Scott D. Winter

I had a boss at Thomas Nelson that once observed that all of the Thomas Nelson emails were first initial, last name, and that some of them made for cool names. Mine, for instance, was “Swinter” (said all at once). He talked about it all the time, even joking at our quarterly sales conferences and the nickname stuck. There was a woman who worked at Nelson whose name is Pam Stein (pronounced “stane”). So, her email was pstein. Think about it for a sec and you will get it. Anyway…

A co-worker familiar with the joke just sent me this YouTube video and I had to share it. Who would have thought that out of a little office joke I would end up with my own theme song! Enjoy!

Ok, I totally slacked off last week and only walked once. What’s worse is the one time I did walk I really didn’t want to, but when I started I felt really good so I kicked it up a notch (BAM!) and felt horrible at the end of the 3+ miles that I half jogged/half walked. I was out of town Thursday-Saturday and even brought workout clothes, but didn’t make it to the treadmill at the hotel. What has surprised me the most is how much my legs have stiffened up and hurt so bad! You could play the bongos on my hamstrings right now.

Melinda and I are planning on hitting the Y tonight. I’m supposed to do six miles, but I’m not sure if I should. I’ll see how it goes, but if I do six I will do it flat (no incline) and just maintain the 4 mph pace rather than trying to jog any of it. Hopefully this will get my legs stretched out without hurting anything.

The lesson I learned? Wow this is really hard. I still know that I can finish the Half, but the reality of the difficulty is setting in. Rather than discouraging me though, it has steeled my resolve. I am looking forward to the challenge of getting back into training and the challenge of the actual race. This little set-back will only make finishing that much sweeter!

We walked three miles today. It was a beautiful, sunny, dark blue sky out with mild temps, so we decided to head to the park. Jessica and Anna played on the playground while Melinda and I walked the track. It was great! As we completed the first mile, I remembered that the iPod had a stopwatch feature, so I switched it on. I’m pretty sure our first mile was around fourteen minutes (based on my watch), and the next two miles went like this:

• Mile 2 – 14:18.192
• Mile 3 – 14:18.143

So, our pace is pretty consistent, and right where we need it to be to finish the half in under four hours. I could have gone one more mile at least, but Melinda was a little winded. I told her that this shows we can do it! We went three today, and all we have to do is do the same thing for ten more miles!

Training has started slow, but we are encourged. We have both been able to maintain a 15 minute/mile pace for the duration of 30 minute sessions, which is well ahead of the four hour time limit to complete the 1/2 marathon. As we continue our training the walks will get longer, so we’ll see if we can keep up the pace! Otherwise it has been great! We have walked outside, but the last couple of times have gone to the Y to use the treadmill. It’s nice to have all your stats in front of you on the treadmill. Another bonus is the humidity indoors so you sweat more. I love a good sweat! I also like being around other people. There just seems to be an energy in there with everyone else on treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, etc.

We are still taking it easy to start off with. Since we feel better than we thought we would, we have had a tendency to step it up a little, but have tried to keep things just under the level of extreme for us. We don’t want to burn out, or worse, injure anything before we really even get started.

The best part? Other than some mild soreness, we feel great! Our energy levels are up and overall we just feel better. I can only imagine that this will get better as we go along. nothing noticiable on the weight side, but I’m sure that will come as we get more consistent with our walks. We’ll keep you posted!

Rick Burgess and Bill “Bubba” Bussey are hosts of the nationally syndicated radio show Rick and Bubba, based out of Birmingham, Alabama. They also happen to be best-selling Thomas Nelson authors. Melinda and I used to listen to their program a lot until they went off the air in Nashville. They got back on an AM station a while ago, but we never picked it up again. I can remember Melinda singing their annoying theme song and I swore I would never listen. I started and was instantly hooked. Not only were they really funny, but they were unabashed about their faith on secular radio. I respect them as artists, as authors, and as Christian men. A lot of their stories center around their families, so you could instantly relate. As a matter of fact Melinda and I remember a few years ago when Rick’s wife became pregnant with their fifth child, Bronner. Unfortunately Bronner died tragically this past weekend, drowning in the family swimming pool. No parent should ever have to experience what they have experienced and it’s hard not to feel a tremendous amount of sorrow even when you don’t know the people personally.

Rick did an amazing thing yesterday and spoke at the memorial service for his son. It was not a typical memorial service message. I would ask that you take some time to listen to the message before reading on, as it will help put my comments in context.

Assuming you listened, what you just heard is a call to action. Don’t miss it. I was incredibly convicted as I listened to Rick. Melinda and I have heard many times that receiving an autism diagnosis for a child is similar to the process of losing a child. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to take anything away from the grief of this family, but there is a parallel – lost dreams, dashed hopes, and missed experiences. What I was convicted of was that I have had many opportunities over the years to talk with many people, a lot of them strangers, about autism. About how it affects our life, about how it affects mine and Melinda’s relationship, about how difficult it is in general. You know what I don’t talk about? The other person’s soul. Sure, God will inevitably come up in the conversation, but I can’t remember one time that I took to time to fulfill the Great Commission with the opportunity I had to talk about autism.

