A Touchstone for God-centered Salvation vs. Man-centered Salvation

10/29/2010 - Alan Kurschner

The "Calvinist vs. Arminian" debate is substantially a debate between what is called "synergism" and "monergism." There is no third option (unless one is willing to affirm Pelagianism). For those who are new to the Calvinist-Arminian debate, the following is a primer on the two perennial branches of theological systems in Christianity. Or to put it another way, there are two very different ways for believers to view their salvation.

In general, the first type (the Arminian-Synergist) affirms what is called "synergism." Synergists believe that two forces in the universe are necessary to bring about regeneration in the life of the sinner. In specifics, the two forces at work (cooperation) that are necessary to bring about regeneration, or spiritual life, is the will of man and the Holy Spirit (grace).

To put it another way, the work of the Holy Spirit is dependent on the creature’s will, hence, “synergism” (working together). These individuals will sincerely say, “I believe in grace alone.” But in reality, they believe that grace is not alone (sufficient), but that man’s will is necessary for regeneration to be effective.

It could be said that these individuals are “functional” Arminians because even though some will deny the label, their theology functions synergistically (thus, how they identify themselves is inconsistent with what they teach and believe).

The second group of believers (the Calvinist-Monergist) affirm what is called “monergism.” Monergists believe that there is only one force in the universe (grace alone) that brings about regeneration in the life of the sinner. In specifics, because of the deadness of man’s spiritual state, his moral inability, the Holy Spirit performs the miracle of spiritual resurrection (regeneration) in that person, hence, “monergism” (one work). Grace is sufficient to be effective, and does not depend on some action of man.

In other words, the Holy Spirit does not merely whisper in the hardened sinner’s ear, hoping that the rebel sinner will “cooperate”; rather, while the sinner is in a state of hardness and rebellion, the Holy Spirit penetrates in the will of man and performs the miracle of spiritual life (regeneration). That is grace alone. Faith does not precede regeneration, regeneration precedes faith.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13

He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:47

Arminians cannot affirm monergism (grace alone); they must always have the creature’s will as the final determiner of their destiny, not God. Inconsistently, Arminians pray (without knowingly) Calvinisticly, “God, change my unbelieving relative’s heart.” I have never heard them pray, “God, only whisper in my relative’s ear, but don’t change their heart unless you’ve been given permission.” But the Calvinist prays and affirms biblical truth consistently.

James White comments on Rick Warren

http://nocompromiseradio.com/podcastupload/?p=episode&name=2010-10-07_nc10-07-10.mp3

RC Dogma and the Biblical response

Council of Trent
on justification
CANON IX.-If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that itis not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.

CANON XI.-If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.

CANON XII.-If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.

CANON XIV.-If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.

CANON XXIV.-If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.

in response:
Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

On the Eucharist
CANON I.--If any one saith, that in the mass a true and proper sacriflce is not offered to God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is given us to eat; let him be anathema.

CANON III.--If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a [Page 159] bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.

CANON IV.--If any one saith, that, by the sacrifice of the mass, a blasphemy is cast upon the most holy sacrifice of Christ consummated on the cross; or, that it is thereby derogated from; let him be anathema.

in response
Hebrews 10:1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,



but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings



you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—



I have come to do your will, O God.' "[a] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

I will remember no more."[c] 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

The rottenness of the Roman Catholic confirmation

So my littlest brother David is getting confirmed in May to be a Catholic. He let me know this today by saying he knew what saint name he was going to pick. Obviously I said that none would be the best. Mainly i say that because of what the Roman Catholic church does to keep their pews filled and their followers ignorant of the faith. They just send them through a production line like a check box of things they gotta do to be saved (which is the essence of their religion of doing things, Faith + Works). Sometimes I think it is not even faith anymore and that it is just works. Reason being is this very thing of confirmation. They were baptized... check, they went through first communion...check, they are confirmed... check... ok they are in only after they go through purgatory! I can't stand it. I am not bashing my brother in his ignorance. But that he is ignorant because of the deception given to him. Like I know they kind of teach the Roman Catholic doctrine, but comon do you think they are all listening. My experience is that they taught very little doctrine and more about service and this and that, I barely even knew I had to believe in anything. And so they say well you did all the requirements to get confirmed, lets confirm you. Instead of saying you know this this and this about the faith... do you believe it or not? and the this this and this are the important things like how are you saved and how one is made righteous. They might even tell you that and yet not back it up with scripture and say here believe this instead of this is what the Church believes and why do you believe it too?

So I asked my brother, who the pope is and what does he represent? and he had no reply. NONE! not his fault, its the Roman Catholic Church who has either left it out, or forgot to mention its importance. They dont even display the other sides view to say this is what other believe that is different to even give a choice, they just present it and that is the only choice. I also told him about works based salvation like I mentioned above and he didn't know that either. That the Roman Catholic Church says you can lose your faith if you don't do enough works, ultimately needing to go take the Eucharist to be given the perfect sacrifice and to tarnish it week after week and needing it over and over again...what blasphemy to downplay the perfect work of Christ! But David does not know these things and he is going to confirm himself into that faith? what faith? he doesnt know. He is just going through the process like all the others, just like I did.

Just to be honest though about what I am saying and what I am not. I am not saying my brother will not be saved because he will be a Roman Catholic, because I know no one is perfect and it is the perfect work of Christ imputed to you by faith that justifies you. And there are those who probably do have a saving faith regardless of the blasphemies taught to them or believed. But, because of the incorrect doctrine of what is being taught, the possibility is a lot higher that that faith cannot even be known and received and believed because it is not the belief of the RC church or taught to its members. I say this because I know my mom slung a emotional mud ball at me one time while talking to her saying "Does that mean my mother (my grandmother) is not in heaven because she was Catholic?" All I would say is I don't know if she is or not and that is up to God to know her faith whether it was a saving one or not, and mine and my moms and everyone else's as well. But I can say scripturally what a saving faith is and what it means for those who have it. Which unfortunately is unscriptural by the standard of the Ecclesiastical hierarchy who has no way to prove their power to determine the meaning of scripture except for saying "because we say so".

Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Christus, Soli Deo Gloria!

Gettin Back...

So this is my first post in a couple of months. I stopped posting this summer because I was at camp and basically was confined to the world i was in and not the outside world.

