For the past week, I have been reading the book by Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages for Children.  In this book Dr. Chapman describes the different love languages and how they are displayed by our children.

One of the possible love languages for your child is “Words of Affirmation.”  Dr. Chapman mentioned that some parents might have a hard time using encouraging words.  He says “One aspect of feeling encouraged is to feel good physically.  Exuberance and vitality require energy;  this means as parents we need to be in the best possible health physically, mentally, emotionally and physically.  When we are encouraged, we are better able to encourage our children.” 

So there you have it, become a runner and you will feel good physically and who knows this might translate over into being able to encourage your children more regularly. 

As parents we are so quick to do whatever we can for our kids and sometimes we neglect our own good health.  This can be our physical, mental or spiritual health.  One way to help our kids is by getting in good shape and start running. 

So maybe you have not exercised since high school or college.  Well now is the time to start.  Start with something simple.  Take a short brisk 30 minute walk.  Or how about you run for 5 minutes and then walk for 5 minutes.  Today is the day that start getting in shape for you and your kids.

Please let us know if we can help or if you have any questions.

This week we received some exciting news. Jim West from the Barnabas group called and informed us that we are on the schedule to give a 7 minute presentation at the upcoming Barnabas group meeting. We are excited for this opportunity to share with the Christian men and women in the Orange County area the exciting things that are happening at Up and Running Again. The meeting will be on May 1st in Costa Mesa.

Please pray that we will be able to clearly communicate the message of how God is working in our organization and that individuals will be moved and want to volunteer to provide assistance.

In case you missed it, Stephen Tierney, the founder of Up and Running Again was interviewed live at the Surf City half marathon.

Click the link below to view the video and also a transcript.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/05/sea-of-runners-race-for-surf-city-usa-marathon-half-marathon/

Above is a picture of our Surf City 2012 half marathon running running team.  We were so excited to see 45 individuals run 13.1 miles and not only complete a bucket list but to gain confidence to achieve big things in their life.

We know that through this training each of these individuals will realize that if they take small consistent steps they can accomplish almost anything. 

Look for Up and Running Again volunteer opportunities starting this summer. 

This was the mantra of my basketball coach in high school.  He would always preach that in practice.  Every drill required us to go above and beyond.  It is funny that I can still remember it like it was yesterday.  I think you could ask former student and they could come up with that same quote.   And you know what it is true.  It only takes a little bit more to become the best at what we do.  It is the little things that separate the successful from the average.

I just finished reading a book called the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy.  The basic premise of the book is that if you make small changes in your behavior, over time it will lead to astonishing results.  If you were to eat 125 less calories each day, over 3 years you would lose a significant amount of weight.  If you were to take a penny and double it over 31 days, you would have over 10 million dollars.

So tomorrow when you don’t feel like exercising, reading that book on leadership, or packing your lunch to save up money for what is really important, just remember it just takes a little bit more to go first class.

When starting Up and Running Again, it required me to jump through many hoops to gain our 501(d)(3) status.  If you are thinking of forming your own ministry, you should go for it!  You just need to be aware that is a fairly lengthy and time consuming process.  I will be documenting in a series of posts the steps to help you form your own nonprofit organization.

When you started your movement, idea, or ministry, you were excited about the goals you were accomplishing.  Your ministry starts developing and you realize that in order for your organization to grow and reach other individuals, you need to get a more formal entity in place.  You are now ready to take it to the next level.

The first step in forming a 501(c)(3)nonprofit charity organization is to form a nonprofit corporation or LLC.  This corporation will be formed at the state level.  You will need to enlist the assistance of an attorney and he/she will guide you in deciding what type of nonprofit corporation will best suite your organization.  In the State of California you will want to go to the Secretary of State office and search to ensure your business name has not already been used.  The website is http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/.

This website is a great resource in helping you start your entity and to stay in compliance with the state.

There are three categories of California nonprofit  corporations.  You will need to decide if your nonprofit corporation will be organized as a Mutual Benefit, Public Benefit or a Religious corporation.

