating in them himself.

Over the course of the next 10 years he was involved in continual operations that led to the arrest or death of terrorists and their leaders saving many lives in the process. His inside connection within Hamas allowed him access to the highest level leaders as well as interactions with the Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. This provided invaluable insight and intelligence for Shin Bhet in fighting terrorist activities.

A seemingly random encounter with a British tourist led him to investigate the Bible and the Christian faith. Over time as he read the Bible, he found more and more truth in it which matched up more with the reality he experienced than the Koran which he had a firm foundation in. Eventually, he became a full fledged follower of Christ and was actually baptized. All of this is rather amazing given his upbringing and that his father was a sheik and imam of the Muslim faith.

After 10 years living this life, he loved the work but wanted more of a sense of normalcy so got out of Shin Bhet and moved to California. He now maintains a blog at sonofhamas.com.

The story reads like a spy novel but is an amazing real life account. It provides great insight into the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and anyone interested in gaining better perspective on the Mideast would benefit from it.

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Our Iceberg is Melting

In the book Our Iceberg Is Melting, Harvard professor John Kotter and co-author Holger Rathgeber tell the story of a colony of penguins who are facing change. The story is written in fable format similar to Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson.

An astute penguin named Fred observes that the iceberg the colony lives on is melting and that they will face potential disaster if it breaks apart in the middle of winter. He proceeds to present his findings to Alice, a member of the leadership council. Once the need for action is realized, there is no small amount of squabbling amongst the council as to next steps.

They eventually determine to let the rest of the colony know of the great risks and solicit ideas for solutions. After arriving at a creative solution through interactions with a seagull, they implement a migratory initiative to seek out new icebergs. The change is not without detractors who question the findings and argue for maintaining the status quo without addressing the risks of the melting iceberg. However, through strong leadership of the head penguin and a small action team, the penguins drove efforts to eventually relocate to a safer home.

The story has multiple examples of personalities seen commonly in organizations. There are those who are interested in arguing for the sake of arguing, the cautious, the hard driving but consensus building leaders, the creative but sometimes ignored penguins, the naysayers, those being academic in mindset but who ask tough questions, and those who just want everyone to be happy, among others.

Kotter and Rathgeber use the story to demonstrate an eight step process of successful change which includes:

1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together a Guiding Team
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-term Wins
7. Don't Let Up
8. Make It Stick

The book is fun, has great change management principles, and can be read in no more than an hour or so. While change for change's sake is not necessarily wise, for those in any organization facing challenges, this book provides easy to understand concepts for managing change.

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Shoes

Yesterday at church as a part of the sermon, the pastor challenged the congregation to not be afraid to be uncomfortable if your agenda does not match up with God's plan. As a physical illustration of this, he challenged people to give up the shoes they wore to church to go towards needy people in Hati and other under privileged areas of the world.

This was not communicated to people prior to the church service so was an immediate response. I was on stage playing with the band while people came up and it was a really cool sight to see hundreds of people bringing their shoes to the front steps not afraid to be a little uncomfortable.

Run Like Elijah

"The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel." I Kings 18:46

I think this display of God's supernatural power is just awesome. It comes briefly after showing His power through sending fire to light a very wet sacrifice on fire, proving that He was God and Baal was not. (some good trash talking from Elijah to the prophets of Baal is in there as well) It also comes just after Elijah had prayed for a three year drought to be lifted. Once a cloud appears, Elijah sends word for Ahab to hitch up his chariot and skeedaddle because it's about to rain something fierce.

I don't know how many horses a typical chariot would have but am guessing the king could afford several so suffice it to say that Elijah was booking it in running "ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel."

I recently ran a half-marathon and while the spirit of the Lord did not give me supernatural speed, it was a good time of seeking His power to complete the race and glorify Him in it. I think Elijah's seeking after God and walking or rather running with Him is something to aspire to. Will God always reveal Himself supernaturally? Probably not, but if we continue to pursue Him and stay in His will, someday, we may run like Elijah.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt by Louis Auchincloss

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most dynamic presidents in the history of our country. After being born in affluence, he established himself as a man's man by becoming the leader of a crew of rough country characters and city men and leading them in the Spanish-American conflict in Cuba. He himself led the charge up San Juan hill which proved to be pivotal in winning the battle.

He also had stints as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Commissioner of Police in New York City, Governor of New York, Vice President, and ultimately President following the assassination of William McKinley. Throughout his life, he was a diligent reader and even endeavored on writing several books himself. He had a very excitable and strong personality with a constant bent towards leadership and inspiring others to his vision.

The only short coming of this book is the concise almost cliff notes story of his life. He had so many exciting experiences and such vivacity of life that I would liked to gone into more depth and may check out additional accounts of his life.