I am getting back into running. After 6 months off from having IT Band syndrome, I am finally getting back into running. Wow I am out of shape! I believe though that I got a lot out of taking that time off. I found myself in a different world with different people and learning to live without running. But, now that school has started back up, I find myself alone and nothing else to do but work class and try to get fit again. I really miss running and I know it will be a long slow process to get back to where I was, I will enjoy it because I have nothing to get ready for soon!

I am not going to be running Track this year even though I have eligibility. I may not be in shape or healthy by then so I don't want to stress out over it. I want to just relax and just train for a while and see where I am in a few months and go from there.

I am planning on moving to Virginia to move closer to my girlfriend Jen. So I figure it would be a great opportunity to establish some relationships and contacts with Liberty University's team down there and other runners and coaches. the weather down there is gorgeous and so training will be amazing! I cannot wait to see how things work out.

I will have hopefully updates on what is going on while I get ready to make that move.

Ithaca Evangelism

Yesterday I went to Ithaca with Jen to go to a doctors appointment for my IT band syndrome that I have been having problem with for about 12 weeks to the day. Afterwards we went around downtown to go to the Ithaca commons which I had never been there and then to see the water falls.

While we were down in the commons we went to a place that Jen and her family love to go called the Matte Factor. It is this little restaurant with this tea called Matte and Jen loves the place because she loves tea and she loves that the place makes everything with natural ingredients including honey to sweeten their tea because she can have honey and not sugar.

We first went in their to get some tea then walked around the commons for a little bit. After walking around and seeing the other stores and such, it was about lunch time and we needed to get something to eat. Jen wanted a wrap from the Matte Factor and I wanted a waffle from this waffle place. Which, my waffle was amazing, it was a cornbread waffle with real maple syrup and chocolate chips on top!!! I got my food and headed over to the Matte place to sit with Jen where she was talking to the guy who works there.

Now, to add a little background, the people who own, run, and work the Matte place are people who are apart of this group called the Twelve Tribes, which we think are like this Jewish cult. They have a website that you can check out called www.twelvetribes.com .

This guy gave her this pamphlet and I walked in on them talking about it. Later after sitting down and eating the guy came back because he saw I was reading it trying to get an idea of what it was saying. They quoted the bible a lot in the pamphlet and asked him why that was. So, we had a nice discussion on what he believes. Basically the man is a Pelagian who thinks men are going to heaven based on their good works and that Christ only came to save those who are just too deep in the whole to get themselves out. I had gone through the Ten Commandments trick with him to show him he is a sinner in need of Christ and he stopped me and said, "have you ever nailed a piece of wood together to something? does that make you a Carpenter? so if no why is it that if I lied once or twice or a few times but not a lot or badly does that make me a lier?"

I must answer this because this was a new thing I had never heard but I think I responded nicely to it. The difference between these two things being a lier and being a Carpenter by profession is that the standard by which the action is measured by. Let me explain, the Law of God says that you break my law you deserve punishment. It does not say how many time you have to break the Law before you finally deserve the justice. Even so was it not by one action of one bite of the fruit of the forbidden tree that sent the whole world into a fallen nature? By one man sin entered the world, is it not right to say that by one sin, justice is to be accounted for? The Carpenter is merely a profession and simply doing things as a Carpenter does does not make you a Carpenter. It is like saying if you ever ran in your life it makes you a runner, or if you ever wrote a poem for class it now makes you a writer. No! I am a horrible writer and by no means it it something that I am. yes I can write, yes I have written but I am by no means A WRITER. The title is stating that it is who I am by what I either enjoy to do often or do professionally. To walk into a room full of writers and say I am one and tell them i wrote a short story for 11th grade English once, they would laugh. The standard is set by society as to what it means to be a writer or a Carpenter or a runner, but not so with being a lier, a murderer, or a thief. The standard is an objective one in which crossing the line now makes your deserving of the penalty. In a court of law it would not stand if you broke it once or a thousand time. Point being you broke the law. In human Law you can break it a bunch of times and not get caught, untrue for God's Law because God knows the hearts and minds of everyone, knowing exactly what Law you broke and how many times whether it be few or many. So, to use that analogy is to compare two different things that do not apply to each other.

Anyways, after talking for a long time with the man who continued to go in circles confusing Law and Gospel, We kindly left the man shaking his hand. I praise God for the opportunity to have spread His Gospel and that by that His purpose will be edified in that man's life. May God's calling be effective always to those whom He chooses to make known to.

Jen then took me to the music store there in Ithaca and that was fun. I got to play a twelve string acoustic guitar which sounded amazing! We then left and kind of got lost trying to find Taughannock Falls, which was a first time for me going there and had to be one of the most beautiful falls in Ithaca by far! It started to rain and so we headed home. What an amazing day with such an amazing girl!

Jerry Greenlaw

So I thought of Jerry the other day as I was driving my car to go to the park to chill with friends. I heard the song Born to Run by Springsteen and I couldn't help but think of Jerry. He has been a pretty good friend to me in the past two years at Cortland, just always making me feel welcome. I miss him and my other buddies I have met throughout my college days. I feel like I have fallen off the face of the earth to them. I will definitely have to make trips to see them in the future to enjoy their company as I have done so many times in the past!

Days...

As I am getting older now, the days seem to be getting shorter. The months and years are just moving by faster and faster. But God in my life has been growing me more and more in these days. He has given me graces beyond measure and ultimately the greatest Grace of them all! Living in that I am slowly dying to myself and finding my life becoming different. As stages in my life begin to change I am forced to place everything into His hands, knowing that I am to live my life in the comfort and knowledge of God to help guide me but ultimately He will put me where I am to be. Where I was, where I am, and where I will be is exactly where I am supposed to be. And so, each day I take to that comfort to act in ways that are against my old nature, becoming even more each day, a Child of God.

A long weekend with the Vermaat's

This past weekend, I was invited to come to Jen's Uncle's wedding that was Renaissance themed. It was a very interesting wedding! very low key and close family. I was very honored to have been invited to the ceremony. The bride rode a horse with Jen's Uncle David lead her in. Jen looked amazingly gorgeous in her dress. I wore a pretty neat outfit myself. It was neat because walking around with the horses in our outfits, I really felt like we were actually in the 1600's!

The next day I got to spend more time with Jen's family as they all came over her house for the evening. She keeps tellin me her family is crazy but I think she is too self concious about alot of things because I think her family is pretty neat and pretty funny.

