Month: January 2017

Why I Run

Mark Peterkins Family, Health, Leadership 0 Comment

I’ve always enjoyed the idea of running, but not until I turned 40 did I actually enjoy running.  I’ve always enjoyed chasing balls and playing team type sports, but the joy of running was elusive.  I knew running was good for me, but I just could not find a way to enjoy it.

Not until I went to watch my brother-in-law, Jamie, run a marathon in the Ottawa race weekend.  While waiting for him to finish, I sat in the stands and watched hundreds of people come across the finish line.  Some were finishing with a burst of speed and frenzy, others were slowing weaving and wobbling in under the watchful eyes of first aid personnel.  Some looked sweaty and exhausted while others displayed joyful celebration with a fist pump as they crossed the line.  There were all types of bodies, slim and runner-like to stocky.  Old and young, male and female.  They were accomplishing something special.  And I was sitting in the stands ……..  I didn’t want to be in the stands.  I wanted their joy, the experience of finishing a race.  That’s when I decided I’d be running next year in this race.

My next step was to find a way to train for this and was directed to the Running Room.  There I signed up for their marathon-training program.  It was a wonderful experience.  Here’s what got me to enjoy running.  They slowed me down.  Whenever I went for a run in the past, I was pushing myself to run as fast as I could, my body was not used to running and so it became very uncomfortable.  The Running Room program got me to run with others, which was fun.  The key was to run only as fast as you could while having a conversation with someone.  That is to say, you have to run so as not to get breathless and thus experience a gasping conversation.  In running slower, my body began to change.  It got more efficient and after a while I could run a bit faster without getting breathless.  The idea is that you have to run slow to run fast.  In fact, I later learned that high performing runners do a lot of training by running slow.  Anyway, it started there.  I ran my marathon the next year and finished my race.  It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but it was amazing too.  It’s the only marathon I’ve run to date; I prefer the half marathon distance, as I don’t have to put quite so much training in.

Here are the reasons I continue to run.

It’s efficient and cost effective.  Running is one of the most efficient forms of exercise.  For the time you put into it, you burn the most calories.  A pair of running shoes is all you need.  When I travel, I can always get out for a run.  I don’t need to find a gym.

It works well with my goal minded personality.  It’s measurable.  I try and run a couple of races each year and I can compare how well I’m doing by my finish time.  I set monthly goals for how many kms I want to run and I track them with my phone running app.  I can compare how I’m doing with my brother who also runs.  (Yes we are a bit competitive!)

It’s an important component of a healthy body.  All kinds of studies suggest running can help you live longer, provide better mental health as you age, better chances of avoiding cancer and diabetes.

It supports my other sports activities by providing a base of fitness.  I play hockey once a week most of the year and so having a baseline of fitness allows me to keep my pace up towards the end of the hour I play weekly.  I believe it reduces the chance of heart attack that we hear about with out-of-shape occasional hockey players.

It’s helped me develop some great friendships.  When I go for a run with someone we get a chance to spend uninterrupted time talking.  My current running partner is my neighbour Rob.  Running has helped us develop a great friendship.

I can do it outside.  Since growing up in southern Africa, I always have enjoyed being outside.  Running gets me outside on a regular basis.  It has helped me make friends with our Ottawa winters as I continue to run outside when the weather turns cooler.

Late fall run with Maggie and Stephen along the Rideau Canal.

It provides something for my kids to consider.  Just like any commitment to exercise and activity, your kids watch that and hopefully it lays a foundation of healthy lifestyle for them.  My kids didn’t really enjoy running as teenagers, but they’re coming around.  Maggie will often go with me now and Stephen has committed to running a half marathon with me this fall.

Ever considered running?

City Gospel Movement

Mark Peterkins Gospel Movement, Leadership 1 Comment

As some might know, I give leadership to an organization called One Way Ministries.  Last October I had a chance to attend a conference called Movement Day in New York City.   The conference brings together leaders from around the world who have a passion and vision to reach their cities.  City Reaching (as we’ve called it in the past) has been our passion.  I’ve noticed that people are begining to use a new name, “City Gospel Movement”.

Tim Keller (Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church) has long been involved in City Gospel Movements and his church and ministry are the organizers of Movement Day.  Tim Keller’s definition of a City Gospel Movement is, “Christians and Churches coming together across racial and denominational lines in a city unified by (a) the gospel and (b) a vision to reach that city.  Which means to see the urban body of Christ grow in quality and quantity faster than the population.  That the salt and light of Christian love and truth will influence the life of that city, renewing it, improving it socially, influencing it culturally and lifting Jesus’s name so that it’s increasingly respected and honoured in that city.”

