Where I Hope to be in 30 Years

Last night most of my immediate family spent the evening together.

And by immediate family I mean....

Dad, Mom, Steph, Kyle, Kaila, Stephen, Stellia, Alton, Nick, Lindsey, Zadok, Selah, Me, Brooke, June, Sam, Kyle, and Max. (I know, my siblings love "unique" names for their kids, but there are 17 of us, so go ahead, just try and make fun of one of them... 😂)

That's 17 and we still have more that couldn't make it last night.

The baby boom has hit our family in a big way.  All of the married siblings added one kid in 2015.  My older sister Steph and her husband Kyle had their fourth, Nick and his wife Lindsey had their second, Sam and her husband Kyle had their 1st and Brooke and I had June. Four babies in one calendar year!  It's crazy.  What is even crazier, at times, is that we can all actually find a night to get together.

Last night was one of those nights!  I kept just saying over and over again, "There are so many kids here.  In 5 years they will all be running around like crazy and we will probably have to call the fire department to have them on standby because 'the Mousetis' are getting together'."

I would turn my head to the left and someone is holding a baby, then to the right and someone is tossing a toddler in the air, then back to the left and one of the older kids is attacking their Grandpa. It was beautiful madness.

At one point we took a photo of my parents with all their grandkids with all the 2015 babies included.  There are so many now that the oldest, Kaila, has to hold the youngest, Selah, while my parents hold all the ones in the middle.  Also, no one got the "look at the same camera at the same time" memo.  Again, beautiful madness!

Besides June and her Grandpa having the same hair style, the most amazing thing about this photo is my parents.  We didn't start with much as a family.  We had a very modest life growing up.  I remember as I got older I had all these realizations that what I thought were "fancy" things weren't actually fancy things at all, just my parents putting their brilliant, fun twists on everything. 

For example, did you know that peaches aren't a delicacy? Or that The Olive Garden isn't the fanciest restaurant in the world?  Well, I didn't know until I WAS IN HIGH SCOOL...  My parents made our modest life seem extravagant at times, which I am forever thankful for.  Now, all of my siblings, myself included, have very blessed and successful lives.  We all have great spouses, places to work, houses, food, clothing, iPhones, etc.

But that isn't the most impressive or amazing thing about my parents and what they've done. What is most amazing is the heart, attitude and way of living they have instilled in our giant family.  They have shown all their children how to live, love and follow Jesus well.  When they pass on into eternity, which is still a ways away, we won't think about all the stuff they allowed us to get, we will think about the amazing love they showed and how they constantly pointed us to Jesus both individually and as a family!

The photo we took last night will look a lot different in five years.  My dad and June won't have the same hair style. Kaila, the oldest, will be 12.  June, Max, Alton and Selah will all be five.  There will probably be quite a few more kids pictured, hopefully one from my younger brother Mike!  Come on Mike, get married and get busy!  There will be LOTS of differences...

But what will be the same is the heart that my parents have for their children and grandchildren.  What will be the same are the lessons that they've passed down to their children on how to raise kids.  Some of those lessons, we will use as is and some we will add our own twist to. What will be the same is the excitement that they greet every new grandchild with.  What will be the same is the preciousness of every moment we get to spend together.

My Dad and I are 30 years apart.  He turned 60 this year and 9 days later I turned 30.  It's a very cool connection to have with your Dad and I passed it along to June.  When I turn 60 she will turn 30.  When I have her take a photo of Brooke and I holding our future grandkids, I hope it looks a lot like this.  I hope that I can stand side by side with my beautiful wife and be overwhelemd with love by and for my children and their children.

Beyond that, I hope, as a 60 year old, I can stand there extremely proud that I did my best to point them all to the loving arms of Jesus.  That June will be all in on loving and serving Jesus and that her siblings will be the same way.

