I recently read that Wal-Mart has updated to a new logo. Turns out it’s true: you can see the new design on the Wal-Mart website:

I’m happy to announce that the five15 Logo Contest is over and we have selected a new logo. Eager to find out what it is? I bet you are. Can’t wait for the unveiling at the five15 Retreat in 43 days!

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Our last five15 BIG MEETING of the 2007-2008 school year is this Saturday.  This will be the first time the new five15 Band leads us in worship, and Merritt Anderson is going to preach God’s Word to us from 2 Corinthians 5… 17-21.  As usual, Pizza and Ping-Pong start at 5:15 (HA!) and the meeting will get going at 6:30.

See you then!

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Sara sent me this great quote today:

“It may be that the Lord has more to do by me than  I ever dreamed of. If he has looked upon me, he has made me strong.  Let me by faith exercise the power with which He has entrusted me. He never bids me ‘idle away my time in this my might.’ Far from it. I must ‘go,’ because He strengthens me.”  Charles Spurgeon, Chequebook of the Bank of Faith, 6/28 entry.

If you run across any verses or quotes that help us think about doing hard things, send them to me!

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A thought provoking statement from J. I. Packer:

“…God is good to all in some ways and to some in all ways.” J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 162.

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Recently I’ve been reading The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb. This book is a page-turner about the quests by three men to be the first man to run the mile in less than four minutes. In the early 1950s, Brit Roger Bannister, Australian John Landy, and American Wes Santee were all in the hunt to beat the “four-minute barrier.”

If you know your running history, you know that Roger Bannister ran a 3:59.4 on May 6, 1954 to become the first man to run a sub-four minute mile. Six weeks later, Landy would beat that time by nearly a second and a half. Santee missed the “magic mile” by a half-second, logging a personal best of 4:00.5. But this passage about one of Wes Santee’s races stood out to me (Easton is Santee’s coach):

“Right before the gun sounded, Santee drew in a breath and held it. The gun fired, and he burst forward. Bogerud started slightly quicker, but by the end of the first turn Santee took the lead. Bogerud tried to catch up, but there was nothing he could do—and he know it. By the start of the second lap Santee was only a half-second off pace. Easton was calling out his times, and despite the cacophony from the stands, Santee heard him. No matter how noisy it was, he always heard his coach. His ear was tuned in to Easton’s voice.” The Perfect Mile, 166.

The point of this section is this: for a world-class runner to log a record time, he needs constant updates from his coach about his pace. If he goes out to fast, he won’t have the stamina to finish strong, but if he runs too slow, he won’t have the speed to make up the time late in the race. His ear must be tuned in to his coach’s voice.

I think the Christian life is kind of like this. Scripture occasionally uses the metaphor of a race to describe the Christian life, but we need help to complete this race successfully. Like Wes Santee, our ears need to be tuned in to a certain voice. But fortunately for us, God isn’t just yelling at us from the sidelines. He is leading us daily through His Word, by His Spirit.

It’s for this reason I want to encourage you to faithfulness in the habit of meeting with God every day this summer. For most of us, it is harder to meet with God in summer than other times. None of us drift into regular Bible reading, and without the consistent schedule of the school year, it can be hard to get up and into the Word. So here are a few ideas to help you stay consistent:

• Start with a plan. Decide ahead of time what you are going to read for each day. I recommend a daily reading plan like For the Love of God or our church’s daily reading plan (aka “The Mull”).
• Choose a regular time and place. Set your alarm clock and get up. Get your coffee/tea/orange juice/Mountain Dew and head to your favorite chair/couch/beanbag/porch swing. Having your quiet time in bed is not recommended. It will be a quiet time indeed.
• Get someone else involved. Tell your parents or siblings or close friends what your plan is and tell them you will give them updates on how it is going. (Don’t make the accountability mistake of asking them to ask you about it. Keep the responsibility on yourself to do it and to tell them how it is going!) Talk to them about what you are learning and how God is meeting you.
• Track your progress. Get a calendar and mark off each day that you meet with God. Avoid legalism here: don’t think that God is impressed with your consistency. God is only impressed with the obedience of His Son. But do this so you can make a realistic assessment of your faithfulness. If you find that you regularly meet with God 4 days a week, make your goal 6. I would be surprised if, after three months, you don’t find that you are growing in your consistency.

Wes Santee won that race, by the way.

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Here’s an interesting verse I ran across in Proverbs today:

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;
he breaks out against all sound judgment.
Proverbs 18:1

How do you think this verse shapes how we think about the five15 Challenge?

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Reminder:

We have a five15 BIG MEETING on Saturday.  Seita is going to speak from James 2:1-13, helping us learn how to not show partiality.  Not sure what that means?  Come find out!

As usual, Pizza and Ping-Pong starts at 5:15pm; the meeting begins at 6:30pm.  See you there!

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I’m always curious about what other people are reading. What’s on your bedside table? Or if there isn’t much you’re reading right now, what are your plans for summer reading?

The following books aren’t all literary on my bedside table, but here’s what I’m reading. I’m the kind of person who reads several different books at the same time.  Each has a different purpose, and is for a different time and place.

DEVOTIONAL:

• The Bible, by God. Reading Isaiah. Just finished John. About to go back to Psalms. I prefer the ESV, and I’m using The Literary Study Bible this year. Love it.
• A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent. I need to be reminded of the gospel everyday!
• Praying the Lord’s Prayer by J.I. Packer. Because I want to pray better.
• The Death of Christ by James Denney. An old, classic explanation of substitutionary atonement.

TO GROW:

• Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. For the Book Club! Fun stuff.
• Christian Mission in the Modern World by John Stott. A topic I want to understand better.
• The Reason for God by Tim Keller. Heard a lot about it, want to see for myself.
• The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 1, by John Calvin. A (perhaps overly-) ambitious summer reading project with my friend Jed. We’re going to try to read the entire unabridged Ford Lewis Battles translation this summer. Yahoo. Anyone want to join us? 1550 pages in 90 days-how hard can it be?

FOR FUN:

• Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. I like reading classic literature, and this is a keeper. I was inspired to read this after talking about the real-life Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk.
• The Perfect Mile, by Neal Bascomb. My sister loaned me this book since we are both runners and I was a miler in high school. Of course, I never came anywhere near a four-minute mile, so this book is fascinating to me.

How about you? Tell us about it!

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Thanks to Drew for the new pics that make up the five15 blog header.

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In case you missed the family meeting a week and a half ago, Mark showed us a picture of what you can expect your newly ordained pastors to look like in the next few years:

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