So much can be unpacked from this, but one of the things I’ve been thinking about and praying into for years is the idea of knowing the condition of the body of Christ in Ottawa.  People often ask me, “How is the church in Ottawa doing?”  My answer is, “I don’t know.”  I might be able to tell you how some individual churches are growing or seem more healthy, but overall I don’t know.

At this conference, it was reported that the evangelical churches of NYC had grown by 500% over the last 25 years.  This statistic is amazing and encouraging given all we hear about how the church is declining in North America – including Canada.  But what’s got me thinking is that someone must have collected that data in order to report how the church is doing more broadly in NYC.

So how is the church doing in Ottawa?  My prayer and desire is to see us find a way to gather that data.  We need this.  What is the level of spirituality in our city?  Are our churches growing or declining?  Are we losing our youth?  Are we planting more churches than are closing that are sustaining and reaching people for Christ?

Would you pray with me for a team who would catch this and the funding to make it happen?

Goals and Planning

Mark Peterkins Family, Leadership 0 Comment

One of the reasons I love this time of year is that I take some time to reflect on what I would like to achieve in the upcoming year.  It’s like standing at the tee of a new hole on a golf course, full of potential and as of yet, you’ve made no mistakes.   I admit it – I love plans and goals.

Here’s my process.  I work on a year end family newsletter.  Working on this allows me to look back and think about all that happened around me in the last year.  In doing this I’m often looking for a pic or two to add to the letter.  So I review all my pictures from the last year.  I’m amazed at how looking back on them gives me a sense of gratitude for all I was privileged to be part of and quite honestly, reminds me of a number of things I’ve forgotten already.  It’s an emotional experience.

Next, I work on a new family budget.  I review how our spending was last year, and start draft-budget for this year.  Full disclosure, I only tracked our family expenses until April in 2016.  So naturally, one of my goals this year – is to track family finances beyond April 2017.  Now I say draft budget because until Tracy has seen it and we’ve agreed together as to what our giving/spending plan is for 2017, is it’s not finalized.  In the process of budget setting, we also look at our retirement savings and see if we are tracking to some sort of plan year to year.

Next I start drafting possible goals in my journal.  More recently, I try and actually lay them open before the Lord as I sit in silence and ask him to confirm, redirect or lay other goals on my heart.

Some interesting facts about goals*:

  • People with written goals are 50% more likely to achieve than people without goals
  • The act of writing down a goal down in is a very powerful motivator
  • Writing down goals forces us to be avoid being vague
  • All motivational ‘gurus’ agree that goals should be written down
  • 92% of New Years goals fail by January 15th
  • Only 3 out of every 100 adults write down their goals down on paper
  • Sharing your goals with a close ‘confide’ is proven to increase the chances of you achieving your goal
  • Specific goals which are time-bound and measurable work best
  • In the process of achieving your goal you will be sacrificing something else

Over the last couple of years I’ve used Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever material to create my goals and track them in Evernote.  It’s very thorough.  But you don’t need all of that to create your own.  Here’s my suggestion.  Take the different parts of your life say, spiritual, financial, professional, health and intellectual.  Decide if you’re having problems, just not happy with any of them or you want to see improvement in that area.  For instance, you want to lose 10lbs.  Set a goal to lose 10lbs by a certain date.  That’s your goal.  But here is where the power is.  What changes are you going to have to implement now to achieve that.  Perhaps it’s tracking your eating every other month on something like Lose It.  Perhaps it means you’re going to have to be active 3 times a week.  Add those points to your goal.  Do this for all your goals.  Then finally share them.  And if you’re really brave, ask someone to remind you about them periodically over the year.

In my family, we go out for Dim Sum lunch in early January and we share with one another what our goals are.  I asked the kids to think about last year – share what were their highlights, how they did on their goals and what their goals are for 2017.  This year I plan to ask each of the kids to bring them in written form.  I’m not sure they are big fans of goals setting, but they love the lunch.  We also talk about vacation plans and what big rocks as a family we want to drop into our schedule before they fill up too quickly.  I try and ask them about their goal progress periodically during the year.

My goals this year?  Well they’ll include reading a certain amount of books, losing some weight, running a couple of races, weekend get aways with Tracy, speaking publicly more about One Way Ministries and writing a blog once a week.

What are your goals?

* source:  http://www.goalband.co.uk/goal-achievement-facts.html