Training… week 1

So far this running stuff isn’t very fun. For those of you who’ve been to my neighborhood, you know what the terrain is like. I mean, I live on a stinkin mountain!!! That should say enough. Anyways, my thighs feel like they’ve been beaten with hammers. Seriously, I’m walking around like I’ve had a hip replacement. However, I am getting through each days training while meeting my daily goals. I wish I could say that my dietary goals are being met, but maybe I’ll burn enough calories that it doesn’t matter.

So, I’ve bought some legitimate running shoes. Yeah, I tried on the “blessed Asic Gels”, but ended up going with the Nike 360s. They were a much better fit for me, while also making me 2 inches taller (which doesn’t hurt). I got a great deal on them (because I was buying several other pairs of shoes). Only $85!!! Can’t beat that. Most other stores were selling them for $130. I also bought one of those pedometers. Haven’t figured it out yet… but atleast I’ve got one. And I’ve also bought one of those “arm bands that holds your IPOD” things. Yeah, it’s pretty rad.

All of this to say, you’d think I’m a running junky now. But I hate it!!! Why am I doing this. It doesn’t make sense. Where is this “running high” that I’m supposed to be feeling? Hopefully it’s coming soon. But for now, I’ll just keep going.

Rocket City Marathon

Many of you know several friends of mine (Wade Morris & Ed Newton) run marathons. Sometimes they run as many as 3-4 a year. For me, I’ve always looked at it as such a daunting task. I mean, how could you keep even a walking pace going for 26 miles.

Well, recently I was speaking with Wade and he shared with me that he was beginning to train for a marathon that he is running in December in Huntsville, AL. He told me that Ed was driving down to run it, along with several other folks that I know. So most of you know that my community of friends (for the most part) is spread all over the southeast. That means I rarely get to see them together in one setting. The more and more Wade talked about the race, it just made it sound fun. Fun? Running? How could running be fun?

Well, one thing led to another (which is a lazy way of not telling the rest of the story), but I made the decision to run the marathon. Now I’m only running the half-marathon. However, several of the others are running it, too. Nonetheless, we’re still talking about 13.1 miles (on foot… not driving).

Be praying for me, because now begins training. I’ve been running on the tread mill a little, even before making the decision to run the half-marathon. I don’t think it’s the running part that scares me, as much as possibly getting injured. Shoes are the key (I hear)!!!

Victory Home

Had the neat opportunity to go and speak with men who are in a rehabilitation facility in my area for substance abuse. The church that my wife and I are members of financially supports this organization and weekly (on Thursdays) sends someone to share a devotion with the men. I’ll have to be honest… it was a wake-up call. Not that I’m a substance abuser myself. But certainly none of us are immune to becoming one. In fact, it was startling to see how normal (in appearance) that everyone there was. No one looked like Pookie (from New Jack City, a movie from the 80’s). In fact, many of the men looked to have come from wealthy/white-collar backgrounds. Everyone looked normal… wherein lies the problem. The first being that addiction has no prejudices against social status, color, upbringing or even religion. The second problem is the normality I saw made me aware that the people I rub shoulders with every day could very well be in the same boat, but with no where to go and on the verge of losing everything.

Today was certainly a wake-up call to the importance of (here’s an over used word) community. The importance of being a friend to your friends. Recognizing the things that aren’t normal from the folks you care about and being willing to have honest conversations with them. And most of all… that we are all vulnerable. We all are fragile and can be easy broken by the things don’t exalt God.

I pray that God continues to use Richard (the guy who runs the recovery home) in the lives of these men. I pray that God also continues to use and work in the hearts of the local churches in my area that support this ministry. I also pray that God continues to heal and mend the broken lives of men who are crying out for help.

Thank you, God

A new journey begins

Well, as many of you know Marla and I have been praying directionally about our future… related to me. Somewhere deep in our hearts we’ve been sensing that God could possibly be preparing us for a “ministry assignment change” in the upcoming year or so. My calling is still as strong as it’s ever been and biblically I know that call will always remain the same (regardless of it’s with leading music or anything else).

That direction has taken a small “itty bitty” step in the past several days. It actually comes under unfortunate circumstances for a person that I’ve known. Nonetheless it involves me stepping into an interim position as the worship pastor of a thriving and growing church on the NE side of Atlanta. It is ONLY an interim position and I’m not exactly sure how long it will last. However, I believe (if anything) it will serve as a great experience to prepare Marla and I for whatever God has for us in this “next part of our journey”.

In fact, I’ve already started (effective yesterday) meeting with the staff and such. Tonight I meet my worship team, which consists of musicians and singers for two different services. To be quite honest, I’m extremely nervous about tonight. Really, it all stems down to the fact that anytime someone leaves a position and someone new steps in, there’s gonna be a little bit of resistance towards that new person. For those who know me well, you know that I’m (by nature) not a “people pleaser”. However, Jesus’ words ring clear in my life that as I’m to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, I’m also to love people and these people need to be loved on!