Inquire of the Lord

David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand." -1 Samuel 23:3-5
"David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" "Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue." -1 Samuel 30:8 
"David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees." -2 Samuel 5:23


David's life is such a great example of a man seeking after God and yet at times really messing things up. At various points during his life we see him "inquiring of the Lord." This is coupled with resulting wisdom and success in his endeavors. At other times, he did not "inquire of the Lord" and reaped negative consequences such as a broken family, adultery, murder, and a plague upon the nation of Israel.

I think his life can very easily be applied to most people today. How often are decisions made without inquiring of the Lord? While sometimes things work out fine, at others the Lord could have provided insight and wisdom into the situation that would have resulted in greater success or avoided poor decisions and heartache. In my own life, I sometimes do well at inquiring of the Lord and seeking His wisdom. It is at these times that I most sense His presence and guidance in my life. At other times, I do not inquire of the Lord and rely on my own understanding and capabilities. Inevitably, mistakes or awkward situations occur that could have been otherwise avoided.

I Thessalonians 5:17 says "pray continually." This fits nicely into inquiring of the Lord. When we are continually in a state of prayer, we inquire of the Lord and have His constant guidance. It is definitely something that takes practice to become skilled at. Next time you're driving in the car, exercising, shopping at the store, or doing other daily tasks, visualize Jesus presence there with you and talk with Him. By building a constant relationship, you can much more easily hear His prompting and feel comfortable inquiring of the Lord.

A really good short book written by a 17th century monk that covers this concept very well is called The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. He writes about learning to experience and know God's presence even in regular tasks like cooking or washing dishes rather than only in dedicated "sacred" times.

San Diego: Torrey Pines, Padres, Historic Gaslamp District

This past week I took a trip to San Diego and while there got to visit the Torrey Pines nature preserve along the Pacific Ocean as well as go to a Padres vs. Cardinals game and checkout the historic gaslamp district. Here are a few photos:

Runners be not jealous, I got to do a mile repeat speed workout along this stretch.

This guy was hanging out around my hotel along with a few of his buddies.

Praise in Battle

Running has so many parallels to the spiritual walk/run and life in general. I was reminded of this again yesterday while doing a 10 mile long run. I'd been running for around 4 or 5 miles and listening to a worship album by Paul Baloche and really enjoying the time of praise and singing while running. Cars kept wizzing by and while that's not out of the ordinary when running on the roads, it definitely keeps you on your toes.

The spiritual parallel I saw in this was the times when going along in a season of joy and worship and then something catches you by surprise. I can be in a worshipful frame of mind and praising God for who He is and the things He's done in my life then an arrow from the enemy comes firing my way.

It's important to always be mindful that I'm in a spiritual battlefield and attacks can come at any time. My Commander is able to see attacks coming and give me power to resist and keep my eyes fixed on Him. There's something powerful in weathering the storms and battles then coming out on the other end still holding on to Jesus.

I think He sometimes guards us and prevents the enemy from interfering with our lives in order to give us seasons of rest and rejuvenation. It is during these peaceful and quiet times by abiding in Christ that we firmly root our souls in Him.

When the storms and battles do come, we may undergo blows and be battered by the wind and rain but with our feet planted firmly on the Rock, we can stand and praise Him despite the circumstances. "I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." -Psalm 121:1-2

Speed Up a Podcast or Slow Down a Song

Windows Media Player has the ability to either speed up or slow down a podcast or song. I've found this useful when listening to a podcast but want to get through it a bit faster. Of course, if you're listening to a deep sermon by a pastor that you really want to absorb, you might even consider using the slow down feature.

Another really good use of the speed settings is if you are trying to learn a music part by ear and it's crazy fast like the bass solo of Salvation Is Here by Hillsong United. (I actually learned it at normal speed but this would be a good application for the tool)

To do this, simply right click while playing the song or podcast then go to Enhancements, Play speed settings and adjust to your preferred speed. I've found most podcasts to be fine up to the 1.3 to 1.4x speed but much more than that and you feel like you're listening to a chipmunk hyped up on Mountain Dew.

If you're working on a Mac this can be done in Quick Time by going to Window, Show A/V Controls, playback speed.

In pursuit of His best,
Andrew

Prayer CATS

An acronym that can be helpful when thinking about prayer and how to pray is C.A.T.S.
Confession
Adoration
Thanksgiving
Supplication

Sometimes this acronym is in the order ACTS but I think it's good to confess sin first thing before getting into the other areas. Just seems to make sense if there's something that's not straight with me and God to fess up then get down to business. Then, I can focus on the praise and worship of who He is followed by thanks for the many blessings He's given me and after each of these elements, intercession and prayer for myself and others. Of course, it doesn't always have to follow this order but it's at least a good tool to keep in the back pocket.