For Rick Burgess to stand up in that service, just days after losing his baby boy, and not talk about Bronner, but show genuine concern over the souls of men astounded me. It is not what I expected. Because of what I know of Rick and Bubba, I expected the gospel, but I didn’t expect to hear Rick ask that people use his son’s death as an opportunity to preach Christ.

At our church we are wrapping up a long study in the book of Acts. As our pastor has taught us, the theme of Acts is to preach Christ. At all times, in all circumstances. I must admit that I have a lot of head knowledge from this series, but nothing motivated me more to preach Christ than Rick’s heart-felt message from yesterday. Why? Because I know as a Christian I am supposed to preach Christ, but what I have been missing is that I have been given a unique opportunity to have discussions with people that I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to talk to because God put Anna in our life – opportunities I have missed. No longer. I covenant from this day forward that no person I talk to about autism will walk away and not know that Jesus died for them.

Another thing that convicted me was Rick’s passionate plea on behalf of his other kids. His observation that the only concern that we need to have for our kids is to raise them up to be warriors of Christ, and let God take care of the rest floored me. How many times have I chided Jessica for missed opportunities in school, but haven’t sat down and prayed for and over her? How many times have I told Jessica to learn her Bible verses so that she can get a good grade, but not so that she be hiding God’s Word in her heart? How many times have I shown her the wrong path, not by what I say, but by what I do, or don’t do? My job with Jessica is to raise a Godly woman, not a straight A student. To raise a warrior for the kingdom, not an artist, or doctor, or teacher, or whatever else she might do as a job. God will take care of that. I need to be about the business of instilling Godly principles in Jessica, not teaching her to crave more things in this sinful world.

Rick Burgess never imagined that he only had two years with his son. I bet if he did, the last two years would have been different. But that is what the Bible means when it says to be ready (Matthew 25-1-13). We don’t know when the hour will come, so we need to always be diligent, to always preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2). So, let’s live from this day forward like it was our last, taking as many people with us as we can into heaven.

Melinda and I have a goal. The goal is simple – just finish. That’s it. Just finish. The more I say it, the more I believe we can do it. Just finish.

What am I talking about? Mike Hyatt (the president of Thomas Nelson) issued a challenge to the company for a second year in a row. That challenge was to participate in the Country Music Half Marathon. While there will be some internal competition to be the fastest, the challenge was simple – participate and finish. Do so, and the company will reimburse your entry fee, give you a t-shirt, and a $100 gift card. Mike even extended the invitation to spouses (we have to share the gift card) as well as Nelson’s current authors, and agents.

As anyone who has seen us recently knows, Melinda and I aren’t in the best shape. Choosing to participate in an event as big a as a half marathon this late in the game, plus being out of shape, means there is really no way we could compete in the event. So, Melinda and I decided to walk to half marathon and set a goal to just finish. 13.1 miles in under four hours. We don’t need to be first, we don’t care if we are last. We just want to finish.

Official training starts on January 21st. We have already begun some initial steps, like drinking only water, walking, and other forms of exercise. Once the 21st gets here, we will have to keep a strict schedule of training in order to be even close to ready.

The Marathon is on April 26th, here in Nashville. We’ll keep you posted on training and progress. In the meantime, please pray for us! We are excited to have a goal to work toward, rather then an abstract “let’s get into shape”. It’s also great to have a team of people to work with to help with encouragement and accountability.

Do you have regrets? Boy, I know I do. When I look back on the years of my life, had I known then what I know now, there are many things I would have done different. If they still made the De Lorean, and flux capacitors were an option, I’d be all over it!

But is regret a Biblical principle? I mean, even God experienced regret, right (Genesis 6:6)… Do you think that Moses, after years in the desert, didn’t sit on top of the mountain looking into the Promised Land that he led the Israelites to but wasn’t allowed in, do you think he didn’t mourn that his actions, and his actions alone, were the reason he wasn’t going in? I guarantee he did!

It is interesting to note that typically the first reaction we have when confronted by something that should have been handled differently is to assign blame. Do you realize that assigning blame was the third reaction recorded in the Bible immediately after the Fall? When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that was expressly forbidden them, the first reaction they had was to be ashamed. The second reaction was to hide from God. The third reaction that Adam had was to blame others, specifically God and Eve. No one made Adam eat, especially not God. God did everything He could to keep Adam from falling, short of putting an electric fence around the tree. Adam knew what he was doing and did it anyway, but when confronted he shifted the focus off of himself and onto someone else, telling God that it was the woman that God had given him that made him do it.

Part of me likes the fact that Adam shifts some of the blame to God, by the way. To me it really shows the level of intimacy that God and Adam had. If God Himself approached you right now and confronted you with your sin, how would you react? You bet! You would be on your face so fast, crying out for mercy! But Adam is so comfortable with God that he thinks nothing of shifting the blame towards God. I’m not advocating the action, of course, but I am definitely jealous of the relationship. There is a certain familiarity that allows for this kind of behavior. It gives an example of the type of close relationship we will enjoy with our Father one day.

