Why I will lace up my shoes and run another marathon

     In the wake of such a tragedy as the Boston marathon bombing, one might ask themselves "is it worth the risk to run another marathon?"  I have read tweets of kids asking there parents to not run in races anymore and stories of runners that are worried about the future of the marathons.  If you will allow me, I want to offer my reason for running another one.  Maybe it is something that you can share with your kids and with your friends about the importance of running another race.
     I put this statement as simple as I can.  "If we stop running or are afraid to run, the terrorist will win."  Contrary to belief a terrorist objective is not to kill a large number of people or cause massive property damage.  The job of a terrorist is to terrorize.  They choose death and destruction because that is what terrorizes people.  IF throwing cute little kittens at people would cause terror then terrorist would drop kittens by the dozens over cities and incite global panic.  So if we decide to stop running or freak out about the possibility of another attack then the terrorist will have obtained their goal of terrorizing and disrupting the peace of the people.  In short the terrorist will win.
     The answer to this attack is not to have a bigger army, larger missiles, or greater leaders.  The answer to fighting terrorism is to not let the attacks terrorize us.  By that I mean that we don't let the attacks keep us from doing what we love.  By doing what we love, we fight back terrorism.  Every race that we finish, every mile that we run, every step we take is a hit to the face of terrorism.  A hit that is much harder than a punch, stronger than a bullet, and greater than an army.  We fight terrorism by doing what we love.
So let us never forget Boston.  Let us never forget those who were affected by it but let us lace those shoes and run on.  Let us "Run with endurance the race that is set before us..." (Hebrews 12:1-2)  Let us run, not with fear, but with courage.  For that is where we will make a difference.  Never give up and never stop running.        

What are we to do about this debate

The recent events in the supreme courts have made me do some digging and some soul searching.  On March 26^th, the supreme courts started hearings on homosexual’s right to be recognized by the United States as married couples.  This bought on a mass of tweets, Facebook post, articles, and blog post.  It seems like every time that there is a political debate, everyone magically becomes a politician.  But that is beside the point.  As I evaluated the tweets, Facebook post, articles and blogs I saw some things that sicken me.  So this post is my response to the events that have taken place this week. 

            It would appear that we as Christians have forgotten the most important thing about being a Christian.  Jesus is questioned in Matthew 22 about what the greatest commandment is.  This is Christ response.  I want you to read it and soak it in.  Verse 37-40 reads “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and most important command.  The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”  To sum this section up, Jesus tells us that the most important thing to do is Love God and Love people. As I read these tweets, Facebook post, articles and blogs I sense that we, as Christians, have lost this.  This is the most important thing that God wants us to do and we have forgotten it.  If anyone needs to hear this it is me.  For I have forgotten this command and my heart is broken.  So I offer you a solution to the debates that are at hand.  Let us not offer an opinion or judge those who act not like us.  Let us instead love God and love people, for that is what we are commanded to do.  Notice in Matthew 22 that Jesus doesn’t say that the most important thing is “to win your side of the debate” or “to judge people by how they act.”  We have no authority to judge, we have no authority to debate.  Why? Because debating and judging never leads to unity.  Debating and judging always leads to disarray and confusion.  Debates never change people; it only makes them mad and angry.  Look at the argument over predestination vs. freewill, black vs. white, Democrat vs. Republican.  They have been fighting over the same issues for hundreds if not thousands of years.  Jesus tells us to love God and love people because that is what the gospel message preaches.  The gospel always unifies.  The gospel always brings change in people.  When God touches us, we are forever changed.  Debating won’t change anything, but God will.  If you want to see change focus on loving God and loving people because that is where we will see the most good and see the gospel spread.  So let’s put down our political arguments and pick up the Bible and tell someone about God and let Him change them.  Let’s go out today and love God and love people and then sit back and watch the world be changed.

            Now you say “What about the sin? What about the homosexuality?”  When we learn to love God and love people, we learn to hate sin because sin does not love people and sin, most certainly, does not love God.  You see, sin made us dead but Christ made us alive.  If we shout the gospel message to the world, then the sin will be taken care of.  So learn to love God and love people for that is what sin hates the most.                   