In pursuit of His best,

Andrew

Lead Me

I really like the song "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real that we're playing at church this weekend. Even though I'm not a husband or father yet, the song has a powerful message of relying on God to give strength and give guidance to a man as he leads and provides strength and protection to those he loves.

The Pursuit of His Best

What does "In pursuit of His best" mean? Glad you asked :-) The overarching goal of my life is to pursue God passionately in all I do and to seek His best. Ephesians 3:20 says that He is able to do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine according to His power that is at work in me. I am not always successful in pursuing His best, but I've found that when I pursue Him with all my heart, mind, and strength that I am most joyful and He is most glorified.

Thanks for reading and welcome to the pursuit.
In pursuit of His best,

Andrew

Farewell Wisdom of Dre

Over the past month or so, I've been thinking and praying about the title of my blog. Since it's inception a little over 4 years ago, I've used the title The Wisdom of Dre. It has served well to capture the essence of tone and style to this point. However, as with all things, seasons come and go and it is now time to close the season of The Wisdom of Dre.

For the past few years, I've used the tag line "In pursuit of His best." In praying and thinking it through, I believe that this more accurately describes the tone and direction of my life. I've also decided to take the plunge and use a for real domain name which will be www.PursuitofHisbest.com. You should still be able to access the blog by going to aallen820.blogspot.com but the official address may be easier to remember.

Farewell Wisdom of Dre, it's been a good ride.

Empty Me

A song that's been speaking to me recently is "Empty Me" by Jeremy Camp.



The lyrics are:

Holy Fire- burn away my desire, for anything
that is not of You and is of me
I want more of You and less of me

Empty Me, Empty Me, Fill Me, With You

I also came up with a bridge section:

Strip away all the things in me
all my pride and selfishness
let my eyes be only fixed on You
May my heart's chief desire
the passion of my soul inside
always be for You alone my King

This is my prayer but it can be a painful process. When you've spent a lifetime building up an identity, desires, talents, and abilities, it can be tough to lay those down in light of Him.

I think God creates each person with unique gifts and abilities. Our experiences, books we read, music we listen to, places we go, and people we come into contact with shape who we become. They represent who we are and God can be glorified in them. But, if we operate out of our natural strengths and find our sense of worth in these apart from Him, they are hollow and empty.

When I allow God to strip away everything in me that takes His place at my center and the core of my being, it gives Him the ability to work in and through me to accomplish His best purposes.

John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" in John 3:30. He was speaking of his own ministry and the ministry of Jesus but I think it can also be applied to our personal lives. When Jesus increases in influence and flows more abundantly in my life, it is at these times that I am most fulfilled.

Wake Up O Sleeper

We're playing this really fun bluesy gospel song at church on Sunday. I really like the version by Glory Revealed.



Here's the Bible passage that the verse comes from:
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Ephesians 5:8-17

Eat A Frog

“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” -Mark Twain

Vicarious Christianity

Real relationship with Christ cannot be obtained through vicarious experience.

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" Romans 3:22-24

Have you ever experienced times in life when you gain spiritual nourishment from sources other than Bible or God directly? I enjoy listening to worship music, playing it myself, fellowshipping with other believers, reading books, articles, and blogs about faith, listening to podcasts and sermons, and hearing about God's work in others' lives. These things can be great facilitators to spur me on in my faith. However, if I do not personally engage with God on a daily basis, my spiritual walk will suffer.

Activities like prayer, reading/meditating on the Bible, journaling, and worshiping God from my heart have been the most effective in facilitating my personal walk with Him and keeping me revived and abiding in Him on a daily basis. There are so many blessings that come from just spending time with Jesus and sharing your life with Him. He wants us to talk with Him. "Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know" Jeremiah 33:3

As Colossians 3:1-2 says, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." We have direct access to the throne room of God through Jesus. Let's be sure to take advantage of this tremendous privilege.

How to Ice a Knee and Still Be Upwardly Mobile

From time to time, athletic pursuits result in soreness, inflammation, and occasionally injuries. While propping up a knee, relaxing, and icing said knee is preferable, sometimes this is not always possible due to competing time demands. There is now a solution to icing while remaining upwardly mobile. I present to you, the Saran-wrap frozen veggies/fruit icing method.

This is easily accomplished by taking your favorite or least favorite bag of frozen vegetables or fruit and wrapping several layers of saran-wrap around the knee or other appendage. Tape helps to keep the ice wrap in place. And voila you are now both icing a knee and upwardly mobile.

