051610 CHAD Margin for Sustainability

Interview with Jim Pustinger:

• What are the “secrets to running a marathon” or a iron man?

Background. I started running marathons back in …. And so far I have run ___ marathons, and ___ half marathons, I am currently training for one in ____/. As for secrets, there are several things I’ve learned over the years. The first is You’ve got to Run for something bigger than yourself. I did my first one for a kid with Lukemia (tell story)… At some point you hit the wall. And you’ve got to have something bigger than you to push through the pain…. Second, You’ve got Stay Fueled. The body doesn’t have enough calories to run a marathon… We can only absorb so much… Etc… So you must be fueled correctly to run a marathon. But anyone can do it, if you follow the guidelines.

• How have the process of training and running increased your relationship with God?

When I run, it is often a great time of prayer… Explain. I remember one marathon I was praying, I had this cramp, no way I could finish… Explain. But the whole experience is a spiritual connection for me. And running for something bigger than me includes both that connection to my faith in Jesus Christ as well as giving back and helping others (Lukemia) etc. And as for fueling, I have found that my spiritual growth is similar. Last few years I have grown in my relationship to Christ by… (Fueling habits… Bible Study with men, Ipod, etc)

• What’s the main difference between training for a Sprint and Training for a marathon?

You can’t run a marathon like a sprint. You can just go do it. You must run differently. Train differently. And Condition differently. All of us could go out right now and run a sprint, and I think all of us can run a marathon, with the right tools…. BUT, you must train, and run differently. Making the Time, or Margin to train so you can go the distance is critical.

SONG: WHEN I RUN.

Introduction: If you don’t train, you’ll be in pain.

(ME) STORY: I coach track for the 3^rd-4^th graders. And I like to find ways to inspire them to work hard. So we were working on this sprinting drill. (I have always been a sprinter, NOT a long distance runner. I ran the triple jump, long jump, 110 high hurdles) But if the students finished this drill, I would do “WHATEVER THEY WANTED!” The wanted me to run two laps… an 800 around the track. I have never run an 800…. And certainly not in the past 20 years. And I am a sprinter… So I took off… I ran hard and fast… I had agreed to run two laps in three minutes… I made the first lap in one and a half minutes… and then I hit the wall. I pushed myself the final lap… finished at 3 minutes and something… but I was coughing, and choking. I knocked stuff off the sides of my lungs that have never been seen before. I literally was wheezing for three days… I was embarrassed.. I was out of shape. Old… But mostly… I didn’t run the right way. I didn’t have a rhythem for my running. I tried to run an 800, the way I run a 100. I didn’t train for running this kind of race. And I was in pain.

(WE)

• We can all push it to the limit for a while...until we crash into our beds.
• We can all spread ourselves out for a while... Until our exhaustion sets us up for temptation.
• We can all help everyone else with their problems, hurts, hangups... for a while. But then we burn out, and can’t provide for our own needs, let alone others.
• We can all Emotionally help those who are grieving, hurting, and sad... for a while... until we realize our reservoir is empty.
• But eventually, if you are not refueling, slowly down, and reenergizing your own heart, mind, and emotions... You hit the wall... If you don’t train, you end up in pain.

:( I was in Belize this year after several months of real exhausting ministry and family responsibilities. I was running on fumes. A combination of Christmas, a family crisis, a new baby, sickness and allergy for my wife, and trying to stay above water. But I thought I was at least putting a good face on it. But I knew I was in trouble while painting a blue wall with Amy Rudge. She said somewhat timidly, "Can I ask you something?!" Sure, I replied. She delicately said, "Are you gonna make it?! I've watched you the past few weeks, and months. You look exhausted. You look like you are headed for a crash." And I was. I was on an unsustainable path. I was not going to make it if I didn't change my patterns. I told Amy that I typically operate with lots of Margin. It's a hallmark of my life, but the past year of adoption, baby, special needs, combined with buildings, staffing, messages, etc... I had squeezed the Margin out, and kept having my emotion and time, and energy squeezed....

(GOD) The Bible says something really intriguing:

Life is a Marathon, Not a Sprint.

