While preparing for the Infinite Love series, I was struck by the stark contrast of two visions of a city.

The first vision is God’s vision of a holy city where He lives among His people. In this holy city there are no tears, death, sorrow, crying, racism, or pain. Also, there is no physical, emotional, or spiritual need because all of the holy city’s inhabitants have been restored to a right relationship with God and His creation. Finally, this holy city’s majesty is amplified even further by the glory and honor given to God by all the nations coming together in peace and unity (Revelation 21:1-27).

In contrast, I came across a vile vision of a city cast by the hip hop artist Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson who performs under the ironic acronym “TYGA” (Thank You God Always). In his song, “Rack City (Featuring: Young Jeezy, T.I., Meek Mill, Wale & Fabolous)," the vision of his city is in stark contrast to the holy city God has envisioned. In this vile city, the physically strong take whatever they want by force, women are objectified and are nothing more than carnal tools for the base urges of the dominant, and people are separated by their skin color and their material wealth. “Rack [vile] city” is about as far from the holy city God has envisioned for His creation, and I believe it brings an uncomfortable clarity when the two visions are put together—an uncomfortable clarity that requires a choice.

One of my hopes for a Sunday worship gathering is the creation of elevated conversations, in this case about the two visions of a city and to also invade people’s world outside of the Sunday experience. I assume most of you are not members of the TYGA fan club, so I wanted to take the time to give some context to the video, so you could feel the tension as well.

The tension created by the contrasting vision of a city is put on display in the Infinite Love series video. The hope was that by combining God’s vision of a holy city as found in Revelation 21:1-17 and the base beat of TYGA’s “Rack City,” people would be confronted with a choice: “What vision do I want to experience?”

I was hanging out, having some pizza in Thomasville, GA with some friends the other day when one of my friends started to recount his recent Grand Jury experience. He said there was this guy who would drive his lawnmower with a trailer to Tallahassee, FL (35 miles away) to pick up his favorite prostitute and take her back to Thomasville. (That is not the strange part.)

While my friend was telling his tale, another juror walked into the pizzeria and walked over to say, “Hi.” When he heard what we were talking about, he said, “I have a picture of it I took a week before he was arrested!” At that we all obviously asked to be texted the picture, in which I’m sharing with you.

Ok, this is where the story gets beautifully bizarre. Apparently, there wasn’t any real legal issue with their arrangement in which anyone wanted to bother with, until one day, their storybook romance faltered. Allegedly, on the day in question, the “pretty woman” didn’t want to be carted up to Georgia by our Fabioian knight, so in the spirit of humanity’s most beloved love stories: Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra and Mark Antony, and Lancelot and Guinevere our star-crossed lover decided to light the trailer park office (she had locked herself in) on fire to force her out into his arms where they could ride off into the sunset together. He would have got away with it if he didn’t share his brilliant plan with the cops when he got pulled over on his lawnmower with a can of gasoline and an open container.  

Now that is stranger than fiction.

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They say triathlon is an individual sport, but in reality it’s as much a team sport as football and in some ways even more. Triathletes train, encourage, and coach each other to be their physical, mental, and in many instances spiritual best.

Last Saturday, I decided to participate in the Gulf Coast Triathlon (half Ironman distance 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run = 70.3 miles) since a bunch of triathlete friends from Tallahassee were doing it, I thought it would be fun to race to do as well.

On race morning it seemed like it was going to be a beautiful day; the humidity did not feel as bad as previous years and the temperature was a predicted 80 degree high. For a race that has been nicknamed “Gulf Roast” and usually in the 90s this was reason for celebration and perhaps the conditions were even ripe for some PRs (personal records).

After setting up my transition area, I was meant to join some fellow FCAE (Fellowship of Christian Athletes Endurance) friends for a pre-race prayer, but an extra-long T0 line (T0 (Transition Zero) line to the porta-potty) made me miss it. When I got to the beach three FCAE friends walked up to me and said, “We missed you at the prayer. Can we pray for you now?” after I said, “Yes.” they covered me in prayer and off we went to cheer on wave 1 of the race.

When it was time for my wave to enter the shoot, I was excited and looking forward to hitting the water. The swim was just as I like it; open ocean, crowded, and rough. I know most people hate it when the water is choppy, but being raised surfing off the beaches in SoCal in the violently beautiful Pacific Ocean, it just felt like home. I always love emerging from the swim, all the people cheering and giving you high fives, it is so exciting and fun as you run to T1 (Transition One is where you go from swim to bike).

While I love the swim, the bike is my strongest part of a triathlon. I have big quads and calves, while they feel like lifting concrete on the run, on the bike they are engine that propels the train forward.  This is the part of the race where I dream of what can be, start reevaluating splits and goals, and have to constantly remind myself not to push too hard because the dreaded run is in the all to near future.

At mile forty I was about 15 minutes ahead of my race plan, right on my nutrition schedule, and I had been feeling amazing the whole race enjoying hearing fellow Tally TRIbe people yell encouragement when we saw each other, which is why I was so surprised when my first quad cramp happened. At that point I was not too worried, I had 15 minutes banked, so I backed off, took some salt tablets, and upped my fluid intake. By mile fifty my legs had deteriorated to the point of cramping on every pedal stroke, but hey, there was only six more miles to go and then I could get off this blasted thing and get on with the death march toward the finish line.

