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.

If you follow this blog you know one week ago we held my Mom’s memorial service. When it was my turn to share, this is what I said.

My sisters Kim and Karla, and I, talked about how our Mom introduced us into the world of books. (This blog and the Love Like Jesus book might not even exist if it weren’t for that emphasis on books from Mom.)

I talked about how I missed her way more than I thought I would. I talked about her abundant gratitude toward God. I talked about her sense of humor and her corny jokes. I talked about how much she loved her family, and friends, and neighbors: how she would gush when she told me about her latest conversation with a family member, or friend, or neighbor.

She had a deep love for all the people in her life. And, maybe most of all, she had a deep love for Rafael Nadal. (Of course I’m joking–although her and a friend did own matching Rafa Nadal t-shirts.)

And I shared this story about my Mom:

A Humble Beginning

I was home from college on break one day when my Mom announced she was going to start running. I thought of myself as an athlete at the time — even though I’m only 5′ 11″, and slow, and I can’t jump either. But somehow, in my mind, I thought I was an athlete. At the tiny college I attended I was invited to join the basketball team (but I declined), and I played on the tennis team (I only had a .500 record). Still, I thought of myself as an athlete somehow.

But there was one person I didn’t think of as an athlete, and that was my Mom. So when she announced she was going to start running, I reacted with a major eye roll.

“So what’s your plan Mom? How are you going to get started?”

“I’m going to walk to the mailbox,” she said.

Ridiculous, I said to myself as I rolled my eyes even harder than the first time. The mail box was a short block away from our front door.

“What does that do, walking to the mailbox?”

“I’m going to walk to the mailbox, then tomorrow, I’m going to walk a little farther. And I might jog a little. Then the next day, I’ll go a little farther than that,” my Mom said.

“That will never work,” I scoffed. Her plan was absolutely absurd.

A few days later I returned to school.

Maybe six months later [it might have been longer, up to two years later], I was home again. Mom invited me to go for a run. “This ought to be good,” I thought to myself.

So we drove to Moraine Hills State Park, got out of the car, and we began to run.

And run, and run, and run.

“How far are we going?” I said.

“I have this route I like to do — it’s seven miles,” Mom said.

We were already a few miles in. “Can we take a break and walk for a minute?” I said.

I’m sure by now, you get the picture. I lost track of how many times I asked Mom if we could take a break. She destroyed me that day. And she did it by choosing a humble beginning. She started small, well within herself, and then, incrementally, little by little, she built up to the point where she could run — far — and fast.

Genuine Transformation

Then I shared something I heard in church. I volunteer for a ministry called The Jesus Table. Once a week we serve meals restaurant style to anyone who wants to come and join us. There are a lot of street people who come. We also provide a warm welcome and a listening ear because that’s really the greatest need for most of these people.

It was the pastor of the church that hosts The Jesus Table who said this to the congregation one time:

“Raise your hand if you could go home right now, change into your running gear, and then go out and complete a marathon.” Only a very few raised their hands.

Then he said, “Raise your hand if you think you could complete a marathon right now if you tried really, really, really hard.” About the same number of hands were raised.

Then he said, “Raise your hand if you know, that if you could devote time and energy to train for it, you could then complete a marathon.” And most of the congregation raised their hands.

He went on to say, “Genuine transformation usually involves training.”

And that’s one of the best things I learned from Mom. When we try to follow Jesus it can feel overwhelming sometimes, because, well, Jesus is Jesus. He’s full of deep abiding love for God and for everybody around him. His love, grace, and mercy are off the chart.

But what I learned from Mom is that we can begin humbly. We can begin with small steps, and incrementally, over time, build up to something big.

That’s so important to remember in our quest to love the way Jesus loves.

Be The Moment

The last thing I shared about my Mom was something she would always say. At the end of every conversation Mom would always say, “Be the moment.”

That’s such great advice! The past is gone. The future’s not here yet. This moment is all we really have.

And to be in the moment is the only way to connect with God. He’s the great I AM. (Not the great I was or the great I will be.)

And that’s my hope, and my prayer, that that’s where Mom is right now.

Connected with God. Connected with Jesus in the best, most intimate way possible.

In the moment.

With Him.

Notes:

The service wasn’t recorded so what’s written here is a rough paraphrase of what I shared. Also, much of what I shared was borrowed from my own previous writings on this blog.

Image of runner on the path by Emrah Yazicioglu via Pexels–Public Domain

Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)