So MAKE MARGIN FOR THE MARATHON

Though all of us could go out the door and sprint a short distance, without training we can’t go out and run a marathon. Why it requires you make margin in your life months earlier to train, to Refuel, and to learn how to run differently. And if life is more life a marathon than a sprint. It will require us to Make Margin (financially, emotionally, and physically) to go the distance. Here’s how Paul Says it.

1 Corinthians 9:²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a waythat you may obtain it. ²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. ²⁶Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

We all Run Paul notes that when you think about life… About winning the race of life. There are some key ideas you need to understand.We must run “in a certain way…” to obtain everything God has for us.

Temperate And in order to compete and win… you need to be temperate… self-controlled, restrained in all areas. And preparing for a marathon will require disciplining your body…there will be moments that you want to eat Twinkies or go to McDonalds… You must say NO. there will be moments you could sprint the first mile… but you’ll never finish the last mile if you do so. There are moments you will need to go out and run training exercises when you want to watch TV. In order to get the most important thing, you have to say No, to some good things.

Discipline my body, Subjection Paul says if you want to win the prize, if you want to win the race, it will require focus. And part of focus is saying No to other things. Other urges. Other instints. Other choices. Discipling your body to run a marathon means disicpling it’s pain tolerance, it’s food intake, and saying “No” to TV or other priorities so you can train.

Crown: But, Paul is telling us that there is a reward. And unlike the ribbon, or in Greek times a Green wreath that the winner would have until it deteriorated. The face of faith offered something incredible. Something that never fade, never wears out, a imperishable crown. And Paul says he is fighting, training, not for something UNCERTAIN, but something certain.

WORLDVIEW: Paul is explaining something powerfully true about Jesus, that is not true about other religions. He says he is Making Margin for the Marathon because of the certainty of the prize. That’s backwards. Doesn’t he mean, he is training because there is “no certainty” of the winner. And unless you compete and train hard, you will not be “guaranteed” the certainity of winning. NO! It is saying, because he knows the prize is his confidently. That is what motivates his Margin. His sacrifice, His submission. Every other religion and philosophy is a Make Margin for the Marathon and “hopefully” you’ll do well when God measures you against the other runners. And hopefully you outrun some bad people, and are in the good people back. Paul says something different. When you receive and believe the message of Jesus Christ, you realize that he not only forgives you for your sins, but makes you a heir to his imperishable treasures. Not based on what you will do, but based on what he has done. Your crown is sure. Your entrance to Heaven can be Guaranteed. You didn’t earn it, or deserve it. But it was given to you in grace. And whatever you “give up” in this life. Whatever sacrifice you make in this life, will pale in comparison to the treasure you have.

So Paul is saying, Just as an athlete makes margin for the Marathon to win a wreath that whithers away, how much more, might we make Margin for this race, knowing we have a crown that never perishes. And if God asks you to go through some painful times, some tough times, to give large percentages of your money away, to sacrifice selfless to others who scorn you… Whatever sacrifice you make. Whatever you say NO to here in this life… Though it feels painful at the time, is Nothing compared to the prize Jesus will present to you. So, in this life MAKE MARGIN FOR THE MARATHON.

(YOU) HOW TO MAKE MARGIN FOR THE MARATHON

1. Rhythm to Your Running

Run in such a way that you may obtain it. ²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize istemperate in all things

If you and I are to win the race of life. We must realize it’s a marathon not a sprint. And you run differently for a marathon vs a sprint. Right? There is “a way” to run a marathon. And a way to run a sprint. And in this life… If we realize it’s a marathon, we will need to say No, be temperate in all things… Even good things to make it and finish well. And if we don’t Make Margin for the Marathon, we’ll run in such a way to destroy ourselves in the long term.