Final thoughts before the Marathon

     I am about to embark on one of the most challenging events of my running career.  Sunday I will be participating in the 10th running of the Little Rock Marathon.  I am both excited and scared.  Excited that I will get to run the farthest I have ever run.  Scared that I will get to run the farthest I have ever run.  Excited that I get to see friends such as Aaron Johnson, Johnathan Johnson, and Ryan Copico.  Scared that I won't be able to finish.  Excited that I get to run for such a great organization.  Scared that I might get injured.  Excited and scared.  For 26.2 miles, my body will go though hell just to cross a white line and get a big medal.  For 26.2 miles, my body will be pushed to the limit to earn the term "Marathon Runner."  Excited and scared.  Maybe I wouldn't be so scared if I had time to actually train for this race.  In the misted of shin splints, knee pains, Achilles tendinitis, and just a lack of wanting to train my body is not as prepared as I wish it could be.  While I am injury-free as of today and I am able to run up to 10 miles at a comfortable pace, I am still scared.  The weather will be pretty cold which will also make for a rough run.  Whatever the outcome of the race is I am reminded that I should "first seek the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added to you."  I will run my race.  I will run with endurance.  I will run from the sound of the gun till the finish line is behind me.  All the while seeking the kingdom of heaven.  I will finish my race regardless of pain or suffering, not because I am strong enough to do it but because God is strong enough to do it.  

     I am ready to take on this race.  The only way that I will finish this race is if I start this race.  So Sunday, I will lace up my running shoes, put on my warm running clothes, and pack into the starting line with 8,000 other people and a smile on my face.  And I will run the race that is set before me seeking the kingdom of God.  

My View On Guns

     Let me start by saying that, politically, I am a conservative, a gun owner, and a good ole country boy.  The possibility of a gun ban, regardless of what kind of ban it is, makes me upset.  Not because I’m scared that the government is going to take away my guns but because of the response that I see people giving.  The more I read about the arguments for and against guns it makes me think “What would Jesus do.”  As I search for this answer one seems to escape from me.  I have read Luke 22:35-38, Matthew 5:38-42, and Luke 22:49-51.  I have read countless Facebook post from pastors and friends that I look up to in ministry.  I have consulted dear friends about the matter; people of both political persuasions.  Yet, the answer just seems to not be there.  Maybe this is because the Gospel of Christ is about love and peace.  Maybe Jesus wasn’t clear on this matter because He wanted us to focus more on love and peace not guns and politics.  The King James Bible mentions the word “love” 310 times and the word “peace” 400 times.  The only verses that may pertain to a pro-gun argument are the ones listed above.  I don’t know what to believe about guns and gun bans in terms of a Christian but what I do know is that God saw fit to tell us to love people 310 times and have peace with people 400 times.  This leads me to believe that those two words are a lot more important than the multiple guns I have in my room. 

     Before we proceed any further, I will offer you my political option just so you will know where I stand on the issue.  I am not your average 19 year old college kid.  I love history, I love politics and I love this country.  I have heard just about every political argument about guns.  I have researched them and have studied them.  So I feel safe in offering you my option.  I believe that placing a ban on assault weapons will not solve the problems that we face today.  It’s not an issue with the type of weapon used.  It’s an issue of the person operating the weapon.  People have always killed people and people will continue to kill other people.  Cain killed Able without an assault weapon in Genesis 4.  Cain killed Able, not because he had a weapon that was considered dangerous, but because he was “very angry” as the New King James puts it.  The first crud firearms were invented around the 14^th century.  Until then people killed people with swords, spears, clubs, battle axes, bows and arrows, sticks and stones.  This is what leads me to believe that killing is ingrained in to humanity itself.  In the 1920’ the U.S. banned the sell and production of alcohol.  This ban was placed into effect because people thought that alcohol was causing men to beat their kids and wives and causing men to spend all of their money on alcohol.  The ban was in place until 1933.  The main reason the U.S. lifted the ban of alcohol was because the rate at which people were being killed over producing, running, and selling alcohol increased more than when alcohol was legal.  Is alcohol a bad thing?  It can be when it is abused.  Does alcohol cause men to beat their wives and kids?  If they drink too much, then it can.  I believe the same thing will happen with the gun bans.  The government will ban assault weapons and people will still be killed by assault weapons because the problem does not lie with the weapon but with the person.

     The problem lies in the sin that we have in us.  There is no ban the government can put on sin.  As long as sin abounds there will be death.  But lucky for us “where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.” (Romans 5:20b)  The only thing that is going to stop the death and destruction of this world is Christ.  Guns don’t save us.  They may save you from a robber or a thug but they will not save you from Hell.  Guns do not advance the kingdom of God.  Christians have tried that before.  Remember the crusades.  It didn’t work out well for them.  So why do we cling to our guns like they are the things that will save us?  Why are we, as Christians more outspoken about gun bans than about what Christ can do for people?  So as Christians, I would like to see people start to advance the kingdom of Christ and tell people about the peace and love that God can offer us.  Let’s put down our guns and put on Christ! 