1. A Religious corporation is one organized to operate a church or structured primarily for religious purposes.
2. A Public Benefit corporation is organized primarily for charitable purposes and plans to obtain state tax exempt status under California Revenue and Tax Code section 23701(d).  This category covers most of your 501(c)(3) organizations, civic leagues or social welfare organizations.
3. A Mutual Benefit corporation is corporation organized other than religious charitable, civic league or social welfare purposes.  These organizations may not be planning tax exempt status at all.

Following you will find a link to download the instructions and sample forms needed to file your Articles of Incorporation. 

www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/articles/corp_artsnp.pdf

After filing your articles, you will receive back a stamped copy from the state indicating the approval of your Articles of Incorporation and your new state identification number.

You are now ready to move onto the next step.

As always if we can be of service, please contact steve@ntcpas.com

Are there certain things in your life that you want to do?  Are there things that God is calling you to do?  Do you know what that is?

Well I cannot answer all of those questions for your life but God has made some changes in my life.  If you were to ask me 4 years ago that I would  have completed a full marathon, ten half marathons and then started an organization specifically focused on training homeless or inner city kids to run a half marathon, I would have said you were crazy.  But this is exactly what God has done in my life.  Things like this do not happen to me. 

I am a tax accountant in Orange County.  Accountants do not start nonprofit organizations.  The most exciting thing for me is when we get a glimpse of the new tax forms each year or when our software has an upgrade. We get excited when the IRS comes out with a new Revenue Ruling.  I never imagined starting a nonprofit organization.

I think the most amazing thing about my dream is that it never was a dream. It was really just following the exciting things that God seemed to put in front of me. It has clearly been him leading this process.

I often think about the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  In the book, he mentions that God doesn’t always call us in areas we are strongest because we don’t have any need to rely on him. With Up and Running again, I am using my strengths in passion and organization but I was clearly not a runner or trainer.

My encouragement in finding your dream would be four things:

1. Find an area that you are passionate about and see if you can use it for Kingdom building. I know at the Rescue Mission they have an individual that started Chili Van.  This van travels around and feeds 315 people each Tuesday and Thursday.

2. Take a risk and see if God will lead you in that direction. Is there someone you feel God asking you to talk to? Is there a risk he is asking you to take?

3. Be open to areas that you or no one else has tried before.  Could you have a ministry with surfing, board games or photography, absolutely!

4. Don’t let your career, age, or busy lifestyle get in the way.  Don’t use the excuse that starting new organizations is something you do when you don’t have responsibilities like kids, mortgage or a job. As I mentioned, I am a CPA with a spouse and 3 young kids. I have also read so many times in the Bible where God called people well into their careers to drop everything and start working for him.

Starting Up and Running again has truly been one of the most amazing things in my life. I love what I am doing and would not trade it for the world. I would encourage you to look around and see what areas and gifts you can use to further his kingdom.

Yesterday as I was running the Surf City half marathon, I saw a runner with a shirt that said “Make your miles matter.”  It was probably around mile 10 as I was struggling for a reason to keep going at my current pace.

This statement really stood out to me and I think it perfectly describes what we are trying to do at Up and Running Again.

When we are running and training to run it isn’t for ourselves but to help other people.  We run to change the lives of our group.  It is not about me and my personal records.  During all of the past several years of training for Up and Running Again races, I have failed in getting faster and making PR’s.  But you know what, I would not trade what we are accomplishing with Up and Running Again for a sub 4 hour marathon or even a Boston Qualification.

I have seen the lives changed through this half marathon program.  We had a runner mention to us the other day that should could not walk a mile a year ago and now she just finished 13.1 miles.  It is so exciting to see their faces as they cross the finish line and celebrate.

So even though I will go back to running for 5 minutes and then walking for 5 minutes when we start a new training class, it will all be worth it.

So the question that I have for you is “Are you making your miles matter?”  What are you doing in your life that is impacting another person.  Are you using your hobby or job to change someone else’s life?  What are the gifts that God has given you to change the world?

Now is a perfect time to start making your miles matter.