STORY: (Chad draws on Sketboard.. neatly so people can read ;) I was reflected on that a few weeks later. Looking at how I emotionally and mentally I am constantly running. Brainstorming, idea making… go go go. I worked with a executive coach a few years ago, who told me, “The way you are wired, you are always thinking about everything all the time. That’s part of your make up. You will need to purposely and intentionally shut your mind down. You need to train yourself to have mental down down. Or you will drive yourself into the ground. I wrote down in my journal a picture of the RPM on an engine. You know the one. Where at 7000 rpm to 9000 rpm it gets red up there. And I realized that I operate in the red a lot. And as I tried to settle, slow down, get a rhythm to my resting… I realized that I often find myself in a "stuck spot"... My engine (Draw RPM gage) needs to have times of "revving" but then to settle back down. BUT! I find that the pace I travel, mentally, brainstorming, idea creating, etc, keeps me up in the High Red... then When I "slow down" I only slow down to the 6000 RMP, that is my "rest spot"... which means I am not resting... Even in down time, my mind is racing. I have trained my brain that my slowest speed is “just under the red…” Checking email, whether I need to or not, checking the news, righting down another idea, multi-tasking while watching TV is a new bad habit I developed this year… I have trained myself not to rest. I get stuck trying to “rev” down. Part of Me Making Margin for the Marathon is Making a Better Rhythm to my Running.

ILL: When I was in Sturgis, a motorcycle Mecca for Harley Davidsons in South Dakota a few years ago with my dad, we saw a BLOW OUT: This is where a harley is revved at full speed while lined up with a brick wall. So it can’t go anywhere. And thousands of people gather around as the throttle is put on full blast. The back wheels are spinning. The treads are burnings. Smoke is filling the arena. The smell is horrific. And as the tie burns through the treds, there is suddenly a ear shattering POW!!! And explosion as the tire cannot hold the pressure any longer. Full Speed. No Slowing Down. No Resting.

That is how I feel when I am in this stuck spot. When I am not making a Rhythm to my running. I can see the smoke. I can smell the burning. Can You. John Ortberg in his book, THE LIFE YOU ALWAYS WANTED gives us some symptoms that you and I may not be making Margin for the marathon. Some Symptoms that the tires treds are burning up

SELF TEST: Is there a bad rhythem to your running?

1. Constantly speeding up daily activites

We have no Rhythem to our running. We are haunted by the fear that there are just not enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done. We read faster, talk faster, and when listenind, nod faster to encourage the talked to accelerate. We find ourselves chafing whenever we have to wait. At a stoplight, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, we find ourselves guessing which one will move quicker and we swerve from lane to lane.

PILOT STORY: Elderly couple celebrating 50^th.

2. Sunset Fatigue

Hurried people cannot love. Lewis Grant suggests we are afflicted with sunset fatigue. When we come come home at the end of the day, those who need our love the most, those to whom we are most committed, end up getting the left overs. Sunset fatique is when we are just too tired, too drained, or too preoccupied, to love people to who we’ve made our deepest promises.

• You get sick everytime you slow down and take a vacation
• You find yourself rushing even when there’s no reason to
• There is an underlying tention that causes sharp words or sibling quarells
• You set up mock races (OK kids, lets see who can take a bath faster”) that are really about your need to get through it.
• You sense a loss of gratitude and wonder.
• You indulge in self-destruce escapes from fatigue, abusing alcohol, watching too much TV, or listening to Country Western Music J

2. Train Yourself to MAKE MARGIN FOR THE MARATHON

STORY: When I first came on staff 7 years ago, our senior pastor told me he was going to walk a marathon in New York in about 5 months. No discipline. No practice. I asked him how it was going.. he told me he was playing tennis twice a week… And then he bought a new pair of shoes the week of the run… He called me in pain.. He had hit the wall at mile Two… Blisters on top of blisters at mile 4. But he finished. But in agony from no Training.

²⁷ But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection

The simple fact is that if we do what comes naturally. And allow the world around us to shape our schedules, finances, and choices, We will burn ourselves out. We must Train ourselves to slow down. To run differently. To prepare for the marathon. We want to finish the race with our spouses. With our children. With our health. And without being a sad story to someone. But this will require that we train ourselves to live differently. We discipline our body. We don’t buy everything we could. And more. We don’t fill our schedules with everything and more.

(WE)

STORY: One researcher notes an experiment with mice a few years ago. A researcher found that it takes a high dose of amphetamines to kill a mouse living in solitude. But a group of mice will start hopping around and hyping each other up so much that a dosage twenty times smaller would be lethal. In fact, a mouse that has been given NO ampetamines at all, places in a group of mice on the drug, will get so hopped up that in 10 minutes or so it will be dead. In groups, they go off like popcorn or firecrackers.