The next four miles were brutally windy and brought me to the point where I literally thought I was going to fall over. With less than two miles to T2 (Transition Two is where you go from bike to the run), I dismounted my bike and sat down on the side of the road rubbing the cramps out of my legs. While I sat there for the next 10 minutes, many triathletes slowed their pace to ask me if I needed assistance, in response, I would force a smile and say, “I’m good.” Once my legs settled down, I put my big boy panties on and climbed back into the saddle; after all it was only two more miles.

The next two miles were brutal, but nothing compared to what was awaiting me in T2. I dismounted my bike thinking, I can still salvage this race when my left quad locked up and the only thing separating me from the ground was my bike now turned into a crutch. Before I could take another step my friend Tanya ran up to me and started rubbing out the cramp. When it finally settled down I hobbled my way to my transition area, after racking my bike I laid down in the dirt/grass by the bikes for the next 55 minutes.

As soon as I hit the ground my friend Robert came over and started to give me fluids and another triathlete passing through T2 gave me some more salt tablets. As word spread about my demise other friends came by to help and offer assistance. My wife recounted to me later, according to Robert, “My legs were visibly seizing.” I think everyone including myself thought this was the day I was going to log my first DNF (Did Not Finish). I remember laying there when Tanya came over, laid hands on my quads and prayed for me, my friend George finally said with concern in his voice that, “I should go to the medical tent” and in agreement Robert said, “Mark, do the smart thing for once and call it a day.”

I don’t know what it was about Robert’s statement, but I did not want to do the “smart thing” I wanted to finish. With that I stood up, asked Robert to pray for me and right when I started to head out of T2 my friend Jamie (who is a message therapist) came running toward me from the distance. As soon as he reached me he dropped to his knees and started rubbing my quads. Under normal circumstances this would have made me feel uncomfortable, but in this instance it was just what I needed to get my legs moving.

I decided, if need be, I would walk the next 13.1 miles; a DNF may be in my future, but not today. Right when I got out of T2 my wife came running up to me and walked with me for the next three miles. We talked about how great our friends are and how this was going to be a really stinking long walk. Once she was convinced I could fight off the vulture circling above she ran back to be with our children.

Over the next ten miles I was able to put together an ugly combination of running and walking that finally brought me to the final stretch where all my FCAE family and friends were patiently waiting to cheer me across the finish line.

A tough day for sure, but a day that reminded me that I am so blessed to have friends who are willing to go the whole 70.3 miles with me.  

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They’ll say, “By what authority authorized you to do this?”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “It has never been done that way before.”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “It can’t be done.”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “Look at this mistake!”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “You’ve failed in the past.”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “You have no audience.”

Smile and create your art.

They’ll say, “Do it this way and we’ll accept you.”

Smile and create your art. 

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One of my FAQs as a pastor is, “How do I discover my passion?” I have tried to help people in different ways by asking questions like, “What takes up a lot of your mind-time?” or “What is the first thing you think about when you wake up or go to bed?” These questions helped refine the search for passion, but never got to the heart of someone’s true passion.

It was not until I came across the etymology (The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.) of the word ‘passion’ that I finally came up with the question, when answered honestly, reveals someone’s true passion. The word passion comes from the Greek word, ‘pathos.’ ‘Pathos’ means to suffer, passion, and sacrifice. (pathologist: One who studies suffering) The word ‘passion’ was coined by 12^th century Christian theologians which means, willingness to suffer.

In the etymology of the word, ‘passion’ we get the perfect Passion Question; “What are you willing to suffer for?” What this question lacks in grammar, it makes up for in clarity. If you can honestly answer this question, you will know your passion.

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“Make your own recovery the first priority in your life.”

-Robin Norwood

Norwood’s quote, although sound, assumes there is something to recover from and therein lays the danger. The value of recovery is in its placement. Recovery before activity is not recovery, its laziness, laziness that damages the mind, body, and soul. But, recovery after activity is a God given blessing (Sabbath) that allows your mind, body, and soul not only to recover, but be stronger than before.

So, recovery is the first priority, but it is last in the sequence of events.

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Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it.

Light is a common Christian metaphor for the Christ and Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit. One example of this metaphor is used by Jesus in John 8:12,

“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

So, what is the behavior and properties of Christ’s light when it interacts with your life? According to Jesus in John 13:34–35,

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Love is the optic the world should see followers of Christ.

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While I was in Portland a few days ago, I took the time to check out Blue Like Jazz. I've never done a movie review before, but since the book was such a Christian subculture hit, I thought I would give it a shot. 

I can get irritated by some very small things, such as people talking to me before I have had my morning coffee and quite time. Is this a trait that I am proud of? Of course not, but I think we all have things in our life that bring out the worst in us that we wish we could just slough off.

When I get irritated, one thing I try do, in order to not damage a relationship by my poor attitude is ask myself the question, “Is what I’m feeling a temporal irritation or an eternal and holy discontentment?” This question gives me the time to weigh my eternal love for a person, versus my temporal selfishness that is currently dominating my thoughts.

Does the temporal/eternal question always work? Unfortunately, it does not. Unfortunately, my temporal and current selfishness tends to trump eternal love far too often, but at least by asking the question, eternal love has a chance to win the moment.

Click here to get a free PDF copy of Mark's Book; Immersion: Live the Life God Envisioned for You.

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