Jen also came with me on Sunday to Church at the Redeemer in Cortland. She said it has been almost half a year since she has been to church. She loved it there. She is always being discerning and so she asked me to clarify somethings she thought she herd like when we had communion she had thought by what the pastor said, she thought that he meant the the bread and juice became the literal body and blood of Christ which she misunderstood just a little.
She also kind of doesnt like how people pray as unworthy when we are now children of God, loved by Him. but i simply explained its not always the case. Granted I find that alot of her concerns come from her dislike of her previous Church within the Dutch Reformed tradition. Granted alot of the things within her specific Chruch are not always the case everywhere and the same goes vice versa. But it is a shame that she is so hesitant to many things within the Reformed tradition because how much it had been skewed within her previous Church.

Jen is one of those believers who stresses the relationship with God while I am the kind that enjoys the relationship with God but it flows from the knowledge of what God has given me in His word through doctrine. She says Christianity is not religion but relationship while I say Christianity is Gospel and not Law. She stresses the heart in which comes the knowledge and I stress the Head where knowledge is proccessed and finds its path to the heart to become exhalted.

Sort of a small dilema but it does not make me love her anyless! She understands many of the same things I do but from a different source and so I praise God for that! I care about her alot and she cares about me and feels comfortable with me, and I see us growing more and more together in Christ. Jen is an amazing girl and I find it crazy that she had been right infront of me for about a decade. Praise God for putting her in my life!

Assateague Island

For summer vacation my friends and I have been plannin a trip to go to Assateague Island down near Ocean City, MD to get away for a few days and go camping and enjoy the beach. As we were driving down there, the weather was warm and cloudy. But, about 15 mins before we arrived, the sun came out and the weather was gorgeous the rest of the week. Jen and I went shopping for food the first day down there while everyone else stayed at the campsite and put the tents and stuff up. When we got back we ate hot dogs over the campfire and then went over to the boardwalk in Ocean City.

After going to the boardwalk we came back to the campsite and walked around the beach in the dense fog and then hung around the fire till we went to bed. In the morning, we all got up really early before 6am to enjoy the runrise. Then we went around over to Ocean City again to play beach volleyball and walk the board walk the other direction. When we got back to the campsite, it was not even noon yet, so we all got in our suites and went swimming and played in the sand digging holes. Afterwards, we got changed, played a long game of apples to apples, some took naps while I made my own kite out of the broken tent materials. When the nappers woke up we went to a Crab Shack just on the mainland from Ocean City for dinner where the meal was really expensive but really good. I had huge bucket of clams and shells and crab which was delicious. Then as we got back we had some ice cream sandwitches around the fire and went for a moonlite walk on the beach then headed to bed.

On the thiird day we spent our morning packing everything up and then headed back home. we dropped off Joy in Philly where we picked her up from, and stopped at the Country Junction, the worlds largest general store, to eat dinner and look around.

This trip was an amazing trip. For how inexpensive it was to go and do what we did for a few days, I could not have asked for anything more! By the way Batman stayed up the whole trip!

Jwits at my door

This mornin, a little after I had woken up, I heard the door bell ring. I was two women evangelising for the Jehovahs Witnesses and the Watchtower Tracts Society. I almost invited them in but it has been a long time since I have studied up on Jwits and This was my first ever encounnter with them coming to my home.

They first asked me what I thought about the current world crisises and natural disasters proceeding to hand me a Watchtower magazine that has an article talking about it. I simply told them I dont believe in their god and that I did not want to take the magazine. I realized because I had not studied up on their beliefs recently enough to remember, we simply exchanged some questions starting with theirs first.

They first asked me what I believe God's purpose is, which I answered them that it has always been a history of redemption through the Lord and God Jesus Christ. Then I asked them whether they believe in the Trinity, whether Jesus was fully God and fully man, and they answered no. Come to find out I had asked one of the important questions that is disputed between Jwits and the Church of Jesus Christ, as I had afterwards read up on. They also asked me if I believed if we are currently living in the last days, and I said yes explaining that in this age of grace by the Gospel we are currently waiting for the return of our Lord and God Jesus Christ.

After our friendly exchange they said good bye and they left. I wish I had known more about them to get a better understanding of how to have exchanged with them a little better. Granted that falls mostly on my ignorance and I know to leave it to God to change the hearts of those who are unbelieving. But I noticed something about how they evangelized me. They simply went straight to some abstract concept where God is being questioned and handing me not a bible or bible verses but the Watchtower magazine. I know they need to do this because they are tryinng to "win" converts and are doing all the things necessary to do so and that even means changing the message. But not just that they didnt give me the Gospel but they did not even expound on what their gospel was. I heard no purpose to why I should read except that I could get a better understanding of why bad things are happening. I was left with an emptyness of not truly understanding their views and beliefs with an exception of when I had asked them my question on the trinity. I felt like in order to have truly delt with the situation, not only do you have to know what you believe and why you believe it but know what they believe and why they believe it. I know i should do this but at the same time it upsets me to thing how many people dont know what they believe and why they believe it or have not completely understood everything they believe in order to go out and evangelize. Evangelism should be an act of portraying your beliefs to another and why so that they may either accept or deny that claim, not to vaugely give a brief idea or concept in attempts to possibly decieve the unbeliever.

So again other then from the question I asked them, it sounded to me like they believe basically in the same things I believe, but when you go in and research further it really is not the case. I pray for those two women that by God's grace they will be given a heart of flesh and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their righteousness and rest in that Gospel. May our conversation we had been to further that Gospel and to glorify God! Amen

Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Christus, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia!

AGAPE Bonfire and more

On Wednesday night I spent the whole afternoon and evening and part of the early, early morning with Jen and my firends from Agape at Cortland. We had a bonfire up at Otisco Lake. It was huge. I think the wood pile was about 12 feet tall and about 12 feet wide at the base. It started out as crummy weather almost about to rain, but then it cleared up and boy was it beautiful. A couple of us went swimming in the lake where it was as cold or colder than some ice baths I have taken previously. I played 16 games of Kan Jam with Sean and we went 15-1, with our last loss because it was practically dark. so we went 15 and 0 for almost the whole day. Me and Brian Keefe went out on the lake with the canoe, and a couple of us walked out on this fallen tree over the lake. Before we started the fire I was given an opprotunity to speak some words to the bunch of people who were at the bonfire about Christ and His Gospel and How it defines us and to keep learning more and more about it. I was blessed with that opprotunity. I love when I am given opprotunities to speak like that because I feel it always necessary to proclaim the truth and the Gospel, even if it is to some believers to build them up in Christ.

