Last February, at the beginning of track meets, I posted the following on Facebook from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/overcome:

“o·ver·come [oh-ver-kuhm] verb, -came, -come, -com·ing. verb (used with object)
1. to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat: to overcome the enemy.
2. to prevail over (opposition, a debility, temptations, etc.); surmount: to overcome one’s weaknesses.
3. to overpower or overwhelm in body or mind…”

The New Testament has a word for this kind of person, shown perfectly in Jesus, and in particular one who trusts in the Lord for these things. It’s nikao, meaning “I conquer” or “I overcome.”

And I have a house full of overcomers!

Now that it’s almost Thanksgiving. One more day away, in fact. And I have gobs to be thankful for.

I actually have a growing list of blessings I’ve been keeping mentally for days now. My wife. My church. My Lord. A dry, warm place to live and some work are all among them.

But right now, today, I want to say I’m thankful for my kids and how they overcome and inspire me to overcome. Thank you, girls! Thank you, Lord, for them!

We have talked about these types of topics many times in the past. But we have focused on them since early this year, in part, because at least one of us was struggling in some particular areas. And, as a father, for me anyway, I think I’ve seen some of these qualities displayed in and through my family other times in their lives.

But not like this cross country season. Not even close, actually. In terms of what our kids have shown visibly in overcoming obstacles, fear, pain and conquering oneself in order to go to places that were beyond their limits before, there has never been a season like this one.

2011 cross country – the season of overcoming!

Thanks to the Lord, they have been blessed with the will, determination, perseverance and endurance to go beyond where they thought they might, and probably beyond where others thought they would!

There has been a vast array of obstacles like severe iron deficiency anemia; a fall at the start of a race then getting up and winning though being badly bruised and bloodied; shin splints on, off, on, off, and on; hamstring injury; almost being pulled out of League Finals at the last minute on the start line due to an injury, but winning anyway; illness; faster teammates; faster competitors; hot weather; rainy weather; vast improvement despite a heavy load (school, work, training for example); a totaled car; and, of course, pain. Lots of pain.

Yet, at the end of the day, there has been even more overcoming and inspiration from it!

And they still have 1-2 more races!

1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

Charles Spurgeon on this verse, the “great grace” of faith in Christ -

“The want of faith makes a man despicable, it shrivels him up so small that he might live in a nutshell. Give him faith, and he is a leviathan that can dive into the depths of the sea; he is a war horse, that cries, aha! aha! in the battle; he is a giant who takes nations and crumbles them in his hand, who encounters hosts, and at a sword they vanish; he binds up sheaves of sceptres, and gathers up all the crowns at his own. There is nothing like faith, sirs. Faith makes you almost as omnipotent as God, by the borrowed might of its divinity. Give us faith and we can do all things.”

Praise God, lots of faith around here this season and this year!

Thank you, Lord, for overcoming the world and enabling your followers to overcome it! And thank you for enabling our kids to overcome first themselves and then obstacles before them! May by graciously enable each of us to trust you more and overcome evil with good for your sake, and to be thankful for your enablement!

May the Lord bless you as you seek him this day!

God be Merciful to Me

God be merciful to me, on Thy grace I rest my plea
Plenteous in compassion, Thou
Blot out my transgressions now

Wash me, make me pure within
Cleanse, oh, cleanse me from my sin

My transgressions I confess
Grief and guilt my soul oppress
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face

I confess Thy judgment just
Speechless, I, Thy mercy trust
I am evil born in sin
Thou desirest truth within
Thou alone my Savior art
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart

Make me pure, Thy grace bestow
Wash me whiter than the snow

Gracious God, my heart renew
Make my spirit right and true
Thy salvation’s joy impart
Steadfast make my willing heart
Steadfast make my willing heart

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice

From my sins, oh, hide Thy face
Blot them out in boundless grace

I just wanted to write a short note to say I LOVE YOU!

I know there is a lot going on and with commitments we have made (such as school), we don’t get as much time together or with others as we’d like. So, for my part, I just wanted to find a simple way to say I love you and attempt to encourage you in your life and walk with the Lord.

I realize there is no substitute for spending time with someone, especially someone you love dearly, but there is a place still for writing and other ways of communicating and building a relationship. So here it is. I am writing because, again, I love you!

I pray the Lord would bless you by showing you your need of him and enabling you to lean on him more and more and yourself less and less. May he bless you with overflowing, uncontainable, never ending life. Of course these are gifts that can only be found in Jesus.

So I pray he would bless you with Jesus more and more!

And I’m sure Mom feels the same way.

I love you! Overcome!

