John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

The process of purposeful pain (and sacrifice)

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Michael, Alex, Tyler, and I in our gym. . .the guy on the right is Alex's brother.
Michael, Alex, Tyler, and I in our gym. . .the guy on the right is Alex’s brother, Mikey.

It was 3:30am last night when it happened. The previous night it was around 2:45am. As for now, even as stand up from this chair for a break, it happens again and again and again. Curious? Well, I started back working out five days ago. After four months of complete and total physical lethargy, I am back crushing my body so that it might live. Right now, even the most basic of movements makes me question my will to live. I’m only partially speaking in hyperbole. I am hurting.

Since November, I have traveled a lot, eaten more (mainly disgusting food you eat when living out of a suitcase), and exercised almost none. The result . . . eight pounds gained and general physical malaise in every way. I knew it was time to get back on the horse, but I was just slow to mount. Thankfully, an old friend moved back to town who makes it his business to destroy his friends for their good.

Alex Detmering is a university English teacher by day and a professional trainer by night (he is a physical trainer in America). Michael Gregory, Tyler Leuck, and I are the willing victims of Alex’s torturous workout regimens and the recipients of his motivational yelling of statements like “do it!” and “butt down, heads up!” and “go outside to puke!”.

As I woke up this morning and did something that I have never done before in my life (popped an Advil prior to breakfast), I questioned my desire to keep submitting to Alex and his brutal ways of getting my softening body back into fighting shape. “Why do I do this?” dominated by thoughts as I limped over, with the gracefulness of a wounded rhino, to brush my teeth.

The answer is easy; [Read more…]

Grateful for the influence of a man I never met (Howard Hendricks)

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Isn’t it strange that we live in a day where we can have people deeply impact our lives on a personal level without ever having met them? I could rattle off a sizable list of men and women whom have helped mold and shape my world view, even my personality, whom I have never met. This morning, I am thinking about one such man.

Howard Hendricks from the DTS websits. . .
Howard Hendricks from the DTS websits. . .

I woke up this morning only to see on Twitter that Howard Hendricks passed away in America while I was asleep in Asia.

Howard Hendricks was introduced to me by my campus ministers at Georgia Tech, Howie Espenshied and Danny McKinney. My faith was new and untested, yet my passion and zeal was rocket ship high. Howie or Danny, I can’t remember which one, gave me a set of tapes on leadership by Dr. Howard Hendricks. He was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and was a major influence on large a number of the top Christian leaders from the past 50 years.

I inhaled that series of 4-5 lectures on leadership. From that time, I learned two values that have permanently changed

[Read more…]

A letter to a friend (girl) regarding dating Christian men

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This article is from a series I have been writing called “My thoughts on singleness (a series). . .” If you like, please CLICK HERE to read the previous articles.

Taken on the island of Koh Lanta, Thailand with my phone. . .
Taken on the island of Koh Lanta, Thailand with my phone. . .

A few years ago, a female friend of mine was struggling with the prospect of dating Christian men. She was new to faith and had dated much prior to becoming a Christian. She was struggling with some aspects of the culture of Christian men.

Though I have shortened and taken out some of the personal content, I wanted to post our dialogue on a rather important issue. I hope you will find this helpful.

The first part is an abbreviated version of her email to me. It is followed by a similarly abbreviated form of my response. I know what I am saying will be controversial on many fronts. Again, I do not pretend to be an expert in this area, but just a guy trying to bring his faith to bear in all areas of life. This area of singleness is just one of them.

Dear John,

I’ve been writing an e-mail to you, in my mind, for weeks, now. Here it is.

Do you know I’ve only ever dated non-Christians? (remembering that I’ve only been actively seeking God for the past year) I can see that dating Christian men is a whole different ball game, to use a metaphor you’d like. 😉

Have been bumping up against the notion of automatically ruling a man out because he’s not a Christian, yet have also seen, through observing couples at church and talking to pastor, how incredibly intimate and fulfilling it could be to share yourself, share your time, share your heart, with someone who puts God at the center of their life, as well. That being said, Christian men, speaking in generalities, can sometimes seem, demasculinized. [Read more…]

The eternal value of my recent Thailand vacation

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Ryan and I heading out to a dive site. . .
Ryan and I heading out to a dive site. . .

As I wrote about earlier in the week, I just completed a much needed vacation.  If you have not already, you might want to read it first (CLICK HERE).  Since I wrote about the “superficial” reasons I loved my vacation in general, and Koh Lanta, Thailand specifically in my last post, I am going to more focus one some of the more “significant” elements for which I am grateful from this time.

I am grateful for my friends. . . I’ve written frequently about friendship and its absolute necessity in my life on this blog.  This vacation only further allowed me to appreciate my friends and the role they play in my life.

Ryan Sweeney and I graduated college together.  As the Lord would have it, both of us ended up in Asia as professionals.  Ryan runs a factory in Xiamen, China, so we live a long way from each other.  Close relative to my friends in America, but still a decent plane trip away from here.

I first asked Ryan if he wanted to join me at Koh Lanta, Thailand for a week of diving, beaches, and food.  He agreed, and we were off.  That is really all I NEEDED . . . one good friend with whom to travel.

Then Travis & Sonya Todd (along with their four girls) jumped in.  Followed by Rush and Meredith Stuart (and Baby Jack!).  Then some new friends, Ty Nash, Conner Norton, and Amanda Robinson came aboard.  All told, we ended up having 20+ people I knew from around Asia that all converge on this tiny island in the Andaman Sea for a week of R&R.

It was wonderful having so many people there to do everything from eat dinner on the beach to snorkel to play volleyball to everything in between.  It was a blessing having such a large community to vacation with these past 10 days, especially since I live alone I LOVE being with others.  Time with friends, both old and new, was a definite highlight of my vacation.

I am grateful for the change of pace. . .  Honestly, my life in Asia can be quite stressful.  I put in far too many hours, in conditions which are always dynamic and often challenging beyond my [Read more…]

I am grateful for a much needed vacation (the superficial)

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This is Ryan Sweeney and I diving in the Andaman Sea. . .
This is Ryan Sweeney and I diving in the Andaman Sea. . .

Do you ever find yourself in desperate need of a vacation?  Well, I found myself in that position a few weeks ago.  The stresses of the year, all the transition, travel, and challenges of work and life had just piled up.  I’m grateful that the Lord provided an exceptional break from which I returned from this past weekend.

Thailand is a weird and wonderful place.  I have had the fortune of going there many times since moving to Asia over 10 years ago.  Somewhere between 10-12 times, to be semi-exact.  Most of these times have been for work.  This time it was both work and a vacation which I tacked on to the end.

On this blog, I have tried to stay away from simply reporting on life.  Not that there is anything wrong with this, just not something I have chosen to do on this forum.  However, my time in Thailand was so great that I want to write 2-3 posts on it.

My next post will be more of the serious things I have taken away from this vacation.  However, here are some of the superficial highlights of my last 10 days of some much needed rest and recuperation. . .

I am grateful for the SUN of Thailand. . .  You see, we don’t get the sun much in this city of which I call home.  Even “sunny days” are overcast at best, with a grayish-brown hew which the sun fights its way through from time to time.  During the winter months, we will go weeks on end without seeing the sun at all.  Therefore, my favorite part of Thailand is always simply being in the sun.

Sounds strange, but it is true.  You don’t know what you have until it is taken from you.  Growing up in Atlanta, I took sunny, blue skies for granted.  Not so anymore.  As I sit here back in my East Asian apartment right now [Read more…]

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