Straight Up Truth

Have you ever been reading the Bible and the words jump out at you to speak directly to something you're experiencing or have been thinking about recently? A couple nights ago I had this experience with some passages, a few of which are listed below.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life...Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." -Proverbs 4:23, 25-27

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" -II Corinthians 10:5

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" -Hebrews 12:1-2

These passage are great reminders to be focused on pursuing Jesus and not become distracted by the temporary things of the world. When our eyes, heart, and mind are fixed on Him, we walk in paths of righteousness and don't get tripped up by temptation or allow outside influences to disrupt His best for our lives. I want my pursuit of Him to be so intensely focused that all else falls to the side.

The Bible is straight up truth brothas and sistas.

Ryan Hall on Running and Faith

Below are excerpts from an interview with world class runner Ryan Hall by RunningTimes.com in which Ryan discusses the intersection of his Christian faith and running. He's got a great perspective that can be applied to any profession or area of life.

For the full interview go to: http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=19104

Ryan and his wife Sara's website is: ryanandsarahall.com if you'd like to read more about them.

Running Times: Why do you think God takes an active interest in the outcome of sporting events? Given that the outwardly faithful more often than not don’t win, what does that mean about God’s involvement in these events?

Ryan Hall: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts [emphasis added, Isaiah 55:9]."

...
From my experience through my running career of weathering many lows and enjoying some really high mountain peak experiences, I have felt that the sweetest part of running is feeling God with me as I run, and the great thing about that is it isn't something that only one person or a couple of people can experience in a race. We can all experience it. We can all feel something that is even sweeter, available every time we toe the line and more lasting than winning or setting a record. Today, whenever I sign my name to an autograph I always write John 10:10 (The thief comes only to steal kill and destroy, I came that they may have life abundantly and have it abundantly) with it because it is the best part of following Jesus and having his Spirit in me – it makes life sweeter. My running is better, my daily life is better, etc. Following Jesus doesn't mean abandoning the fun things of this world; it means having more fun, being free from the worries of daily life, and experiencing things in greater, more fulfilling ways...

...While I cannot coerce God into moving in this (miraculous) way I still have childlike faith knowing it’s possible, which I reflect in my running by being bold, taking chances and giving God an opportunity to do something amazing. However, I have found from my experience that often times what I hear God telling me is, "My grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9)." God has always provided enough strength for me to do what He wants me to do on the race course. It doesn't mean I always win or do something miraculous but I always have enough to accomplish the purpose which God called me to race for...

...The most important thing I can train is my heart. It is what drives the body. Christians should be able to compete with more freedom, less pressure and more joy. I have become better at being OK with whatever God has for me in a race knowing that at the end of the day, though I try to wrap my head around how God moves in sport, in the end, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:9)..."

...In a world where it is all about the guy on the top step of the podium and we are defined and define ourselves by the time on our watch, at the end of the day I am trying to spread the word that it ultimately isn't all about that. The sweetest part of life is that we can all have God. God is with those who are with him. It’s our choice and a free invitation to everyone...

...Being highly favored, or winning as we might call it in the sports world, is an inner peace, joy, and freedom that comes from having God with us. It’s not about the circumstances we are in but rather about the heart that we are able to have because of who is walking through all the circumstances of life with us...

...When we lose our focus on just following Christ and we start looking to how God is moving in other people’s lives it totally steals our joy, thankfulness and power...

...I believe that God created me to run the marathon and run it well and I will not stop until he tells me it is time, and I will not be distracted unless he directs me to something different...

Running Times: Are you this good because you have worked and trained harder than everyone else, or because you are more blessed?

Ryan Hall: Neither. I am what I am because of the grace of God. God’s grace has allowed me to pick myself up out of the dirt time and time again. That grace is something we can all have. It obviously takes a lot of focus, discipline, humility, hard work and all those other things that make up great athletes but that is just who I am. We can all achieve a level of greatness when we are who we are meant to be to the fullest...

...The Olympic Marathon Trials is probably the time when I felt the Holy Spirit the strongest in a race. It was an incredible experience that I believe we can all experience, even in the same race (meaning you might not win), depending on how desperate for God we are...

...Running is my ministry. I am using the body that God gave me to do what he wants me to do, including feeding and taking care of the poor...

...I have learned that my primary role as a Christian is to receive God’s love and then to love others from that love. Now I am much more interested in hearing what others believe and why they believe it. I really enjoy talking about spiritual matters but if I sense my teammates don’t feel like it or don’t enjoy it, then I respect that...

Running Times: Are you currently learning anything about who God is through running or racing?


Ryan Hall: Every day, man. God is always teaching me more about who he is and who I am while I am out there. For me running is the ultimate school ground.