Girls Please Read This

Hey there guys.  I haven't posted a blog update in awhile because of the massive amount of stuff that I am doing at P.A.  God is defiantly moving up here and He is moving in Mississauga, Canada.  This post was inspired the book Every Young Man's Battle which I just finished reading today.  I wanted to post this because this is what I expect out of a Christian girl.  I also don't want to offend anyone.  This post is not meant to bring shame or to make my past girlfriends look bad.  The reason that I dated them was because they did the things on this list.  So as you read this I hope that you will not look at those past girlfriends and think bad about them.  If you can't read this without judging them or me then please don't read it at all.  Now that those rules are in place, I want you to read this, think about this, and comment on it if you wish.

What I want to see in a Christian Girl

1. Loves God more than me- A Christian Girl should love God more than their boyfriend, family, friends, etc.  -Matthew 22:37
2. Loves the body, gifts, skills, calling that God gave her- A Christian Girl should accept the body, gifts, skills, and calling that God gave her.  She is "remarkably and wonderfully" made by the Creator of the Universe.  She should not only accept these things but put them to use to farther the Kingdom of God. -Psalm 139:13-18, Ephesians 4:1-6
3. Dress Modestly- I am not going to sit here and tell you that I don't like to look at women.  Its kind of a guy thing and its the way God made me, but that should not be an excuse because God provides a way out of that.  I hate it when guys blame the girls for not dressing modestly because it should be us men that are strong enough in our faith to bounce our eyes and to not lust after it.  With that being said, Christian girls could help us men out by dressing modestly.  Girls this means not yoga pants, no tight shorts, no short dress, and not low cut shirts.  Instead of showing of your body parts, try showing of how much you love God by dressing modest and telling others to do the same. - 1 Timothy 2:9-10
4. Reads her bible- A Christian Girl should stay in the Word of God.  This is how she will learn about her Creator.  When she stays in the Word of God, she will grow to trust, love, and want God.  -Hebrews 4:12
5. Understands that even Christian guys mess up- Women, we are not perfect.  We try our hardest to be but we are still sinners and we will mess up.  But I can tell you that even though we mess up that we still love you and will still want you to trust us. -Romans 3:23
6. Understand that a Christian guy will sometimes have to ignore you to follow God- Us men don't like ignoring the woman that we love.  It is one of the hardest things to do, but we have to follow God first.  Sometimes that means that we can't answer our phones because we are at church or at a bible study.  Sometimes this means that we have to go to other countries on mission trips to spread the word of God.  But just because we can't come out to eat with you or come over and watch a movie, we still love you and we still want to be with you.  We promise that when God gives us a break from our very busy schedules that we will spend every minute with you.  We make the most of every minute that we have with you because we love you. - Matthew 16:24

This are just a few rules that I came up with.  There may be more to come for the females but there for sure will be blog posted soon about men and how crappy of a job we have done at being men.  Thank you for reading them and I hope that you will be able to apply them to your life.

God Bless

Cody Walker

Driving Experiences

So we finally made it to a hotel last night but I was to tired to blog about my experiences of driving 650 miles though three states.  Here are some of the things I have learned about:

1. When people get on the Interstate, they completely forget how to drive.
2. Gas is pretty expensive up north.  It went from 3:35 in Arkansas to 3:72 in Kentucky.  
3. I hate driving.  This point is pretty much self explanatory. 
4. Every highway in America has some sort of road construction on it.  

I hope that you have enjoyed these experiences of mine and there will be plenty of more experiences that I will blog about in the coming days.  Thanks for your prayers and for your support.
 

My Rules

So today I have come up with a list of rules.  They are a lot like Gibbs List of rules off of NCIS.  This rules are not listed in any order, some are funny and some are serious.  Some come from Gibbs himself, some are made up from personal experience, and some come from God.  I hope that you enjoy each rule and there are sure to be many more to come.

1. Always Pray
2. Never be without a knife
3. Never take anything for granted
4. When the job is done, walk away
5. Never second guess yourself in a relationship or life
6. Never underestimate your opponent
7. Sometime you have to say no
8. You have to clean up the mess you've made
9. Forgiveness can rebuild burnt bridges
10. Always be polite
11. Never take God out of it
12. When God is taken out of it, it doesn't matter anymore
13. Your way isn't always the best or easiest
14. Learn as much as you can about as much as you can
15. Never look down on yourself
16. Always show someone love
17. Don't worry about life, God already took care of it
18. Never give up
19. You can't do everything by yourself 
20. Sometimes there are things that you can't fix
21. Always give second chances
22. Sometimes........Your wrong