All my love and prayers,

D

Probably most significantly, the Lord is working on me and I think others in the family to convict us of sin and enable us to turn away from it to him more. The focus of Sunday’s messages the last few months in Daniel and Galatians has been the primary catalyst for this, but there are other reasons, too, thanks to the Lord.

This has helped clarify and impress on me and I think us the need to consider basically the answer to two questions about our lives. First, “Who am I?” (believer or not, child of God or not), and then “Right now, in this situation, how am I responding to Jesus and what he has done in the cross?” I’ve been thinking about those two questions and we’ve spoken of them as a family a few times over the last few months, then Sunday Pastor Dave even ended his sermon on this exact issue Sunday in speaking on Gal. 2:15-21. We need to remember Jesus and what he did on the cross, for all we need is given to us at the time of salvation. Yes, we can and should want to grow, but that growth is accomplished by remembering him, what he did on the cross, and by the grace of God being motivated by thankfulness and love in our response to him now in our current situation, whatever that may be.

Along these lines I’ll post here the lyrics to one of my new favorite songs. It’s actually called “Blessings” and is by Laura Story. Is suffering and/or pain a blessing, or “mercies in disguise?” May the Lord bless us all, more and more, with learning more of him, his sacrifice on the cross for sinners like us, and all the blessings and mercies that reach from there to here and now!

Blessings

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Credits :
songwriters: Story, Laura Mixon
© new spring publishing; new spring publishing

 
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKgktNz6ICs&list=PL9013A708A7BFDE1F&index=14

M’s in Mammoth now with her team and returns tomorrow to an empty house as K, A and I go to Big Bear today with their team and N and G come up there tomorrow. We’ll return Monday (N & G) and Tuesday (the rest of us). She is missed here, but we’ve spoken a few times.

K is getting full into senior type activities – pictures yesterday, sorting through college related issues almost daily while trying to finish up a class, figure our driver’s ed, prepare for taking the SAT again, etc.

A is taking Health online and working hard at cross country, training well for the most part with a few days of disappointments on that front. She didn’t make it to Big Bear last year so she’s excited about being there this time.

G is hoping to do another sport aside from cross country this fall but since she hasn’t really worked on her own to prepare for that, it probably won’t be happening. If not, she may do cross country again, I’m not sure right now.

N has taken the brunt of the load of painting the bathrooms and trim on the outside of the house (latter is on hold for now and other two are almost done). Thank you, Honey, for all your work!

We’ve been reading various Bible chapters and having some great discussions (I think!) the last few months. What a blessing to see the kids grow up! I’ll post more on some of that later, in particular my 1-2 page paper on, basically, how to walk with the Lord. Or, put another way, how to consider if you are walking with the Lord. Another recurring topic, thanks in large part to Pastor Dave’s messages in Galatians and Daniel, is sin and how to see and know ours and turn to the Lord instead of it. More on that later, too, Lord willing.

For now, I want to end with the lyrics of a song I heard this week for the first time. It’s written by Sarah Hart and talks about how it’s best to be honest with the Lord and people about what’s really going on with our lives. Hence, sometimes crying out to God is "better than hallelujah." There’s link, too, about the songwriter and her album, which has the song itself on it for you to hear, too, if you’d like.

Better Than a Hallelujah

God loves a lullaby
In a mother’s tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

God loves the drunkard’s cry
The soldier’s plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

The woman holding on for life
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

The tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

Better than a church bell ringing
Better than a choir singing out, singing out

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)
Better than a Hallelujah
(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)

Credits :songwriters: Sarah Hart; Chapin Hartford. © River Oaks Music Company; spiritandsong.com.

Sarah Hart’s album “The Give and the Take” – http://www.spiritandsong.com/artists/sarahhart.

The end of track was spread out over about a month. It was an unusual season in many ways. Only 1 doing age group, 1 in college, and 2 in high school. I did 2 races during the season, also, which’s unusual, too. Quite a few PRs, especially for M in college, and I think they all ended up well pleased with their seasons. K was part of a 4 x mile (and 4 x 1600m) State record team in mid-April which kind of signaled that she was feeling better and iron levels on their way up. She ended up making it to the State 3200m Championship, too (as she did her freshman year).

A has even started running for cross country already. K will join her in another week or so, and M starts hers officially about the same time.

They ended their school years very well, too. G is about done officially, and the other 3 are all finished.

We’ve started going through the basic principles of the Christian life as a family, too. By that I just mean answering the question, “How should I live for the Lord?” I’m guessing there’ll be 15-20 principles or topics I’ll bring together to end up as a 1-2 page list of questions, answers and verses to cover it. Obviously, books are written on the subject, so for us it’ll be a source of conversation and focus to discuss these issues in a personal and hopefully beneficial way.