I finally drove with Jen home but before we got home we stopped in Cortland to have a Midnight breakfast with some of my teammates, so Jen got to meet them. I was blessed with another opprotunity to share more of the Gospel where a teammate of mine had asked the question to me whether God can become a man, where I simply responded, "I believe he has already!" I explained the doctrine of the trinity and the purpose of Christ becoming man. It was an out of no where question but I was obliged to respond. After that, we finally headed home and just as we got into the Forks, Jen didn't want to go home so we drove around a little while as I attempted to bring her to a cool place but I couldnt see a thing in the fog, so she fell asleep and I brought her home fighting my own urges to do the same.

Reality Check!

Well, reality is catching up with me and im feeling pretty sad about it. I feel like I have spent so many hours and many hard times and crapy days in the rain, snow, and wind to not even be able to compete a single outdoor season in a Cortland uniform. I only competed for a gran total of 3 seasons in a cortland uniform. thats only enough to cover 1 year of running. Now I am possibly looking at my college career being over before it was suposed to. I feel kind of empty. Only because I really would have enjoyed trying to run some good times on the outdoor track. So many great expectations that just never even start to happen. I am gunna miss running for Cortland. I really regret nothing but it is just a pity to have the same thing happen to me in college as what happened to me in high school, not getting to finish my last season. I have an extra indoor and outdoor eligability but I really want to get the Grad assistant job to help build my resume and to pay for grad school. I am kind tired of waiting and at the same time being over run by the current workload of school. I feel like I cannot fit anything more into my brain. I feel like I have a bad case of ADD where I just cant pay attention any longer. I cant seem to finish things that I start because I am too easily distracted. I am out of money and I dont have my running to go to as an outlet. I trust God that he has this situation for me for a purpose but I still sometimes His purpose is hard. I completely expected this but the reality of it didnt hit me until I got deep enough in. I just pray that what ever happens is to God's good purpose and if I suffer for it, may god comfort me through it.

10k American Record!!!!

So the last couple years in track and field has been amazing. A resurgence of the sport has been shown with the trampling of barriers that American distance runners has not yet been able to accomplish yet. Not only that but stronger fields within the sport. Stronger front packs, especially lead by the Oregon Track Club Elite. First 2 americans go under 13 mins for the first time since Bob Kennedy in the 90's and one of them being the new american record, happening within 2 weeks of each other. Then almost a year later the first non-african to go under 27 mins in the 10k! Just amazing performances and in our life time. This is just amazing all around to see this happen. This is definately up there with Billy Mills being the only American to win an olympic 10k. Here is the video, the excitement in the last lap is just amazing:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

The Folly of Men

Mainly my own folly. I am still amazed that God uses us to carry on His Word. I feel sometimes I am so passionate about the doctrines of Grace that I fail to see the works of another being a hearty message that flows from the Word. I failed to see someones attempt today to try and promote Christianity because I was so focused on doctrine and what I thought the passage was actually speaking. I myself am not an expert with this passage the guy was speaking from and so for some reason I had to act like I was. God forgive me and please continue in your grace for me because I cannot live without it. For without it you should have already struck me down years ago! Humble me Lord!

Pretty good weekend I'de say!

I helped out with my churches youth group with a lock in at the church where we went to the mall and played a scavenger hunt then came back to the church had a devotional time and then did a talent show and had a gutter of ice cream literally, then watched the blind side played a random board game called quelf and then watched avatar. Afterward in the mornin, I drove home then met up with a long time friend and we had a huge talk while we walked around Binghamton University, drinkin bubble tea. And so the next day we basically had a DTR moment and so i asked her dad if I could court her and so thats what im doin now. I have a girlfriend! who has been a long time friend. which is odd because I never thought something like that would happen.

Been Pretty Busy

I havent been on here as much as I have in the past. I think it has been like 2 weeks almost since I have posted anything. I am really busy now with trying to finish up school and get gradiated (spelt that way on purpose) and just trying to move on in my life. I am hurt and havent ran in 3 weeks, and so I luckily have that time now to devote to my work and other things so I am glad that it works out like that bc I would be tanking in everything now if I was running. Anyways I will let everyone know more about my plans when they are more finite and what I have been up to! until then, Praise God, my rock and my deliverer!

My heart would still refuse thee...

Causeless Choice

By John W. Hendryx

Libertarians, of course, like to claim that we also base our compatiblism in philosophical assumptions but this assertion simply doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. There are an endless number of Scriptures that affirm that our choice to believe or reject the gospel is done so of necessity because of our innermost affections and inclinations. For example, in John 3:19 it says that those who reject the gospel do so because the love darkness and hate the light. A libertarian, on the other hand, to be consistent, must assert that one rejected Christ, not necessarily because he hated him, or on the other hand did not chose Him because he had affection for Him, but rather only because he chose to, which is contrary to everything we know of Scripture. We all know that the will ultimately chooses from the desires and affections of the person. Quoting the Old Testment prophet Isaiah, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for the error of choosing without intent by saying, “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.” This reveals that it is impossible to honor Jesus with a faith that does not also honor Him from the heart. This is not very different from the kind of faith libertarians are describing. Later to another group of those who refused to believe, Jesus shows us what the cause of our choices are when he replied,



"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin...If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does...You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." (John 8:34-47)



Jesus continually points to reasons or motives as the determining factor for believing and rejecting the gospel: they are “determined to kill me”, “their heart is far from me”, they “want to carry out their father’s desire” and they reject me because they “do not belong to God.” Libertarian causeless choice is, therefore, an idea foreign to Scripture and basically goes against all sound logic. If our choice to receive Christ is causeless, not arising of necessity from our affections or desire when we see God’s beauty and excellence, then it is made, as it were, out of thin air, for no other reason but that we chose, as if the person wills to choose something he doesn’t want. To give you a real life example of libertarian causeless choice, read the following excerpt from a recent conversation I had with a libertarian where I asked a simple question about why we believe the gospel. I asked,



“If the gospel is preached to two persons and they both receive equal (prevenient) grace, why is it that one man ultimately believes the gospel and not the other? What makes the two people to differ? Was it Jesus Christ that makes them to differ or something else? If both had the same prevenient grace it wasn’t Jesus that made the to differ, so obviously one had a natural advantage over the other.



He answered in classic libertarian fashion, “One heard and understood, one did not. One believed and one did not. That's the nature of free will. Our decisions are not DETERMINED by forces outside of our will. And that's why one man accepts and another rejects Christ.”