To my Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that I am constantly thanking our great God for the two of you.  That you met, fell in love with each other and decided that your lives would be about Jesus.  I am so thankful that you two decided that the legacy you would leave would be about Him and not about you.  I pray that as I age I can stay the course and keep that as my focus.  That I can devote the next 30 years of my life to pushing and encouraging my children and their children to follow Jesus.  I hope, in 30 years, I can have a similar photo of Brooke and I.  A photo that is filled with the accomplishments of what Jesus has done in my life and the lives of my children, but at the same time, filled with so much potential at what my kids and their kids will do!

Marriage & Babies! Best things ever!

I remember when Brooke and I were getting ready to get married over six years ago.  We were so excited because, like most engaged couples, we were madly in love.  I look back and think how "madly in love" we were back then and laugh because six years later that love seems so tiny in comparison to the love we have for each other now.  Our love has grown, deepened and become way more exciting than the young love of two kids excited to get married.  Both loves are great but I prefer the type we have now.  Anyway, I remember so much about our engagement but one of the things that I remember the most is that.. Married couples can be SOOOOO negative about marriage.

We would hear things like,

"You just wait..."

"The first year is the hardest.."

"There will be times you are going to want to kill each other.."

Fast forward five years into our marriage and Brooke is pregnant -- again, we were so excited for our little bundle of joy, but people with kids again started saying things to us like,

"You just wait..."

"The first year is the hardest..."

"Say goodbye to sleep..."

And so on.

The most frustrating thing about the people saying these negative things is that they were Christians!  What in the world is that?!?  These were supposed to be people whose hearts, minds and worlds have been radically changed by the love of God and they are being negative about marriage and babies!!!  Those are two things God loves! Like, a lot.

Come on Christians! Stop being negative and lean into the joy that comes with Jesus. Allow Him to change your heart to be a place of unrelenting joy!  I get so frustrated when I hear Christians being so negative.  The joy of the Lord is our strength! The fruit of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience....!*

We act like our lives are just as crappy before Jesus as they are after Jesus.  No wonder people don't want to come to church.  We, as followers of Jesus, should be the most joyful, radically optimistic people this world has ever seen.  Jesus has won, the grave has been defeated, death has lost its sting, we will be given new bodies, we will spend eternity in the presence of God and, at times, all we do with that knowledge is tell people how hard their marriage or parenting is going to be.

I would love to see more positive Christians out there.  People who when they are hear about someone getting married they say things like,

"Marriage is awesome!"

"Get ready to fall more and more in love with your spouse."

"Marriage is so much fun!  The first year is exciting!"

"Spend the first year doing unexpected and awesome things for your wife/husband!"

"I LOVE BEING MARRIED!  IT'S THE BEST!"

That's what I say when I find out my friends are getting married.  Marriage is such a beautiful amazing gift from God and we complain about it way too much.  Imagine if you took all the energy you spend complaining about marriage and put it into serving your spouse.  I think you'd have less to complain about because your marriage would improve.

The same goes with children.  We, as Christians, should be overjoyed when a new life that God created enters the world.  We should be showering new parents with excitement and encouragement!

Now I know that I am painting with a very broad brush.  I know there are tons of Christians out there who are positive about both these things, but the negativity is louder.  If you are one of those positive Christians out there read this and be encouraged that your joy will make a difference.  If you tend to be a negative Christian, which can be figured out if you want to comment on the blog and tell me why I am wrong about everything...😂, stop.  Let the joy of Jesus be your strength.

I believe that when we walk closer with Jesus we will find more joy.  That joy will carry us through the rough waters of life and people will be amazed at how our first response is always positive.  I don't think people want to live life in a negative tornado, tearing and ripping apart all that's in their path.  I do think that, at times, that's the only way they've learned how to live.  Give "Negative Nellies" a new example of how to live.  The example of Jesus.  Show them you are overflowing with positivity and joy and when they ask you how you can always see the good in everything you can say to them, "The joy of the Lord is my strength!  Jesus has changed my life and given me this unending joy in all situations...."

