Red Bull Spirituality

I am a sucker for great marketing, more-so than I probably should be. I sometimes buy clothes, food, drinks, etc. because of what they say about me or at least what marketers tell me it should say about me (I can't help it, I'm a sales guy and I love being sold to). One of my favorite brands is Red-Bull (sorry Blackburn) and over the break I got bored and emailed their marketing team to tell them what a great job they do at building a lifestyle brand.

Emilie at Red Bull emailed me back and asked if they could send me a Red Bull fan package for being so loyal to them. I said of course and a few days later a box arrived on my doorstep with 3 cans of my favorite beverage and a Red Bull Media House Blu Ray DVD called "Where the Trail Ends." (Check out the trailer: Where the Trail Ends<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZUsc1ewgUQ>)

The movie is about a handful of extreme mountain bikers who climb or chopper to the top of desert mountains and ride them down, similar to the way a snowboarder carves his way down a mountain. These guys are nuts! At times, it looks like they're going 60+ miles per hour, and they do backflips and super mans on terrain that I wouldn't even want to hike on. The most intimidating part of their ride has to be at the very beginning when these guys push off the top of the mountain. They start from the very peak, barely wide enough to fit their bike, take a deep breath and then let 'er rip.

In a lot of ways, that is where we find ourselves the Sunday before school starts. There are feelings of excitement and anxiety as we prepare to make our way down the mountain. Once these extreme mountain bikers push off the top, there is no stopping until they hit the bottom, and I know that is the way that the semester often feels. Before long, tests will begin coming down the pipeline, SING practice will eat into our free time, friendships will fade and others will take on new life, some of us will be looking for jobs while others will be making important choices about what degrees to pursue. For some, this might be the make or break semester academically or emotionally and as we being to process whatever is next, it can become overwhelming.

I am going to borrow Paul's words from Philippians as our challenge for this semester, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13)

I don't know what last semester was like for you. For some, it is one you will never forget and you would do it over in a heartbeat, for others, it is a relief to have it behind you. Regardless, 2012 is old news and 2013 is a new day. I know that it might sound too good to be true, and you might think that the whole "new day" spiel is BS, but Jesus' love allows us to start fresh every day. So as we fight the holiday hangover and pack our bags for tomorrow, let us not forget our struggles of yesterday and the way we have grown through our trials, but more importantly, may we remember to live for Christ and rise above it.