As we boarded the plane for a weekend getaway to Minnesota the flight attendant looked at the t-shirt my daughter #2 was wearing, it read "One day I want to run like my dad." She looked then looked at me and said, "you must be the runner." I immediately replied, "Oh, we're all runners."
A few seconds later it struck me that I had defined my family as a family of runners and I started thinking about the things in our lives that we allow to define us. I am a runner, a pastor, a father, a husband, a brother, a son, a friend, a golfer, a reader, a tea drinker, a wine drinker, a Christ-follower... the list could go on.
There is a fine balance between the things that we do and the people we are. Does running define who I am? No, not really, it is something I do, it may say something about who I am and my personality but it is not who I am. There may come a day when I will no longer be running but it won't fundamentally change who I am. The same is true for golf and other external activities I participate in.
There are some things that change who I am, becoming a follower of Jesus, the Christ, is one such change. It brings substantive change to how I look at and view the world around me. I want my life to be defined as a deeply passionate follower of Jesus.