Those are the type of conversations I want to have with people, but I need them to actually see the change in my life before I can.  If I am "Grumpy Gus" all the time no one will ask.  If I am bouncing off the walls with excitement and joy I think they might ask my opinion.  If when someone tells me they are getting married or having a baby and I say, "THAT'S AWESOME!! I LOVE MARRIAGE AND BABIES!" they might want to have more conversations about each of those things.

And I'm certain I can start with a conversation about marriage and end with Jesus.

I can start with a conversation about the brand of diapers I use or the time June pooped directly in my hand... and I can end with Jesus.

In all things our goal should be to point people to Christ and His saving grace.  Let's start living like that!

I love my wife and daughter!

I love my wife and daughter!

* Nehemiah 8:10 // Galatians 5:22

Marvel At The Light

June turned 8 months old earlier this week, on Monday the 12th.  Brooke and I are constantly looking at each other and saying, "How do we have an eight month old already? HOW!?"  It's flying by and while most parents say, "Oh...just stay small forever."  I say, "Grow! Let's start walking, talking and playing!"  Every time June develops something new in her repertoire of tricks I love it! Especially since I have never been a huge fan of just holding babies because I like to play. And the more June is able to play the more I love being a dad.

Whenever June celebrates another month of life Brooke and I grab our iPhones and snap a few shots to announce it to the internet world!

This time around we took her outside to shoot a few photos of her in the grass being super cute and as happy as she always is!

I can't even. 😭😍

I can't even. 😭😍

After a few photos in the grass I wanted to grab a selfie of the family.  So Brooke picked up June and we turned the camera around and snap!

This is the photo we took.

Look at those light rays being all brilliant and beautiful. They were not added as a filter, they were just in the original photo.  I looked at this photo over and over again after we took it I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the goodness of a loving God. The brilliance of His light and love is always around us. Most of the time it goes unnoticed or ignored. Sometimes though, if we are looking through the right lens, we can see it, capture it and marvel at it.

The spectrum of light is always around us.  Our eyes normally can't see it's beautiful colors but every now and then, either through a rainbow or a camera lens, we actually can see it.  By seeing or capturing it, we don't create it's beauty, we just acknowledge it.  The beauty is always there.  We just have to look through the right lens to see it..  

Jesus is the light of the world and the beauty of His grace is always there for us to see, but we have to look for it.  We have to train our eyes. Often, I think we feel that the beauty isn't there, but I really believe that we just aren't seeing it.  God's beauty shines all around us all the time and we just need to take the right snap shots to catch it, see it and enjoy it.  We need to realize that the beauty of light isn't a product of our circumstances but a truth of our heart.  So even when darkness clouds our world, we know that the light is shining in our changed hearts.  That we can count it all joy, even in suffering, because our world doesn't dictate the light in our lives, but the unflinching, unrelenting love of Jesus does!

Later in the afternoon on Monday, I took this photo of June with my phone...

As followers of Jesus we need to always be doing two things.  We need to constantly be seeking the light. Whenever Brooke and I go for a walk, she is always going off course to find the best light.  All of a sudden she will stop mid-sentence and walk off to look at the way light is coming through the trees or shining on a wall.  It's what makes her a brilliant and amazing photographer.  She is constantly looking for the best light -- because that creates the best photo.  And sometimes we need to go off course and find the best light -- because that will create the best life.  We need to find the light in everything so we can show the light and love of Jesus in everything.

The second thing we need to do is just marvel at it - marvel at the light in all it's brilliant, sparkly glory.  I snapped that photo of June because she was doing just that.  She was just marveling at the light as it came through our front door windows and landed on our wood floor.  Most times, I really struggle at simply marveling at the light God has created around me.  I pack my days full of work, play and everything else, but rarely do I just marvel.  Rarely do I just sit back and thank God for the beauty of His unending grace and love.  I think we need to add more marveling in our lives.  Have you ever seen a group of people all looking in one direction.  You start rubbernecking to see what they are looking at.  Cause you gotta know what they are marveling at!! We, as Christians, need to start doing the same thing.  Let's just marvel at Jesus and I think people will start to rubberneck and ask us what we are looking at.

