God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

I’ve quoted a family member before who said, “One thing’s for sure: you become who you spend time with.”

And I’ve experienced that myself over the years as I’ve been assigned to different crews with the fire department. Sometimes Kathy would comment about how my personality would take on the likeness of my mates. And I’ve observed the same phenomenon in family and friends.

But over the last ten or so years, I’ve noticed in myself and others, that this doesn’t just happen from spending time with people in person.

I know people who spend time with political commentators online and they become more like those political commentators. Sometimes I hear them repeating what they’ve heard, but it’s more than that. Their personalities and ideologies gravitate toward those of the people they’re watching and listening to.

And I know people who spend time with atheist podcasters and YouTube streamers. And it’s the same dynamic all over again. Their personalities and ideologies gravitate toward those of the people they’re watching and listening to. And they begin to drift away from Christ.

But if we’re intentional about it, we can use this influential mechanism for our own good. This weekend I’m spending time with two friends who love Jesus and follow him closely. They’re both readers. And they choose authors wisely. And their personalities and ideologies are the better for it. And they also listen to podcasters and watch YouTube streamers. They’re both very intentional about choosing intelligently which podcasters and streamers they listen to. They’re choosing wisely which people “to spend time with” if you will. Nicky Gumbel and Timothy Keller are two examples of names that came up in our conversations over the past few days.

The result is these men I’m spending time with are gradually becoming more like Jesus.

And who doesn’t want that?