Where would you start answering that question?

I ended up starting with “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mat. 6:21). My point, as I understand the point of that passage to be, also, is just that what we value most is what guides our life. So, do we value Jesus the most? Do I? Do you?

Jesus, as part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7,  is addressing whether people treasure earth more or heaven more in Matthew 6:20-22. He says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Treasures in heaven. Now that’s a safe investment.

May the Lord enable us all to have eternal values as he does more and more!

We’ve been reading Proverbs 15 this week. There’re many verses in it that stand out to me, but I’m just going to mention one now. The second part of verse 15 says, “the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”

Basically, I think, in the context, it is reiterating the idea that if a person trusts God for salvation, life, hope and all things, then there is always a multitude of reasons to give thanks to him. If I can see past health issues, tiredness, pain of any kind to God and his hand at work in my life and our lives, for example, then it’s as if God actually has placed me in a feast with his blessings all around continually!

Wow!

I want to see God’s hand at work more and trust him more, the result being I’m more cheerful.

Lord, please enable me, indeed each of us, to see you, know you, and learn by your grace to have a cheerful heart and reflect your love, mercy and holiness to others more and more!

I thought 27 cross country races in about 90 days was a lot last season. This track season, officially starting this weekend for us, has about 35 meets in 99 days – that’s 35 meets, often with more than one race per meet.

Yipes. There are some conflicts, so we won’t be at all of them, unfortunately. Still, we’re looking forward to it! These are good times!

As the end of Hebrews 12:1 says, “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” May the Lord enable each of us to walk with him through each day as we learn to live for and love him more and more!

Am I?

Romans 12:21 (NAS) says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Another translation for “overcome” is “conquer”. In the context of the chapter, the topics are forgiveness and revenge. I believe the Bible, in other passages, extends the principle of believers being overcomers into other areas, too (e. g., faith, Satan, the world, etc.; see 1 John 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5).

We’ve talked and prayed about this some recently and plan on continuing to grow in our understanding of living for the Lord and seeing how he can and does enable us to overcome evil and be conquerors for him in every area of life.

We’re about to move into track season. M has her first meet this coming weekend, then one each of the next two weeks, too. K and A start next week and have three meets in 11 days. G starts March 19 and goes almost every Saturday for about 6 weeks. I look forward to these but there will be conflicts between some of them (as they’re at the same time) so we’ll see how that works out.

M’s also been working out plans for the future, mainly how to work out finishing her degree and a teaching credential without owing “too much.” K’s getting more serious about college and majors. A and G are really looking forward to track season (as are their siblings)!

Hope you’re all doing well in this new year. May the Lord enable all of us to be conquerors for his sake!

I know it has been a LONG time since I’ve written, but it’s NOT because I haven’t been thinking of you all. I have. It’s just the days have been full of quite a variety of people, events and activities – including some of you!

As my last post mentioned, we were in championship season with the kids and their cross country teams. That all went into December. Then, of course, Christmas came along with the usual festivities (3 family gatherings and a great time of worship at church).

 I took a little over 2 weeks off starting right before Christmas and into the new year. That was really nice to catch up with my family some. With M in college now and each child on a different team (or in different races, at least), the fall was pretty full for all of us. We did have a day at the L. A. Zoo that was super – no rain that day. The kids had a night at N’s parents’ house, too. Along with games (try CoMotion sometime – our new favorite!), 2 puzzles, some movies (mostly at home, 1 in a theater), reading, the Rose Parade (on tv), parts of several football games, many practices, etc., it was all a blessing!

 By the end of that time I had to start on 5 new plumbing projects and 2 other home repairs – 3 of these 7 were pretty urgent. These 3 were temporarily solved but will need more attention in the near future – let me know if you know a good roofer. :/

 Training for a half marathon was going on for me during this time, too, but no blogging and almost no Facebook were. I am sorry about that, but I do pray and plan to keep up with you more often than every 3 months this year!

 We’ve pretty much fully turned the corner into 2011 now and just about have our taxes done, M’s gathering some information on teaching credential programs (I think her situation at her school will be reevaluated in the next 2-3 months, too, so we’ll see if anything changes for her next year), K is getting more serious about checking into colleges, A is adapting to high school track, and G is hoping to compete for her age group track team again. 

Thank you to those who sent us Christmas cards and greetings, too! It was good hearing from you. I pray you all are doing well and that you’ll let us know how you are sometime soon!

 May the Lord bless and keep you each day for his glory!