When we start to search out and marvel at the light I think we will start to see our lives being refreshed over and over again.  We will see beauty where most people see despair.  We will see joy when there is suffering.  We will see Jesus in all and through all.  And when we see the light we can direct others to see the it too.

So today, marvel in the light. Be drenched in the beauty and brilliance of it's rays over and over and over again.

Hey Christians! Stop Hating On Christmas!

Early to mid October always seems to usher in two things.  The first is peoples obsession with anything Pumpkin Spiced flavor. Seriously everyone, calm down. You burn your mouth once on a PSL and you'll rethink how delicious they are when you feel hot, burning rage on your tongue.  The second thing to happen is the start of Christmas decorations popping up in large stores which seems to bring a different kind of hot, burning rage to some.  This always baffles me.  

You know the type of rage I am talking about.  Christmas haters saying things like....

"And so it begins..." (Insert photo of Christmas decorations at Target).  This is usually followed by a million comments on how it's too early...blah blah blah.

"It's not even Halloween...."

"What happened to Thanksgiving..."

"I can't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving...."

And so on. Lots of snarky complaining and eye rolls.  But here is my response...

AREN'T WE CELEBRATING THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD COMING INTO THE WORLD? WHY THE CRAP WOULD WE WANT TO LIMIT THAT CELEBRATION?  DON'T WE CELEBRATE THAT ALL THE TIME? WITH OUR LIVES?

Okay, calm down T.J.... <caps lock off.>

Christians can sometimes be the grumpiest, most negative people in the world and it's so frustrating.  We currently live in a societal enviornment where God is being removed.  You can't pray in school, you can't say God Bless America, let's take "one nation under God" out of the pledge, and so on. BUT! Here we have a holiday, the biggest holiday at our disposal to proclaim the good news of a savior and WE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW EARLY IT STARTS?

WHAT THE HECK PEOPLE?

Why not use it?  Why not use the fact that Christmas starts earlier and earlier to proclaim the saving grace of Jesus!  Yeah, I know that it is commercialized and all that stuff, but I think people can start with a commericalized holiday and end with Jesus.  I believe people can start with buying gifts for others and end with the gift Jesus bought for us.  I totally believe people can start with receiving gifts from others and end with receiving life from Christ.

Christians, wake up!  We have the opportunity to use the biggest holiday on the planet to proclaim the coming of the King of Kings and we are often too busy complaining.  Gah!  Let's celebrate the birth of Jesus whenever we can and however we can.  Let's use Joy to the World playing in Target as we walk the aisles as an opportunity to praise His Holy name!  Let's use gifts, candy canes, stockings, trees, lights and parties as a starting point that will end with the lives of our friends, family and strangers being saved by grace!  Let's use standing in that dark, cold Black Friday line as an opportunity to talk to the people in front and behind us about Jesus. (That's seriously a great idea, because there is no way those people are getting out of that line.) 

Stop complaining and start using all things Christmas to point to all things Jesus!

And while we are at it. Let's start using all holidays as a launching point for procaliming the power of saving grace.

Let's use Halloween to talk about the darkness of the world and the light of Jesus.

Let's use Thanksgiving to talk about the ultimate thing to be thankful for - grace.

Let's use New Year's Eve and day to talk about starting fresh when you give your heart to Christ.

Let's use Valentines Day to talk about how we can only start to be truly loved when we let Jesus take control.

Let's use Flag day to declare that the banner or flag over us is love.

Let's use Arbor day to talk about how He is the vine and we are the branches.