Lets take a closer look at his answer. He said that ‘one understood and one did not’ … but where did such understanding come from to begin with? Was this understanding itself derived from nature or from grace? In the libertarian scheme did God grant this understanding so that one believed? We are forced to conclude that He did not, for if He did this for everyone, then both persons would have the same understanding. So we must conclude that, to the libertarian, such spiritual understanding is entirely self-generated, apart from any work of God’s grace in us. Whatever differences there were between the two men, these differences were not derived from grace. Ultimately, it is a reliance on some innate ability in one man, which the other did not have. So we must ask, then, according to libertarianism, was it chance that generated this difference in natural wisdom between the two? Was it random? Or was one man naturally just smarter or wiser than the other? The only two alternatives left to us here are either that one person just happened to understand (‘just because’) by chance, or that one was already better equipped than the other (in his natural self) to respond positively to the gospel command. Neither of these possibilities is aligned with the teaching or intent of the gospel, which is by grace through and through.



Now, in his second answer to why one believed and not the other, He answered, “one believed and the other did not” But I did not ask him what he did, because we all know what he did already from my question, but I asked ‘why’ he believed. Our libertarian friend didn’t really answer the question as I asked it, but he did answer it according to his libertarian philosophy, since he believes that it was not his desires (or anything else) that caused him to choose one way or the other. The will itself is sovereign, in the libertarian view, and has an ability of its own which can ultimately choose apart from any gracious affections of the heart. To a libertarian, he can choose Christ even if he does not desire Him. While the affections may influence the choice, in their view, still the will can chose what it doesn’t want ultimately, which, of course, destroys the unity of the person.



But the answer faces the same difficult question as the first --- did one just happen to believe? My gospel says that only the humble, who recognize that they have no hope in themselves, will embrace Christ and, in like manner, the proud will despise and reject Him. Either sin and virtue, of necessity, precede our choice when Christ is put before us. It is the grace of God that makes us humble, not innate ability or chance. But the libertarian is unwilling to say it was only by God’s grace in Christ because he then would admit to God’s sovereign choice. Nor will he provide an answer that reveals a moral virtue in one person (humility) that the other (who was proud), did not naturally have. This would expose his belief in salvation by merit. But these two answers are the only possible conclusions. So if there is not of necessity any moral reasonor motive that ultimately compels one to believe or not then how could God blame someone for rejecting Him? To believe the gospel is a moral choice, from the heart. If not then God could not call the rejection of the gospel a sin. If our affections do not cause us to believe then belief and unbelief is ultimately non-affectional, not from the heart and rejection could not be considered a sin. But if faith is a moral choice then how did one person get a more moral disposition than the other? One remained proud and the other humble? Was this by nature or by grace? If by grace then why don’t all men have it? If by nature then some people are more virtuous than others apart from grace. This dilemma is really fatal to libertarian free will and none of them have been able to answer these basic questions. The answer ‘just because’ is ludicrous.

Monergism = Christ Alone

-John W. Hendryx



Recently a visitor seemed deeply troubled that we would equate our belief in Monergism with "Christ alone" -- that by doing so we were being tribal, because this communicates the idea that synergists do not affirm "Christ alone" and to make this claim is to stir up animosity between brothers. But our purpose is not to create bitter feuds, but to be faithful to Scripture on a foundational subject. For those of us who are persuaded of monergism didn't we all come to embrace monergistic regeneration because it best expresses the Biblical data regarding the extent of Christ's work in our salvation?

Doesn't he word "monergism" itself help us understand this concept? The word consists of two main parts: The prefix "mono" means "one", "single", or "alone" while "ergon" means "to work". Taken together it means "the work of one". That is, regeneration is the work of Jesus Christ alone (as applied by the Holy Spirit), not the cooperation of man and God and not the result of unregenerate man meeting a condition (like faith) before regeneration takes place. THE main difference between Monergism & Synergism, then, is that while synergistic theology affirms the necessity of Christ, yet they do not affirm the sufficiency of Christ. That is, synergists do not affirm that Christ provides everything we need for salvation, including a new heart to believe and understand the gospel. (1 Cor 2, John 6:63-65, 37, 44). Christ does most of what we need, but we still need to meet God's condition to be saved. If, as synergists may say, God grants grace to all men, then we must ask, why do some believe and not others? Did some make better use of Christ's grace than others? Does Christ make them to differ or something else (like our decision)? That 'something else' means that Christ may be necessary to them but not sufficient to provide all they need to be saved (including a renewed heart to believe). Thus 'Christ alone', as it was understood in the Reformation, is a monergistic distinctive. His cross is sufficient to provide all we need including the very faith required of us.

Is our faith, therefore, something we can thank God for, or is it the one thing we contribute to the price of our salvation? Is God's love for us conditioned upon whether we believe or not or does His love meet the condition for us in Christ, according to scripture? We affirm that God gives us this condition but Christ does for us what we are unable to do for ourselves. We are not, therefore, partly dependent on Christ for salvation but wholly dependent.

Example: Is God's love like a parent who sees his child run out into traffic and who merely calls out to him to get out of the way or is God's love like the parent who, at the risk of their life, runs out and scoops up the child to MAKE CERTAIN that his child is safe. We all know that true love gets the job done ... it doesn't merely sit on the sidelines when something so critical as ones life is at stake. God's love is unconditional for His people and He sends his Son to make certain His sheep are not lost.

Note: a large percentage of synergists who are Protestants would openly confess that there is no hope save in Christ alone - and for this we embrace them as our beloved brothers in Christ, but the debates come about when their theology blatantly contradicts this good confession, when they believe in Christ PLUS a condition we meet, apart from grace. When we deny the sufficiency of Christ to provide anything (for apart from Christ we can do nothing) then we are not faithfully giving witness to the Scriptural understanding of "Christ alone" .

Michael Haykin rightly said, "It is wrong to suppose that the doctrine of justification by faith alone, that storm center of the Reformation, was the crucial question in the minds of such theologians as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, and John Calvin. This doctrine was important to the Reformers because it helped to express and to safeguard their answer to another, more vital, question, namely, whether sinners are wholly helpless in their sin, and whether God is to be thought of as saving them by free, unconditional, invincible grace, not only justifying them for Christ's sake when they come to faith, but also raising them from the death of sin by His quickening Spirit in order to bring them to faith."



!!!!Also see John's "Eleven(11) resons to reject Libertarian Free Will" !!!!

