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Location: Long Island, New York, United States

I'm the lead pastor of a great and very unconventional church - Church At The Movies, with campuses in Ronkonkoma and Mastic, NY - and I love doing what I do. We have hundreds of fellow radicals in our congregations who, like me, are committed to doing church for the unchurched. Totally apart from my church involvement, I work a few hours a week as a Weight Loss Consultant for Weight Watchers, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

HOME!

It was a little intimidating standing near the starting line for tonight's practice and hearing that on race day there will be several nationally known runners there who will finish the course in well under 30 minutes.

Well, I finished the course tonight and it took me 84 minutes! But I wasn't out there to beat anyone or even to improve on a personal best time - I've never done the race before so I had no best to beat! Finishing at all was a victory for me.

Sure I was in the last group to cross the line, but I didn't really care as it had been a very pleasant experience running the 10K course.

What made it great was I met a couple of very special people. Both of them are serious runners and I got into conversation with them around one mile into the course. They suggested I had chosen one heck of a race as my first one, which did not fill me with excitement about what lay ahead at that stage. They stuck with me and told me what was coming. They even stopped and walked one huge hill with me.

Though they both normally bring in times well under 60 minutes, they told me they were gooing to stick with me tonight. We picked up a couple of other slower runners too and the five of us ran as a group.

Bob and Mary showed a great attitude. This evening was not about themselves - they gave it to us and made our experience that much better.

I'm not sure if they ever read the book, but they epitomised the truth that It's not about you! I don't know if they're Christians, but they are certainly an example of how believers should act towards those who are new to what we're about.