Thus is the world we live in. A culture addicting to Sprinting. Seemingly Oblivious to the Marathon. And brainwashing us into it’s destructive marginless patterns. And we end up losing everything we hold dear. Make Margin for the Marathon.

STORY from Choosing to Cheat: On many occasions I have talked with men who confided that it was not their work that was the point of contention in their home. It was a hobby. for some, it was the time they spent at the gym, for others, their mistress was the golf course. For one close friend, it was his bicycle.

In his early 20's, Mike was an Olympic hopeful. He came very close to making the 1988 Olympic team. When I met Mike, he was 37 and continued to compete and to win. It was his passion. It was not uncommon for him to ride 100 miles in a weekend. But riding was not a family event. It was time reserved for Mike and his buddies. It was time that could have - and Mike later admitted should have - been given to his wife, Angela, and their 8 y.o. daughter.

Like most wives, Angela believed Mike lover her more than his bike, but she didn't FEEL it. She knew his heart, but felt his schedule. He offered to take her with him, and he entered fewer races, but as long as that bike hung in the garage, it was a point of contention. Even when Mike was home on Saturdays, she knew he'd rather be out riding.

I'll never forget the Sunday Mike showed up to me house with his mountain bike. "Here," he said, "I want you to have this." I assumed he wanted me to hold on to it for a while....."no," he said, "I'm giving it to you. No more biking."

I was shocked. To begin with, this was a $2,000 bike, but more than that, I knew Mike's love for biking.

"this is something God has wanted me to do for some time. I thought there was a way around it, but there wasn't," Mike said, "so, here it is. Have fun."

I asked how Angela responded. "Her heart melted," he said, "she cried when I told her. She told me I didn't need to get rid of it for good. But I insisted. I think she feels more loved by me now than ever before. Later, Angela said, "I never thought Mike would give it up. Nothing he has ever done has meant more to the kids and me. I know how much he loves to ride. For him to work away from his bike is...well...I feel like we are h is priority again."

STORY from Choosing to Cheat: Jimmy & Phyllis had an arrangement, not unlike most couples. When Phyllis' career as a conference speaker began to blossom, Jimmy felt like it was his responsibility to be her biggest supporter. As a website developer, he had the option of working out of his house and chose to do so in order to give Phyllis the flexibility she needed to travel and leverage her opportunities. Yeah Jimmy! What a guy!...probably should be nominated as husband of the year Phyllis thought and she was quick to give him the credit he deserved. While she was away, he held down a full time job and took care of their 2 kids. But, over time, something began to happen in their household. Nobody could see it, but everybody felt it, and they wrote it off to "that's what we agreed to."

"Mommy's not here tonight. She is helping other mommies and daddies know how to be better mommies and daddies for their children."

Phyllis was cheating at home, and Jimmy wasn't saying anything about it. Phyllis was taking what belonged at home and selling it to strangers at conferences, and Jimmy was cheering her on. And everybody - with the exception of the kids - was smiling on the outside but dying on the inside. Nobody wanted to admit it, but the arrangement wasn't working, and Jimmy didn't want to nag...after all, this was what he agreed to. It was easy for Phyllis to ignore the red flags that periodically waved right in front of her face. But, whenever she backed out the driveway feeling guilty, she would remind herself, "This is what we agreed to."

Life at home with the kids was not a continuous party. But after a while he became accustomed to her absences. In fact, her arrivals began to feel more like interruptions than homecomings. He once confided, "I got to the point where I would have been just as happy if she had simply mailed us a check and gone on to her next engagement." Sound extreme? It is. But don't make the mistake of taking comfort in the fact that your situation is not that extreme. For a long time, theirs wasn't either. In the beginning their situation was like yours...or possibly better. I say that not to scare you, but to wake you up to an insidious dynamic that slowly takes its toll on families who have arrangements like the Wilson's.

If we make Margin for the Marathon, we will not only thrive but survive. We can accomplish more than we ever imagine. Finish Strong and do it With those we love the most. Many of you have heard of Team Hoyt. A Father who Trained and used Iron Man’s to connect with his son, a parapelegic, because his son wanted to raise money to help others. This is a man who lives life like Paul talks about. He has made room in his life to impact others, to be with family, to train hard… But to run like life is a marathon, not a sprint.