Watch him as he goes.
My dad. Seriously. He is my HERO.
I cannot believe he has run over 10,000 miles. The only reason I am a runner (and still in shape) is because he challenges me. Every. Single. Day.
Check out this video about his running. INCREDIBLE.
In the morning, I will attempt to run my longest race yet…the Cowtown Ultra Marathon. 50 kilometers. How far is that?
Yikes. 31. Miles.
According the Cowtown website, there are 18 men in my division. Coming off of my knee injury & a terrible race season, I am just hoping to finish.
I’ll be running with my dad and my good friend Wendy Oglesby. I’ll also have the good old iPhone again, so watch my twitter & facebook for video updates. 
http://www.twitter.com/cadillaczak
http://www.facebook.com/cadillaczak
I told you earlier in the week that I was going to share this week why I would continually “punish myself” as so many of you have called it, by doing things like running 26.2 miles. Here is the why: Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life out.
In 6th grade, I started writing out the life goals list that you see pictured to the left. Those are literally THE SAME sheets of paper I started on. I’ve always been an extremely driven person. When I set out to accomplish something I’ll do anything and everything in my power to get there.
Over the years I have removed goals from the list because they weren’t important to me anymore. I have added goals that have become important. And, of course, I have scratched goals off as I accomplish them.
I’ve removed some goals from the list simply because I realized my motivation was wrong. If the motivation behind the goal is wrong, then its better to not accomplish it.
Some of my goals are spiritual goals and some are just dumb things I want (or wanted) to do one day. Over the years, I’ve trimmed the list in places where stupidity reigned and added to the list as I’ve grown spiritually.
As I’ve matured in Christ, this list has become more of a “Zak’s God ordained dreams and desires” list. Its cool to look back and watch how my heart has turned from desiring to reach some completely selfish goals to wanting desperately to accomplish goals that can change the lives of others. Its almost like a spiritual journal on a couple of sheets of paper.
So that’s why I “punished myself” this weekend by running 26.2 miles. On Sunday night when I got the old list out it was all worth it. “Run a full marathon with Dad.” CHECK.
I’ve created my own little “ceremony” for scratching these goals off the list. First I pray, thanking God for allowing me to accomplish the goal. Then I pray asking God to help me use what I’ve learned to help others realize their God given potential. After praying, I take a pen out and scratch the goal off of the list…one of the most refreshing feelings on Earth! Last of all I review the list, identify a few next key goals, and pray that God would continue to work in my life and use me in BIG ways.
Maybe one day I’ll share my full list with you. More importantly I hope that by sharing this you will make your own list and think BIG!
Just five days ago I ran the Las Vegas Half Marathon. It was a blast. But I have to admit, I have been BAD this week. You see, for about 6 months leading up to the race I ate right. I didn’t drink more than 2 sodas a week. I ran at least every other day, if not more. I exercised. I was careful how I ate. My life was all about my goal of finishing the race in under two hours.
I have been bad…because since the race was over, I have had TONS of soda and my diet overall has been terrible. I didn’t even exercise this week…until this morning. And this morning, I FELT IT. MAN I had a hard time! It has only been 5 days since I last ran…
And that sad part about me being lazy this week is that really my goal has nothing to do with the half marathon. Really my goal is to run a full marathon. The half marathon that I ran on Sunday should just be another step in my training for the real goal. It shouldn’t be such a big feat in my life that I stop for five full days to gloat on my accomplishment. I should have woke up on Monday morning and continued my training for the real goal.
Starting a new church is just like that. Let me explain:
When you first show up on the scene you are jazzed about your goal. You probably even have a fancy mission statement that you live and breathe…something like “to conquer the world for Christ.” And then you start experiencing some success. You see hearts being renewed, families with broken relationships being mended, and people giving their lives to Jesus. And it feels soooooo good to reach that goal.
But then you get satisfied a little bit. The goal has sort of been reached and now you can take it easy for a little while. So you stop exercising. You stop living in the mindset that you did before…the mindset that screams “HEY, people are going to HELL if I don’t DO SOMETHING about it.” And the vision slowly perishes.
That is exactly why we are so intentional, daily at The Connection Church about connecting with God, connecting with others, and making sure that others are also connecting with God. The fact is that people here in Kyle will live in an eternity apart from Christ if we don’t do something about it. Sure there are about 450 people coming to our services on Sundays already and that is pretty amazing in itself. But what about the other 30,000 plus people who live just in our immediate scope of ministry? Over 70% of those people do not currently attend a church. That means we have a LONG way to go.
God has been good at TCC. We have certainly see lives changed in crazy and incredible ways. But I want to make it EXTREMELY hard to get to hell from Kyle, Texas. So that means as a church we will continue to train and focus daily.
We’ll always focus on those who have never come yet. We’ll always pray for that neighbor whose eternity you aren’t sure about.
I can’t believe I was such a bum this week with my running. But I praise God that even as I ran this past Sunday morning, my mind was on the people in our area who haven’t heard about our God. WE WON’T STOP FOR NOTHING at TCC. What about you? Are you being intentional or just wandering along each day?
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