Pray for me in the days to come as I’m introduced to a congregation this Sunday that doesn’t know me, while at the same time they are told that someone else in their church family is no longer with them. Pray that God would give me an abundance of wisdom both tonight and this weekend. I’m reminded of Solomon’s faithfulness to God and in 2 Chronicles how he asked God, “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” And because of his faithfulness, God granted him the wisdom he requested in order to lead the people.

God, grant me that same wisdom you gave Solomon in order that I might lead your people. Create in me a clean heart and renew a “right spirit” within me. Purge within me the things that are not of you so that I might see You for who You are, me for who I am, and that I might therefore respond with my life accordingly.

Thank you, oh Lord!!

Senior Will

Interesting thing tonight… my wife comes home from work and it ends up that she works with someone I went to high school with. At first I didn’t remember the person (because she was younger than I was). However, the beauty in having a yearbook allows me to go back and see who she was.

(remember kids… always get a yearbook when you’re in high school).

Anyways, it lead me into a long journey back 13 years ago when I was in high school. I began thinking about playing football, ex-girlfriends, struggling to go to classes, amongst many other things that no longer have any significance in my life. I read my Senior Will. It was pretty interesting. Most of those folks that I mentioned in my Will I haven’t even spoken to in 8-9 years. In fact, if I had it to do all over again… I wouldn’t leave them anything. Ok… that’s pretty harsh. I didn’t really mean it quite so mean spirited. However, things change and life moves on.

So, here is an updated version of my Senior Will (fast forward 13 years)…

I, Chris Orr being of sound mind, hereby leave leave the following:

To my wife and child; A fat daddy life insurance policy

To Wade; any flyer miles that I may have, along with plenty of memories of late night conversations in hotel rooms.

Ed; Anything in my office that might make your life easier, along medical bills from the many times you’ve caused me to either go to an ER or a Chiropractor

Will; you’re now in charge of registration for the School of Worship… sorry!

Papa; Hmmmm… Anything weird looking in my closet

Norris; My Michael Vick jersey, Seneca Lake, plus a date w/ Bruce.

Rhodes; Nachos and Diet Cokes

Kerry; All of my Emergent books

Kindig; A free trip to Russia

Paysen; A vacation home on Lake Travis

Dowdy; Your very own Longhorn’s restaurant

My entire band; the big Merch case. It’s all yours!!

Well, that’s all I could think of without this turning into a novel. If I remember correctly, it seems like we had to keep the original one less than 100 words.

(unless you were on the yearbook staff and then you got to make yours as long as you wanted… stinkin nerds).

Fantasy Football

I’ve been playing in a Fantasy Football league now for 3 years with some friends. Now I know what some of you may say… “Fantasy football”? Wait, it gets worse. While in fact I’ve been in the league for 3 years, I’ve not actually been the owner. I’ve actually been a co-owner of a team. Yep! You’ve got to understand… this is a hard league to get into and you don’t just barge in and get your own team. Nonetheless, I’ve got my own team now and got to experience a draft as the sole owner just this past weekend.

All that to say, next weekend is when it all begins. That is the point where I’ll begin cheering and rooting for players that I would never normally cheer for. An example of this is Derek Anderson, QB for the Cleveland Browns. I can’t wait to see that dude from Oregon State throw a billion TD’s to Kellen Winslow, Donte Stallworth and Braylon Edwards. Why? Because he’s MY QUARTERBACK!!! Not anyone else’s… mine! Calvin Johnson. I hope he lights up the Atlanta Falcon’s defense. What? Yes! I even root against the home team when it comes to Fantasy football.

Anyways, I’m happy to say that now I begin a whole new stage of patheticness in my life. I am Chris Orr. I am a follower of Christ. I am a husband. I am a Father. And I am a Fantasy football owner!!!!

By the way… my team name is “Ron Mexico”.

It’s about time

What I’ve figured out about blogging is that if you “blog” alot, then it means that you don’t have much to do. I say that very “tongue and cheek”, but with some seriousness. Someone the other day asked me why I haven’t posted a blog in a while (which made me wonder, “how many folks are reading my page”). Anyways, I figured I need to post something else.

Since the last time I posted, there has been a lot of good things happening. I’ve learned a bunch, as well worn my self out. Nonethless, I’m excited about the days to come. Still praying through what could be a possible ministry reassignment in the months to come. However at the same time I’m more at peace with where God has me now than I have been in a while. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. The most important thing right now is that I continue to daily “align my heart with God’s heart”. It’s impossible for anyone to read His mind, but we can read His heart.

I’m excited to see what happens. 2 Corinthians 4:1. Thank you, Jesus!