The list can, and does, go on and on and on.  Because God can use anything to proclaim His glory! ANYTHING!  SO LET'S START USING EVERYTHING AND LET'S START WITH CHRISTMAS COMING EARLY THIS YEAR! <caps lock forever!!!!!!>

10 Easy Types Of Instagram Posts For Your Business (With Photo Examples)

If you want to grow your business today you need to be on Instagram.  It's just that simple.  I know that it can be overwhelming to create good, consistent content on a daily basis, which is what you need to be doing, but I am here to help!  Posting once every two weeks just won't cut it.  If you need a general introduction to how to use Instagram for your business check out my previous post here - 10 Tips On Using Instagram for Business.

This post is to give you specific ideas for the types of photos you should be posting.  I think the categories are universal for any business, with a little tweaking here and there.  At walk in love. we basically recycle these 10 type of posts over and over again and you could do the same for your business.

10 Easy Types of Instagram Content For Your Business:

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

1. Super Basic Product Photos

This is about as easy as it gets when making content.  Literally just post photos of your product/service.  If you sell t-shrits, post photos of those t-shirts.  If you sell tables, post photos of those tables.  If you are service based, like a photographer, post the photos you take.  It's about as easy as it gets and we do it all the time!  Simply put - post photos of the product you are trying to sell, duh!

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

2. Creative Product Photos

Just add a little excitement or style to the traditional product photos.  One way we do that is folding the shirt in half and filling in the other half with buttons.  We also do it by taking "outfit" photos from above.  It's a way to highlight our products but it isn't just the same as every other product photo we post.

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

3. Working Photos

Show people how you do what you do.  We do this a lot of different ways.  We will take photos, like the one above, of our team signing, "thank you" on our orders.  We will take photos of Brooke taking photos for campaigns.  We will take photos of our mailers all stacked up and ready to go.  Show people how you do what you do from time to time!

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

4. Workspace

Along with showing them how you do what you do, show them where you do what you do.  People love seeing behind the scenes things and knowing where there favorite brands work.  It will also help you keep your workspace clean and organized :)

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

5. General Encouragement

Add value to your followers feed by encouraging them.  Things like "Yay! It's Friday!" or "Have an Awesome Day!"  General encouragement goes a long way.  Make sure it lines up with your brand and isn't out of nowhere.  For walk in love. we use our app VRSLY to create that content and encourage people as they walk with Jesus.

Fight the good fight!!! #walkinlove #iwearwalkinlove 📷 @roxymoure

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

6. Reposts

When people use your product and take a photo of it.  Repost it.  We are pretty picky about our reposts and make sure the photo is good quality and well shot to repost it.  You should be the same way when you have lots of reposts but at the beginning you should try to repost anything that is out there.  If you want better content to repost send out free things to good Instagrammers who will do a good job with it!  We send out free items all the time to good photographers so we will have great stuff to repost!

7. Giveaways

Giveaways are a super easy way to grow your followers and bring in new customers. We try to run a giveaway every weekend and always try to giveaway things in twos.  To enter people have to follow us and tag a friend.  That way we are telling our fans about the giveaway and they are turning around and telling even more people for us.  It's also a great way to find people to post things about your company.  If you want good photos to repost pick good Instagrammers to win the giveaways!

A photo posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

8. Lifestyle

Get "Instagrammy" and post a super unrealistic lifestyle photo of the cup of coffee you are drinking or your coffee table perfectly organized, like it always is 😂.  We all know these types of Instagrams are totally staged, but they are still beautiful.  Add some lifestyle to your feed!  It will also give your followers an idea on how they should be posting photos, which will give you photos to repost!

A video posted by walk in love. (@walkinlove) on

9. Videos

This is the type of post that we really struggle with and always say, "we should do more vidoes.." I think the variety it adds to your feed is good.  People also interact with videos.  They are more likely to get shared or passed around.  If they are funny people will be more likely to comment and tag friends.  We don't do a lot of videos but we know they have value and are trying to figure out an easy way to add them to our feed.  You should be doing the same!

