Filipino by Birth Christian by Grace

Every Man’s Battle
By Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker,
and Mike Yorkey

I’m more than half way through reading Every Man’s Battle, Every Man’s Guide to Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time, and I’ve already discovered Biblical insight and practical strategies to help me pursue sexual purity. If you’re an average Christian guy, you may not think you need a book like this. You might be thinking that since you’re abstaining from sex, you’re sexually pure. But God’s standard of sexual purity goes far beyond avoiding physical acts of adultery and fornication; we must be pure in our thought life and what we allow our eyes to lust after.

The authors are surprisingly honest and open about topics that are usually avoided in Christian conversations. The book shines a bright light on dark areas of men’s lives that they fight to keep secret, our subtle sexual sins that we refuse to address. Sexual purity according to God’s standard is very important for Christians, because we can easily hide sinful habits while appearing like “good Christian men” on the outside. We like to lust with our eyes. We like to fantasize with our minds. We like to watch things that make lust and fantasize even more. Until we take these sins seriously, we will be far from God’s standard of sexual purity, and we will be dangerously close to acting out our sinful fantasies.

Although primarily intended for married Christian men, I highly recommend reading Every Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, and Mike Yorkey. They address the readers who are single, and there are even sections for wives who may be reading the book, that they may understand their husbands better.

Ephesians 5:3
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

On Sunday morning at approximately 9AM I completed my first organized 10K run - the Acumen Jingle All The Way 10k.

I discovered the run online a week ago while looking for qualifying runs for the National Marathon in March.

It was cold and I had to wake up at 6AM, but it was worth it. I even got home in time to get ready for church (my church has service at 1PM).

The 10k took place at West Potomac Park in DC, right next to the Mall and all the monuments. The path passed right by The Awakening, which was pretty cool. The race started at 8AM so I arrived nice and early at 7AM to make sure I lined up on time and stretched a bit. It was cold, about 30 degrees Fahrenheit the whole morning. Good thing they served Starbucks and hot coco for free. Approximately 2,900 participants showed up… in Santa outfits, Reindeer headpieces, and even a Frosty the Snowman Costume (with a do not smoke sign on his back, crossing out a pipe). During the middle of the run I remember seeing some guy juggling 4 balls the whole 10 kilometers… why? It was interesting to hear all those bells jingling in people’s shoes. Good thing mine fell off, it was really annoying.

The actual run itself was pretty easy because I run often, but I don’t usually run 6 miles straight without taking a break. Only some mild leg cramps the last mile. I finished in less than 54 minutes, which qualifies me for the National Marathon. My goal was to finish in less than an hour. Good thing I brought a cell phone, because I forgot my watch! Had I no timing device to pace myself with, I would have been very worried during the whole run.

*Update* My official chip time is 53 minutes 14 seconds.

The registration packet included:

• A pair of running gloves, which came in handy in the cold weather
• A long sleeve shirt
• Jingle bells… which fell off my laces in the middle of the run. I hope no one stepped on them!
• A ChampionChip, which is a transponder used to track times in races and ensures people don’t take taxi cabs to the finish line
• A bib

Now I need motivation to train… anyone else want to run the National Marathon?