24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  (1 Cor 9:24-27 (NIV))

Well, the fast ended on Sunday.  Abby and I made it through without watching TV.  I didn’t really miss it much.  Sure, there were times when I was doing some mundane chore and wanted to throw the TV on for background noise. Instead, I would put on a podcast of a teaching from some churches, which was great!

The church podcasts that I started listening to are Mosaic Church (amazing stuff from Erwin McManus) and Mars Hill Church (so far I’ve listened to Marc Driscoll).  I don’t necessarily agree with some points from Mars Hill Church (see: women not allowed to be pastors or elders), but their podcast on “Good Sex, Bad Sex” is wonderful :). 

We still haven’t turned the TV on, I am happy to say.  We are still talking about limiting the use of TV or getting rid of it altogether.  Seriously, the only reason we watch TV is to “veg out” and have something to talk to other people about (to connect in some way).   Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about Jack Bauer.

But I would rather BE Jack Bauer.

No, I don’t think I’m cut out for random homicides and dealing with terrorists.  I do, however, desire to be a man who serves a greater purpose, who fights evil and injustice, and who is willing to sacrifice my life for Christ.  I need to grow and hone myself in order to do so.  I need to take any excess time that I have (outside of work and relationships) and use it to develop myself.  

Change is hard.  We all get comfortable in certain patterns and routines that become second nature to us.  I would feel like I wanted to turn the TV on at certain times when, in the past, I would normally turn the TV on.  I had to replace that habit with another one.  Another great scripture is, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:11 (NIV)). 

Now this is talking about the Lords discipline to His children, but I think it can also be taken as representative of any discipline that enables us to become more like Christ.  Basically, I would paraphrase: “discipline is tough, it doesn’t really seem alot of fun in the present, as you do the same thing over and over.  We aren’t focused on the short term, however, we are focused on eternity.  Each time you discipline yourself to do something that grows you and enables you to become who God has made you to be, you are planting or watering a seed.  Eventually that seed will spring up and produce a harvest that makes all your work seem like nothing.  It’s definitely worth it.”

Anyone else have a view of discipline?

Now that we have laid the foundation that, as children of God, we are internally bent toward God’s commands, that we are holy and righteous at heart, we need to move on toward the struggles of being a Christian. Just becasue we have pure hearts and aren’t helplessly wicked anymore doesn’t mean we struggle with sin anymore. The difference now is that we shouldn’t classify ourselves as “sinners” at the core; we need to classify ourselves as holy, righteous, overcoming children of God. Our starting point is no longer defeat (sinners), but victory (purity and righteousness through Christ). 2 Cor 5:21 states, “God made him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that in him we may become the righteousness of God.”

The question is what we do from this beginning point; how we live out our lives. Just because we are under grace and redeemed by God doens’t mean that we are free to sin. Instead, this truth gives us the ability to overcome all the sinful patterns that have been present in our lives. Basically, we have the strength now to recognize that we are not sinners by nature anymore because our hearts are changed and the Holy Spirit lives inside us, and this strength gives us the ability to overcome sin.

We have to struggle with sin because even though our hearts are changed, our ways of thinking are not. The wounds that others have inflicted on us are still there. The lies that others have told us are still there. The wrong views of the world are still there. Also, we live in a world that is constantly challenging us to live right, with “the prince of the world” fighting against us.

See the classic stuggle written about by Paul (Romans 7:14-25):

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!

In this passage Paul is showing the classic struggle of a Christian: We want to do His will, but we don’t always act on that desire. Quite the opposite happens at (more…)

Tags: holy and righteous at heart, wicked, righteousness of God, sinful patterns, sinners by nature, prince of the world

So, Abby and I had the Macbook for a week before the battery wouldn’t charge anymore. I called the Applecare support line, and they didn’t know what it was, and they told me to go to a “local” Apple store to test the battery and troubleshoot the issue. So, I drive to the Florida Mall (45 minutes away) and find out that they can’t fix it, something’s screwy. The guy finds out that I only had the computer for 2 weeks (I didn’t take it down there for a week after it screwed up), and says, “hold on.” He promptly disappears into the back of the store.

When he re-emerges, he says his manager approved that he could replace the notebook with a new one. He starts typing on the computer, and grunts, “your computer is custom, so I can’t change it” (btw-my “custom” addition was a stick of RAM) . He says he will have to take the computer in for repair and will ship it to me direct back.

They had a fast turn around, which was great to see! I gave the computer to the Apple store on Tuesday night and recieved the computer back on Friday morning. Excellent.

When I opened the computer it was gashed on top and scratched on the bottom. Sucks. They don’t include what they did to the computer either, except for the part numbers they replaced. That’s it.

So now, I spoke to a customer service rep named Dan, and he said I can cross-ship a replacement for Abby’s gashed, scratched MacBook with some refurbished parts that I don’t know about. It will take a while, but I’ll have the peace of mind of a new computer.

He said someone will call me back in 24 hours to be my contact throughout the process. We’ll see how it goes. Right now, from what I can see about Apple computers:

• Applecare has speedy turn-around (good)
• They were willing to replace the laptop (good)
• If something gets screwed up later, pray that the repair people don’t gash your computer, because their repair contractors (mine was flextronics) don’t handle your computer with care (bad)
• Your best bet is to buy the lowest base configuration and upgrade yourself, so if something goes wrong, they can change your computer at an Apple Store.

We’ll see how they stick to their promises….

(update) Regina called @ 12:15 today (friday-about an hour and a half later) to update me and confirm everything…waiting for the e-mail with the tags to send the package back.

Over the weekend the gash on the top of the MacBook turned out to be a black goo (my mistake).  Still, there was tons of small scratches on the thing, and I observed a “ripple effect” going through the LCD.

I recieved the e-mail from Fedex early Monday morning. It contained free shipping back to Apple.  I shipped the MacBook back out around noon.

I e-mailed Regina on Friday because I hadn’t heard anything, and it was supposed to be cross-shipped. She sent me the Fedex tracking number. It had left China the day before!

Today, at about 2pm, I recieved a new Macbook in a new package. Amazing!  Regina even called today to see if it was working okay or not!

Basically, from start to finish this whole thing took seven business days.

Moral of the story…Apple support rocks. Flextronics, maybe not so much.

Tags: Macbook, Applecare, Apple Store, Apple support, Flextronics

• I just finished a Speed Reading Book by Robert Zorn  which gives an excellent overview of speed reading (I’ve gone from 472WPM to ~600WPM so far).
• I just started a more in-depth Speed Reading Book by Peter Kump which I will be reading in Tandem with the oh so popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• Also on order after a recommendation by Dan Mastrapa at our Orlando church will be:
  • The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church
  • Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community (Hardcover)
  • Planting Missional Churches (Hardcover)
  • Soul Cravings

The cool thing is…I’m an Amazon Associate…so these are ads as well.  I’m going to buy my books through my ads :).  (Also, if you buy one through the advertisement it will help cover the cost of my web site ;)