10. Reminders

We are telling people that they can buy shirts on our website and that we have actually have a website EVERY SINGLE DAY 😂.  I always laugh because I feel like it should be obvious that you can buy the shirt we are posting about, but hey, some people need to be reminded.  We remind people about everything.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, check us out on Pinterest, don't forget about our sale, did you enter our giveaway and so on.  Most of the time we use the text portion of the instagram to remind people and post it along with the one of the type of photo mentioned in points 1-8.  You will always have to remind people of what you are doing.  We try to limit it because people will get annoyed with an overkill of reminders, but you still have to have some!

That's it!  10 simple, easy types of content to help you know what to post to Instagram. If you need more ideas on a specific type of post for a specific business let me know in the comments and I can reply with a couple of ideas I have for you.  Make sure to include your Instagram user name so I can take a look at your feed.

When you start to use Instagram well, you will start to see your business grow! 

If you have a product that you would like me to try and post about you can send it to

walk in love. studio c/o T.J. Mousetis 148 E. Stiegel St. 4th Floor Manheim, PA 17545

I wear a size Large shirt, Brooke wears a Small and June wears 6-9 months. 😄


Life is a Marathon...

I have never run a marathon, only two half-marathons.  From those two halves I know, deep in my soul, that running an actual marathon would be the worst.  I can't imagine finishing either of my half-marathons and turning around to run it again.  Even thinking about it now makes me cringe...  

I remember training for my half marathons.  I prefer to run at night because I am not one of those people who can get up at 5am and run.  I can barely walk at 5am so running is out of the question.  I am a night runner and when I was training for the half I did most of that training at night.  It made me feel a lot more hardcore than I actually was because in the cover of night everything seems more hardcore than it actually is.

There were training sessions where I would run and from the first step to the last step I felt awesome.  I was super-duper-running-boy!  Happy, jamming out to some sweet tunes and feeling good about everything.  I would think that I might even run an extra mile because I felt so good.

....And then there were the training runs were I felt like each step was worse than the last.  These were sessions where I was convinced that my bones were going to fall out of my body and someone would have to come and scrape me off the concrete.  During these sessions all I wanted to do was quit, give up, throw in the towel and vow to never run again!

Training is hard because you are doing it without any of the glory of competition.  No one was watching me train.  No one was cheering me on.  Somedays it felt good, somedays it felt terrible and most days it just felt like a chore.  But without training, without discipline, I couldn't have run the actual race well.  I had to make time for training if I ever expected to finish the race.  I couldn't just show up and run without those hours spent training at night.  I would have failed without my training.

Even with all the training I did I still felt like I wanted to quit during the actual race.  People were cheering, holding up signs and handing me little gatorade cups of water and at times, I wanted to stop.  I didn't think I could make it.

And, man oh man, that is life.  Even with all the training and discipline we practice in life we still just want to quit at times.  We just don't think we are going to make it.  Sometimes it is just the absolute worst, like running a marathon, or in my case a half-marathon.

The first time I ran my half marathon I remember realizing how different the start and the finish were.  When the giant group of runners started we were peppy, excited and motivated.  Everyone looked fresh and ready.  I remember the first mile just going by like it was nothing.  Not only did it fly by but I was flying while running it.  I was almost two minutes faster than the average I wanted to maintain during the race and I still felt really good.

It's so much fun to start something!  Whether we are starting a weight loss program, house project or new business.  Starting is awesome. We have our new outfit or fresh idea and we think we are going to just dominate everything!  We have lots of fans at the beginning and I remember thinking at the marathon, "look at all these people, this is so cool!  I am going to CRUSH this race!!!"

Then the middle of the race came....and my feet started to hurt, my joints started to ache and I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.  The mass of runners had spread out and the fans were gone.  My pace had slowed....

Middles are the hardest and sometimes they are longer than we will ever imagine.  We think that starts will last forever and we will just keep riding the high that comes with a start!  But that high won't last and when we realize that we are in the middle of it all, it becomes more difficult.  The cheering fans are a little more spread out, the wins don't seem as exciting and we feel like the end will never come.  The middle of the race is the most important part though!  The middle shows how much you trained, how dedicated you are and how much you want it.