When the child has no choice

I want everyone to watch this video. I am focused on the part where the man without the microphone brings up the oppression from Christians by giving the example that women are taken of their rights to choose whether to give birth or not to save their lives. He is asked to give an example, where he could not. I will not doubt him that there are women who die from their pregnancy. But, the real question lies not with whether this happens, but whether abortion is justifiable by this statistic.




I have taken the liberty to go and find the statistics myself that the man could not provide. Here is the citation Pregnancy-Related Mortality Surveillance --- United States, 1991--1999 Jeani Chang, M.P.H., Laurie D. Elam-Evans, Ph.D., Cynthia J. Berg, M.D., Joy Herndon, M.S. Division of Reproductive Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Here is the web link to it.

As we can see, "During 1991--1999, a total of 4,200 deaths were determined to be pregnancy-related. The overall pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 11.8 deaths per 100,000 live births and ranged from 10.3 in 1991 to 13.2 in 1999." So within a 9 year span or so only 1.18 out of 10,000 births that actually happen does a mother die from her pregnancy.

So does this statistic justify the number of abortions that are being administered? Here is the source for the next statistic. Abortion Surveillance --- United States, 2006. Karen Pazol, PhD, Sonya B. Gamble, MS, Wilda Y. Parker, Douglas A. Cook, MBIS, Suzanne B. Zane, DVM, Saeed Hamdan, MD, PhD. Division of Reproductive Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC. Here is the link.

"For 2006, a total of 846,181 abortions were reported to CDC. Among the 46 areas that provided data consistently during 1996--2006, a total of 835,134 abortions (98.7% of the total) were reported; the abortion rate was 16.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, and the abortion ratio was 236 abortions per 1,000 live births"

So compared to the total tally of just one year, there are about 850,000 abortions annually compared to the 4,200 childbearing caused deaths within one decade! And this statistic is only for the reported abortions. The numbers do not match up. The number of abortions are far greater than the number of deaths of mothers caused by childbirth. Now can we compare how many women die from giving birth to the number of women who die from having an abortion?

"One out of every 6,000 women who have an abortion after 21 weeks gestation die.
One out of every 166,000 abortions ends in death. Just under one out of every 100 abortions has a serious complication."
[Source: AGI, 1998. Note: These figures may be low due to under-reporting of deaths due to abortions.]

So now we see that there about as much or more death and complication due to having an abortion for the woman as naturally giving birth to the child, except in the case of naturally giving birth the child has a shot at living while in the other, both the mother and the child die.

Should we use the excuse that women are just protecting their lives by aborting their child? Or, is this just an excuse to justify the many women who a selfishly irresponsible and do not wish to suffer their consequence? Granted I don't even believe it to be a consequence but a gracious gift to have a child. Also I know there are some who argue for "what if the woman was raped, etc." I still hold that having a child is a blessing, and that though it is unexpected and a burden un asked for in the womans life, there are other ways of handling the situation rather taking the unborn childs opprotunity to live. To take the childs life for that childs sake also is a completely illogical reason also. To claim to know the horrible life the child may suffer by being given life is opperating upon your personal sovereignty that you do not have and so would be irresponsible to even say what is good for the child when you cannot opperate on the basis of knowing what kind of life that child may live.

So here are some statistics to see and to remember when you think that women are the ones who need to be protected, as Todd Freil states in the video above, that the one not being considered here is the child.

A couple things...

So like I said before I am beat up right now. I cannot remember if I put down in that post that my knee hurts but it still hurts and I cannot run right now. If this continues, I will probably go get a cortasone shot to calm down the inflamation that is causing the pain.

Secondly, our school is located right next to a cemetary. For the two years I have been here I have never seen a funeral take place in that cemetary, until the other day. Now there is more to the cemetary than what we can see from the library, but this funeral took place litterally right next to the fence that seperated the cemetary from the school. It was kind of odd to have seen life continue on at the school people playing their music loudly in their cars as they drove by, people walking to and from class talking about their days. This is all going on while life had ceased on the other side of the fence about 10 feet from us, as a family mourned the death of their loved one. This all just seemed strange to me. Seeing this contrast happening within feet of each other. As I walked by it, I just thought to myself, I hope that person heard and responded to the Gospel. But, I know if they had not, that it would be to God's purpose either way! For Christ is able to save the uttermost, all those whom are called. Not one shall perish who are given to the Son.

Also, I applied to work at Covenant College down in Georgia as a Cross Country Coach. I hope I get the job because that would be sweet to work at that college doing something I love to do and be able to make a living. I am also going to apply to Grad-school here at Cortland. I will be in the Kinesiology M.A. program. If I do that I am thinking about living over at winter street and volunteer coaching with the team here.

So thats what I had to say, a couple things to catch everyone up on whats going on and what I was thinkin bout.

Beat up

So most of you know I twisted my ankle and sprained it a couple weeks ago. Though I am fortunate to run on it, it is popping alot when I run on it and it is not 100 percent. granted it continually is getting better. My other foot though is going through a rough time also. my ankle on that foot is a little sore and I feel like one of my metatarsals on that foot is sore. Where the achillis tendon connects to the heel of each foot are sore and have been for a long time. I have been wanted to start doing morning runs but when I wake up, I can barely walk and the afternoon is prime to run because it provided enough circulation and movement to loosen everything up to run. I am sort of a mess right now but this may be my last season and I dont want this season to be like previous last seasons where I dont get to finish it... like my senior track season in highschool or my last cross country season at Delhi.

The Arrows

Denied but ok with it

Well, I was denied tonight by someone I like. I also was recently denied to PT school. I also have had alot of missed opprotunities this year in runnin such as making it to indoor nationals or becoming all-american in cross country. I wanted to mention this because I have to proclaim the Gospel and not this prosperity gospel that is not really even the gospel... sorry Osteen but it's not. I have to say that in my knowledge of the Gospel, I can accept these things that have been happening to me with hope and endurance. I know that God works all thing for good to those who love Him, but I also know that His ways are not our ways. So I must take things in trust and hope to know that if I am truly ment for someone or something, it will happen and it will be good whatever and whoever that happens to be. My second point is where the Gospel truly comes in, because not only do I have assurance in Christ about God providing for me but that I am provided the greatest gift of all... Faith! Given to me by grace not of my own works or merrit, but of God who purposed it. In that faith I have justification and since I am justified I am no longer condemned. And so, I have peace with God so that though I may suffer in this dying world or accel, I am right with God through the propitiation of my sins through Christ who interceeds before the Father on my behalf. I can now live for God with the God working within me through His Spirit which I have also recieved by grace, replacing my hard heart that rebelled against God, with a heart of flesh that truly lives. So these things have happened to me... Praise God!