Back to the original point… When things don’t turn out like we planned it is often due to the choices we have made. When that happens we tend to point to circumstances, or other people, rather than taking responsibility. I had a boss once that told me that it irritated him when I would step up, admit to a fault, and take all of the blame. At least if I had whined about what didn’t happen, or should have happened, or what someone else should have done then there would have been a coaching opportunity, but when I admitted all the fault there wasn’t much left to say.

So what now? Ok, I regret what I have done. What is the next step? For that, let’s look at the Biblical words for regret. In the Greek it is metamellomai, or metanoeo (there are others that are similar). In the Hebrew, it’s the word nacham. In most modern translations these words are translated as regret, or they imply feeling sad for something. In my opinion, this is the wrong translation and the KJV gets it right here. In the Greek word metaelomai, for example, the prefix meta means “after”, but implies “change”. In other words, the original meaning for the word is not just feeling sorry for something, it signifies changing ones mind, but then also taking the necessary action of making a change for the better. Also, it is interesting to note that the word almost always means to turn from sin. So, what we are really dealing with here isn’t regret, it’s repentance! And that is how the KJV translates these words the most – repent.

It also implies grief. It isn’t just that I wish I hadn’t done something, but that I am so overwhelmed by it that I have no choice but to turn away. It’s a strong feeling. It’s not, “Oh, I’m sorry” and walk away. It’s “I am grieved by this and I am turning in the complete opposite direction to correct it”. In other words, there is no Biblical principle of regret. Then how do we get out of the cycle of action, sorrow, action, sorrow and so on? Remember I said in the beginning that the key was taking responsibility? That’s what God did. He was so grieved by the sin of the world that He flooded it, and killed everything except who and what was in the ark. That is repentance.

How do we get this in our lives? First and foremost, stop regretting. It’s unhealthy. All that does is keeps you focused on what is wrong and not what is right (Hmmmm… Where have I heard that before?). Regret is sin. Regret makes you a prisoner. Repentance sets you free (2 Corinthians 7:10). What happens when you repent? Read on to verse 11. It produces diligence, it gives you something to defend your faith with, it makes you irritated with sin, it strikes fear in your heart over sin, it produces an earnest desire to do what is right, it makes your mind active and fierce, and it makes you want to change everything! (By the way, this verse is a goldmine of word study. I encourage you to take the time and explore it on your own.) In other words, repentance makes you strong! It makes you a better Christian. To me, this means that repentance isn’t something you “do” after making a mistake, repentance is a constant state of mind. Repentance is the sharpening of your mental skills to be aware of sin and mistakes and to be so repulsed by it that you avoid it altogether.

Think of a ninja, or a strong warrior, or the hero in an action movie, or the war-hardened veteran. They all possess this uncanny skill of being keenly aware of everything all at once, giving them the advantage to be able to react quicker than anyone else, often before the enemy. It is a skill that is honed by being taught, unrelenting practice, and sheer experience. These are the guys you want on your side. They never let their guard down, and they even appear to sense danger in their sleep. This is the way we are supposed to be! Repentance isn’t an action that is performed afterwards; repentance is the state of mind that keeps you ever aware of coming danger. That is why we are told be diligent to present ourselves approved to God (2 Timothy 2:15). We aren’t told that we are covered by the blood, sit back, and enjoy. No! We are told be always be on the lookout (1 Peter 5:8) and to always be conscious of what is right so that we can avoid sin our lives (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Commit, with me, from this day forward, to be in that state of mind. Sharpen your spiritual battle skills. Read, study, pray, praise, worship. These are the keys to living a life free of regret.

Do you like to listen to music when you are sitting at your computer? Do you ever wish you could program a radio station with music from a favorite artist or musical genre? Do you like a variety of music, but don’t want the hassle of creating play lists in iTunes? Enter Pandora. If you haven’t heard of it, or used it yet, I highly recommend it.

Pandora allows you type in an artist or album and it will create a personalized radio station with music that is similar to that artist and their musical style. For example, I am getting into the Christmas spirit a little early and wanted to listen to Christmas music, but I don’t like the uber-wide variety of music most radio stations play at Christmas time. You can keep your honky-tonk Christmas and your Christmas parody, I like the classics. I typed in “Johnny Mathis Holiday” and Pandora started playing Christmas music from artists like The Carpenters, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, etc. The great thing is that I can rate the music and Pandora will learn what I like and don’t like. If a certain artist or song is played that I don’t think quite fits what I had in mind for the station, I can give it a thumbs down it won’t play it again. Conversely, everything I give a thumbs up to Pandora will continue to play songs and artists similar to the ones I like.

Pandora has a wide variety of artists and songs, even if it doesn’t have exactly the artist you are looking for. The downside is that you can only listen online, but if you really like a variety and want to play songs from a certain musical vantage point, all while sitting at your computer, then check out Pandora today. Oh, by the way, it is completely free!

Melinda’s brother Mark is the Executive Pastor at Burke Community Church in Burke, Virginia. Mark has been taking on some regular teaching duties at the church, and wouldn’t you know it, he spoke on peace this past Sunday (10/28).

You can listen to the message here. Under “Attachments”, there is also a PDF of the PowerPoint for you to follow. Enjoy!