If you are in "the middle" of your marriage this is when it really counts!  This is when you have to grind it out, keep it exciting and do the things you promised you'd do at the beginning.

If you are in "the middle" of your business this is when you have to turn it up a notch.  This is when you have to seek new opportunities and ideas.  This is when you might have to sacrifice a little more of your time.  This is when your business will either succeed or fail.

The middle matters and I remember as I was running just thinking, "okay, one more mile..."

Just one more mile...

Just one more mile....

Sometimes life isn't exciting, we don't have fans and we just have to push through.  We have to live with the idea that we just need to make it one more mile, one more step or one more second.

And just that is a win.  Just the one more mile is a win, even if it doesn't come with any glory.

The middle of the half-marathon was long!  Oh my word, it was long!  I remember saying one more mile from mile 3 until mile 11, thinking that the end would never come.  At mile 11 of 13 I remember thinking my hips were going to explode out of my skin and I was going to collapse.  The first two miles and the last two miles of the course were basically the same in reverse and what a difference.

When I started I was fresh and excited and when I ended I was delirious and exhausted.  At the beginning I thought I could go on forever and at the end I thought I couldn't take another step.

And then....

The lady pushing a stroller past me....

And then....

The 85 year old man with no legs past me....Well, he had legs but was still very old..

But guess what?  That lady or old man being more successful than I was didn't mean I was failing.  I was still at mile 11 with my goal in sight.  I think we can believe if someone is better than we are at whatever we are doing - we are failing.  That's not the case and when we play that game we will always lose.  Comparison is the thief of joy and when you are at mile 11 you need all the joy you can muster.

I remember when I saw the finish line.  I sort of forgot about all the pain I was in and I realized that I had done it.  It didn't look like I had planned.  I started too fast, slowed in the middle and finished a lot slower than I wanted to, but I was finishing.  I remember seeing Brooke in the crowd and feeling even better.  Finishing something is always better than not finishing, even if you didn't do it exactly how you wanted or even how you said you would.  If I had quit in the middle when no one was around I wouldn't have felt the feelings I had as I moved toward the finish line.

If life is a marathon, which I believe it is, you can count on a few things happening.  

1. Starts are always exciting.

2. Middles are grueling.

3. Finishing is awesome!

Sometimes marathons are the worst, but they don't last forever.  You will get through them.  You will conquer if you trained well, prepared and stay focused on the goal.  Sometimes you will have a PR (personal record) and sometimes you will finish slower than you even thought possible.  Sometimes the old guy with no legs and the lady pushing the stroller will fly past you.  But don't quit.  Finish and finish well.  

And here is the coolest part of the marathon of life.  You don't have to run it on your own.  I had to train, run and finish my half-marathon all on my own.  I couldn't have anyone run it for me.  But in life I can!  I can take the marathon of life and trust Jesus to help me run it.  I can take all the burdens, bumps and bruises and give them to Him.  He will take both you and I to the best finish we could ever hope for.  When we run with Jesus we realize how important and amazing the middle is.  It's the time we get to cheer every other runner on.  We get to take their hands and try to help them, motivate them and bring them into the arms of Jesus.  The middle is magical when we stop running on our own and run with the King of Kings!  So, let's run this race of life and run it really well.  Let's run it hand in hand with the giver of life and actually bring life, love and light to this world.  We may be sore at times and there will definitely be some doubt, but let us constantly look to Jesus so our burden can be light as we run and we can do all things with Him in front! 

I don't want to run for myself anymore.  I don't want to run so I can tell people how good I am at running.  I want to run so I can bring glory to Jesus!  I want to love my wife so I can bring glory to Jesus! I want to love my daughter so I can bring glory to Jesus!  I want to run my business so I can bring glory to Jesus!  I want to eat well and live healthy so I can bring glory to Jesus!  I want to do it all for Him!  Running on my own is exhausting and I am ready to run with Him.  Who is with me?

"But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace." - Acts 20:24