Song of the Week

Guitar Hero III song I perfected on expert hahaha!!!!!

Why is Christianity Exclusive?

The other day I had the opprotunity to talk to a fellow Christian about my beliefs infront of an unbeliever, and so the result of that came to me basically trying to be clear to both of them about what Christianity is. The unbeliever was asking alot of questions about why our faith and belief is the only true "exclusive" belief and all others are wrong. While my fellow brother in Christ is a synergist. I had my hands full for the night. We were discussing this over food and my friends pointed out to me that I hadn't even touched my food. But how could I when I am trying to proclaim the Gospel to an unbeliever while clarifying the mistakes my brother in Christ was making because of his synergistic tendencies.

Well, to cut straight to the matter, there was a phrase in my head that keeps ringing over and over that he and many other Christians like to repeat. Many of you have heard of this phrase "it is not religion, it is a relationship." As if relationships make the difference between religion and Christianity. Cannot religions display a relationship with their god, gods, or no gods? Granted many do not have that relationship, being caught up in their works righteousness, but is not being a relationship work? This constant giving and receiving? I believe that Christianity is also a religion. By definition it is a set of beliefs and practices that people have concerning the cause of nature and the universe. So as Christians we have a belief and we have a set of practices such as the Lords supper and communion with one another coming together in worship. So what is it that makes Christianity exclusive?

The answer is not that we have a relationship (granted we do have one), but that we have the Gospel. A God centered belief as opposed to a man centered belief. What the Gospel says is not what other religions say, "do this and that and you will gain this" but that God has done everything and that we are gathered in belief of that. It is not about "What would Jesus do?" but "What has Jesus Done".

This is why I needed to clear the synergistic belief that we are the cause to our faith in which saves us. Because it is a monergistic work of God. God descends to us and gives us what we need. There is nothing we can do to ascend to Him. Our belief is a result of our regeneration which is the gracious act of God replacing our hearts of stone with a heart of flesh. Our justification is a result of the righteousness that is Christ's and is imputed to us by the faith we have recieved. And we have our relationship with God because we are continually being sanctified by the Holy Spirit working within us, creating within us fruits of righteousness. In Romans 8:28 it says "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." We see that it is God who does all these things! God has done everything for us! We have been freed from our selves which was dead to our sinful nature, and so we now have peace with God who has always loved us. "Twas not that I did choose thee for Lord that could not be...this knowing, if I love Thee, Thou must have loved me first".

Christianity is exclusive because it is Gospel! not because it is relationship.

P.S. Just to let all those know that are among the Christians who say this phrase, I do not hate you or mean to demean you in anyway but I am simply correcting the statement made. As said in Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Let our relationship with God be Gospel Driven and may our focus be on what God has done for that is what sticks us out from everyone else!

The actual song of the week!!!

Read the words. If you are a Christian, this is in full what our hearts crumble to because of what we have been given through Grace. If you are not a Christian, this is what we have in Christ! If you feel a pull to this Grace, it is God graciously drawing you to it and it is for you! You will be called a child of God, and judgement will never come upon you by Him who judges!

Becoming a PTA

Well, today when I was on my way home from class, my mother texted me and told me she got my acceptance letter to Broome CC to their Physical Therapist Assistant program. So I guess I will be doing that. I looked at the courses I will need to take and I have already taken some. I wont graduate from it early though but it will lighten the load semester to semester. So I will be living with my parents for 2 more years. I am going to try becoming a volunteer assistant coach at Binghamton University for their cross and track team so that I can get experience and possibly get a University coaching job in the future. I am USATF certified to coach track and my B.A. in Kinesiology is usually preferred what they look for. So I may be able to be a PTA and a coach or just have the option when opprotunities present themselves. For my own running I think I will start training to run a half marathon in the fall for Broome. Run the NJCAA national half-marathon championships since I never did at Delhi, I still have the eligability for that. If not I may just train for one on my own then get ready to run open... "semi-professionally" on the track and see how my times will fair. I will rep the Red Mules! Anyways I think that is the plan unless the Lord leads me elsewhere.

Song of the Week

Praise Be to God for His Gospel!

I am so thankful for what I have been given in Jesus Christ that I cannot compare anything to it. I have been thinking about how much I am not capable of doing anything good and pleasing to God without God enacting in me with His Spirit. I am a sinner and continue to sin. I am a lustful, hateful, egotistical, self relying man who would be crushed by the wrath of God had it not been for God calling me to His Son in whom I have peace, forgiveness, and justification! I am at a point in my life where I want to experience what the world has to offer more then what God has to offer. I look at the things in which would be truly good in God's sight and think "I am not capable." But, God has enabled me through His Spirit. The Spirit turns within me, sanctifying me and conforming me more and more to the image of Christ, whom I am in and who is in me. I say these things because I look at the things that I want and do not believe I am capable of acheiving them in a God honoring fashion. I do not want to be around others at times because I know that in doing so I may fail to represent that grace which I have been given. I do not want to pursue a sister in Christ for fear of not being able to treat her the way she deserves or that I will only lust after her instead of love her. I find myself not wanting to take up my responsibilities as a man should. I want to give up because I feel burdened. But, Why do I feel this way? I should not have to because no matter what, it is not I who works but it is God through His Spirit that works for me. I must rest in the peace in which this truth brings. That I am already in Christ and that if "God is for us(those in Christ), who could be against us?" I see my weak faith and it must be even so that weak faith or strong is better then no faith at all. "For by grace, through faith are we saved." Not of our works, and so the works I do are a result of this faith and does not create the faith. They are an extension of God's Grace "that I shall live to Thee." This thought comforts me that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more or love me less, because God is the source of where I stand before Him. That however my life is played out, that it is always to God's Glory because from God is was the righteousness that was needed for me to enter His Glory, and from God is the works that come to further Glorify Him, and that even in my unrighteousness, God has given me a heart of flesh that mourns over the evil deeds commited and drives me to Him again and again!

More Battle Wounds

On top of last weeks bruise to the thigh, I also sprained my ankle at ECAC's. I was feeling great and in control of my race and getting onto the straight away before we hit 800 meters, I stepped on the back of someones foot enough to turn my ankle. I hobbled a little bit to see if I could regain balance and continue running but all I could do was limp. I hobbled over to the inside of the track and just sat there holding my ankle as my coach, a meet official, and a trainer came over to me. My coach thought I had rehurt my achillis and I assured him this was not the case. I had just truned my ankle so hard I couldnt put much pressure on it. I felt really bad as the runners came around the next lap and Kyle and Matt Knott just looked down at me wondering what had happened to me. I didn't want them to see me like that because I wanted them to worry about themselves and their own race.

