Catalyst 2012

Chase and I attended a leadership conference for church leaders a few weeks ago, called Catalyst. I wanted to share an inspirational nugget from some of the speakers who SO inspired me.

It's better to make a difference than to make a point. 

~Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Ministries, Inc. in the Atlanta area

An introvert just has a longer runway to get to where they are comfortable. 

~Susan Cain, author of Quiet

If I love those around me I owe it to them to enter into the danger of accountability. 

~Patrick Lencioni, founder and president of The Table Group and 

author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

 We need to realize the full dignity of every human being.

~ Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative

Stewardship means to do whatever you do better than you were asked right where you are right now.

~Perry Noble, Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church

We can't lose our identity because of our failures. 

and

We get to make along side the God who fixes problems with parties (reference to the Prodigal Son).

~Jon Acuff, Blogger, Stuff Christians Like and author of Quitter

These are just a hand full of the speakers who challenged and encouraged us over the two day conference.  If you work in a church or lead in some sort of ministry, Catalyst was awesome and you should totally check it out.

Partners

Chase and I started running fairly consistently in the mid summer.  At first we had some bad experiences working out together which had nothing to do with me being slow and whiny.

I, like most girls, have a hard time working out without a partner. I thought what better workout partner than my main man, my partner for life.  Well...our ideas about working out, our pace, and our attitudes are totally different which caused a few humorous and probably overly dramatic tiffs.

I mean, you know, when you are out of shape and you run a mile or two it's not a great time to be asked "are you ok?" "why are you breathing like that?" On the other hand, trying to get into shape with a partner who runs the pace of the tortoise from the good ole story The Tortoise and the Hare, could be challenging. In my defense the tortoise does end up winning!!
 
I think you get the picture, we had a rocky start.  Through this workout war we've compromised, negotiated, cheated, encouraged each other, and become better partners. It took some time, a few trial and errors, several apologies (ugh that darn pride'll get you every time), and time management but I think we've found a good routine for ourselves.

Here's to being ready for the Color Run and the Tough Mudder (just Chase)!!

Today we enjoyed a nice soggy run through a local park.