A moment to reflect

Today, amongst all of the playing with Abigail I’ve been doing, I’ve been continuing to ponder on the thought that I mentioned in my last entry, “Have you ever tried to do God’s work without being empowered by His Spirit“. Now just being honest with you, that statement didn’t originate with me. It actually came from a guy/preacher that I met at an event back in March (Tony Merida). However, I just can’t get it out of my skull right now considering all of the preparation that is going on for the summer, while also with the things I’ve been wrestling with in my personal life.

It’s an obvious statement that “God is not dependant on me”. Duh! I know that. However though, I’ve finding that it doesn’t necessarily line up with how my life flows all the time. A more startling reality for me has been understanding not just his lack of dependence on me, but also my absolute need for him. Yet that, too is something that doesn’t exactly always seem to line-up with my walk through life. A guy named David Platt once said, “Are you dependant on yourself, or are you desperate for His spirit”?

So often for me it comes down to what I muster up on my own. It’s the complacency of knowing that “things are going good… I seem to have a good grasp on how things should be done”. In fact, I’m ashamed to say that it’s happened a lot. And unfortunately the negative that’s associated with that tends to be a furthering from the “will of God” and the tendency to rely on “my own strengths”.

Jesus said in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing“. What a great reminder! I hate it that it sometimes takes the hard times in life to remind me truly how desperate I am for God’s leading in everything I do. Even when we think we are doing something for him. I have to remind myself, “He doesn’t need me“! If I were to die today while watching Sesame Street with Abigail, God’s will would still be accomplished. I’m not doing him any favors by leading worship or by telling people about him. He doesn’t need me to accomplish his purpose. Yet he chooses to allow me to know Him and walk with him. It’s a privilege to be in His presence. Thank God He loves us so much!!

It’s time to get off of our feet and get on our knees and do like the old 80’s Christian band Petra used to sing about and “fight like a man”. Utter and complete desperation for the Spirit of God to lead each one of us in every breath that we breathe, every step we take, every conversation we have, every bedtime story I read to my daughter, every song that I lead in, every church that I go to…. everything that I do. Thank you God for loving me! I pray that you ignite a passon in me to cry out for you both day and night. Thank you!

Casual Conversations

I’m learning that casual conversations with friends often times become more than just “casual”.

Last night Marla and I stopped by and spent some time with some friends of ours who live close by. Unfortunately these same friends are moving away to Orlando in a few weeks. That makes me especially sad since they have become one our closest “couple” friends who live near us. With my line of work it’s hard to having any meaningful relationships with people. Especially when I find myself out of town when most folks are hanging out. Oh well! That being said, we stopped by to say “hi” and to see how things in their life have been since learning that they are to become “Floridians”. Obviously their lives are stressful because of trying to sell a home during the worst time in history. Yet still, they seemed to be very upbeat and happy. Now you must know that I love conversation. Even more than that, I love knowing the juicy parts of people’s lives. Not just the “yeah, we’ve been doing good” crap. I want to know WHY! So we began having (what seemed to be) a casual conversation.

I won’t bore you with all of the details of the conversation. But I will tell you that I found myself leaving encouraged, but with more questions about my own life. More questions? Great! That’s exactly what I need right now in my life, more questions.

I will say that I’m beginning to stumble onto some very interesting things that I’m discovering about myself as I ask these questions. I can’t wait to see what questions come next.

I’ll leave you with this question that I’m asking myself today… “Have you ever tried to do God’s work without being empowered by His Spirit“.

My first blog…

Well, I suppose this is my first web blog. It’s pretty interesting (I guess) that I’ve found the motivation to want to spend time writing an on-line journey through my thoughts and experiences. I’m sure it’ll be just as interesting for me as it will be for those who read it. Oh well….

Today marks day 100 (or so) that I’ve been trying to figure out what will happen vocationally for me next. I’ve been leading worship (or song leading) at Christian based events and churches around the country for almost 9 years. This will be my 8th summer leading at summer camps. I guess you could say that I am now a veteran (or “old man”) when it comes to doing this. It doesn’t seem like I am, or atleast I don’t feel that way. In fact, everyday just seems like I’m discovering a new aspect to “my calling in life”. This is why I guess I’ve been questioning whether or not I’m in the right field of work.

Along the way I’ve encountered and made many friends, as well as encountered many nay-sayers (as would be expected). I’ve also been introduced to a few mentors, while I’ve also tried to pour into the lives of a few, too. This has all been good from the aspect of being connected and trying to connect others to the fellowship of God. However, maybe you’re like me sometimes, but I sometimes question whether or not “i’m making a difference”. Even more so, “could I be doing something else RIGHT NOW that would be making MORE of a difference”. At the same time, it’s not hard to notice that my passion seems to be diminishing for being an itinerant (or “for hire”) worship guy.

Oh well, that’s my life today. I’m also trying to figure out why my new contact lenses are causing my eyes to get inffected. This is the 3rd time in 6 weeks. I believe it’s time for me to go back to the eye doctor.