My Collegiate Indoor Career is now over(unless I find away to use my last bit of eligability next year). It had to end the way most of my careers have ended, with an injury and coming up shy of my goals. Like my senior year in highschool, my season ended with an injury a month before the season truly ended, or my last cross country season at SUNY Delhi ended about when it began with a stress fracture. I do have to say though, this time I am not as disappointed. Why? Most people would be crushed when they hurt themselves as they had one last shot to attempt qualifying for Nationals. One reason is, I have outdoor track still and so I really have more chances for that. The other reason is that I know I have gained more then I have ever deserved through God's Grace! I dont even deserve to be alive right now none the less deserve to go to a National Championship. I also have more then I could ask for in the saving blood of Jesus who is my Lord and Savior! So am I disappointed? Yes, who wouldnt be? But with this assurance and possesion, I have all I need, and to have gone to Nationals would have only been an bigger extension of the grace in which I already have!

Battle Wounds

Thought I would take a picture of the bruise from the workout that I ran on Tuesday. Woke up at 7:30 to do the workout with Kyle O'Brien at 8am in Lusk Field House. There happened to be a track and field class being taught by our throws coach in there and they were doing hurdles. Well I came down the final stretch of my last 200 and there were a bunch of students standing in my way and hurdles on both sides of them. I was full bore sprinting as fast as I can so by the time I saw them in my way, there was not enough time for them to react to my yelling "watch out!" I dodged 2 people clipped one guy and clipped a hurdle with my thy. This is what came of me clipping that hurdle. Granted it did not hurt when it happened and by the time I got back home all I felt was really tight in that spot when walking up and down the stairs. By the way this picture barely does justice to how black and blue it was yesterday when it happened.

I know the Strongest Man in the World

a friend of mine who runs with me durring the summer and coaches a couple of us with tempos durring that time looks exactly like Artie from the Nick show from the 90's Pete and Pete. Which by the way if someone every wanted to get me a gift, a DVD season of that show would be the most awesome gift ever! Anyways here is a picture of Artie and a video for you all to watch to know why I would love to have this show to watch whenever I want.

Never Been Any Reason - Head East

Indoor SUNYACS

SUNYACS was pretty great this year. Last year we were under alot of pressure from being the cross country national champions and we were suffering alot of illness and injury, so the expectations were high and the performance output was sub par. This year after alot of the drama and miscommunication, we have gotten to the point with our new coach where things are moving in the direction that we want them to be and at the same time having the weight off our shoulders. We came into SUNYACs with the mindset to perform the way we know we can and not worrying about the outcome as much. I got to see alot of good performances from ourselves and from the opposing teams. Our conference is the best it ever has been and I hope to see it get better. This year many conference records and conference meet records went down. On that note, we came to the meet understanding our team has been somewhat caught up to at the level of performance we expect ourselves to be and the conference is now competetive... the way it should be! So, I am glad and the opprotunities that we have all been given so far this season are so gracious I must thank God for them.

2-3 years ago I was running at SUNY Delhi and knowing how hard it was to run a 4:30 mile since that was around my PR. I was graced with the performance at SUNYACs to come through the first mile of my 3k in 4:32. I was shocked coming through that mile and thinking how easy that felt. Granted it was fast and so I began to slow down. I did PR by 2 seconds though running a 8:40 which is about a 9:15 2 mile. This being indoors I am very interested as to see what kind of times I will run outdoors, God willing. Taking training into consideration and getting fast from that, I can see alot of fun stuff happening this outdoor season. But indoor is still going on right now and ECAC's is coming up this next weekend. I will try one more time to hit a qualifying standard for NCAA's in the 5k and my collegiate indoor track career will be over. Kind of sad but freeing!

Song of the Week

First Snow Storm of 2010

Yesterday it snowed all day. Unfortunately, it did not get bad enough until around noon. I had classes from 8am until Noon which meant, all classes where canceled after Noon. Just my luck to only have classes that would not get canceled. Although, I was very happy this morning when I woke up not wanting to go to my Calculus class and fund out classes will not resume until after that class. So I got to sleep in! There were other things good that came out of this. My homework for Physics was postponed until Monday, same thing for my Calculus homework, and My Chemistry test was moved to Monday! Now I have the whole weekend to touch up on the things I am not very strong with. It did stink that the weather was crappy and the girls softball team was using Lusk field house, so Kyle, Justin, Nick and I went to Tomik Fitness center to run our 7-10 miles on the treadmills. I was actually kinda pleased how those treadmills felt because I hate treadmills! Granted this day was an exception.

'Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee

'Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old Thou hast ordained me,
That I shall live to Thee.

'Twas sov'reign mercy called me
That taught my op'ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me
To heav'nly glories blind.
My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.

Song of the Week

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Go to Youtube and search this video for the rest of the series of audio.

Exhausted!!!

So I am getting sick of running in the cold wintery snowy roads and in Lusk field house! Not that Lusk is that bad, but it seems like it is a combination of the tight turns and running in the weather outside that is killing my legs. Running on the snow is just not helping my legs recover from slipping and slidding every step and just not getting an effective pushoff. My right calf is tight and has slight shin splints and as soon as I recover I have another workout that kills it again. My arch of my right foot is also sore and even walking around on the snow stinks. I just feel kinda beat up and ready for it to get warm again so we can all start runnin on the warm grass on the IM fields and in Lime Hollow Nature Preserve trails. I think I will just barely make it!

Texas Lake House

My family and I went to Texas this summer to see my father's side of the family and also to go to my cousin's wedding, and when we went to go to my uncles lake house on Lake Livingston just north of Houston, my parents decided to get one. So we spent our Christmas there this year. My brother Brian and his girlfriend Brenna came over from Florida to come spend time with us and my uncle and his family spent time with us. Granted since we just got the place in the fall, we had to do alot of work on it. I did alot of yard work when I was there like raking and burning leaves, diggin ditches to help fix the drainage in the backyard, and other random things. I had a great time though. I ran my first 90 mile week down there because I had no idea where I was going so i just ran how far I wanted, then I came back and measured it and it turned out to be enough miles to get me up to 90 for the week. Here are some pictures of our new place down there.