It is Fall for sure!

The weather has certainly turned colder, all of sudden.  We have been having some "frost" warnings and the morning temps have been in the 40's for the most part.  So one thing is sure, it is FALL!    After getting Gracie ready for school, we often walk to the bus stop. On this day, Grace wanted me to fix her hair in a special style - something that I am not very good at, but she sure looked cute!

If there is one certainty I have when spending time with Jimmy, it is being outside!  That kid just loves it no matter what the weather is like.  It is a very sad day when it rains since this Grandma just doesn't go out in the rain!  Last week, on what seemed to be a nice sunny morning, Jimmy and I went to the backyard to play.  This is what we discovered....

You may not be able to tell, but Jimmy is holding a big piece of ice that was on one of the toys in the backyard! 

As a two year old, this was new territory for him!  He had no idea why there was ice on there and when he held it, he kept saying, "Its so cold!"   I'm sure he will be amazed by the snow this winter.  Even though it was chilly, Jimmy wanted to walk to the park, so we did.  This was the first time that I have let him actually walk by himself.  Previously we have taken the stroller or wagon.  It's just another "growing up" fast thing!

walking TO the park was just fine.  On the way home he stopped and sat down and refused to walk anymore.  I finally convinced him to run the rest of the way home, which was more exercise than I am used to, but we made it safely home.

I finished off that week with a four day conference with HUB Ministries.  I have been attending these conferences for over 20 years and they are always a blessing.  I have gotten to hear many different speakers and learned so much from these concentrated times.  This conference was just as jammed packed with amazing speakers, wonderful worship and great fellowship. I am still looking over my many  notes and digesting all that I heard over these long days.  It was a rainy and cold weekend, so it was good to stay inside!

However, the Saturday of my conference was a Marathon/Half Marathon event for Tim, Gwen and Lia.  Usually I go to the start/finish line and cheer on the many runners.  However this year was an actual downpour!  Gwen and Tim left everyone at home that was NOT running the race.  And I stayed back at my conference also!  As I have already pointed out, this Grandma does not do rain!  Even though they sloshed through knee deep water at times and got soaking wet and muddy in the process, Tim finished the marathon and Gwen and Lia finished the half marathon!  I am so proud of their determination to train and then run this race under these awful conditions!

This week, one of my daily devotions, talked about "an attitude of strong determination." The scripture used was Philippians 3:13-14....

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: 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.

It is the picture of a runner, racing towards the finish line  at the end of the long race, straining forward in strong determination. That is true grit on display.  In my book, all the runners in this race showed that determination and grit!    

So, here we are, more than halfway through October.  It is just a month to Thanksgiving and then another month to Christmas.  I was doing a bit of shopping today and actually bought some of the first Christmas presents for this year.  Usually I am much further ahead on that front than I am this year. I have decided that rather than lament the late start to my shopping, I will just practice some of that determination and press on!  I am confident I will accomplish what is needed!  

Jesus, thank you for the change of seasons.  Holy Spirit, remind us all that you are with us even as things change around us.  Keep us mindful of your presence with us.  Jesus we pray for peace in our world.  Give us courage and boldness to walk each day in the assurance of your love.  Amen

  


 

Seeing the phrase "run the race" in a whole new light......

On Saturday I got to watch these two really amazing people run the Wisconsin Half Marathon.  Now granted, I might be just a little bit prejudiced since they are my kids.... but still, this is quite the accomplishment.  And this was not their first race of this kind.  Tim has also done a marathon and other half marathons and Gwen has also done other half marathons.  There is so much about this that just leaves me in awe.  They both have jobs, they have four children, they home school their kids, they volunteer at church in more than just a couple of ways, and they still find time to train for these events.  I never really appreciated just how much training you needed to do until I watched Gwen and Tim fitting in those 12 mile runs - not together, of course, since someone has to stay with the kids!  But what a great example they are for those kids!  All four of the kids were there watching first their dad and then their mom cross the finish line and get that medal.  The kids know and understand the hard work  that went into this race.  They have seen their parents sweating and tired and exhausted after runs.  And they have learned that the hard work does pay off when they see those medals.

So the simple phrase.....run the race.... takes on a whole new meaning for me.

I can't help but think of this verse (from the Passion Translation) Hebrews 12:1...
As for us, we have all these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds, each affirming faith's reality.  So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into.  Then we will be able to run life's marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.   

WOW!  There it is, right in that verse!  Our training for this marathon of life has to consist of those three things.....1.  REALIZING THE REALITY OF FAITH   2- LETTING GO OF EVERY WOUND, and 3 - LETTING GO OF THE SIN WE SO EASILY FALL INTO!

I don't know about you, but looking at that list feels an awful lot like trying to run that half marathon with no training!  Now I am beginning to understand that you have to start off somewhere.  So our training for this big race that is our life, should start off with small bites.  The secret is to follow the training program that has been set out for us.

In order to increase faith, just step back one chapter in the book of Hebrews!  Chapter 11 is the faith hall of fame.  All you have to do is slowly go through that chapter to get a bigger picture of faith.  Then when you have spent some time looking at chapter 11, go back and look at it again.  And again.  For however many times it takes you to get the assurance that these hero's of the faith are now that great cloud of witnesses that encircle us like a cloud.  Doesn't that help to build your faith?  I think I will be spending some time every day in Hebrews Chapter 11.  It is good training for life.

The next part of the training is to let go of all those hurts, wounds and pains that every one of us has.  This might be one or two really big things, or it might be a series of small and/or seemingly insignificant things.  I am sure that you can bring them mind.  If you can't, just stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show you.  He is a great reminder when it comes to these things that are hindering us.  When we ask Jesus to take these things from us, he is faithful to take them away.  Remember, we are in training and this is a process.  So I know that I will be making sure that I am not holding on to any hurt every day!

The last part of the training is to let go of sin.  Everything for the last paragraph applies.  One note on this - I think each of us know where our greatest temptation to sin is.  We know where we can so easily fall.  We just need to let go of that sin, with Jesus' power and strength.  Once again, this is a process thing, and something that needs to be practiced every day.  I am most surely speaking to myself right now!

This photo of Gwen was taken at just about the half way point of the race.  I had held on to the spot on the race route, along with Lia, Ellie, Zeke and Anna, just so that we could cheer Gwen on for the last half of the race.  You can see that the path for this race was marked with orange cones to keep the runners on the right route.  Gwen said that knowing we would be there, and seeing us cheer for her was just the boost that she needed to keep going.  

The good news about our life marathon race is that we also have a wonderful cheering section along the way.  That great cloud of witnesses is right there with us.  We can also depend on our brothers and sisters who are running along with us to keep us on track.  (Just another plug here for small groups.  If you don't have a group of people that you can "train" with, that will support you and love you in the process, I encourage you to find one!) 

The best news of all is that the path has already been marked off for us.  We don't have orange cones that we can see (in all honesty, don't you sometimes wish that there were such clear directions when decisions need to made?) but we have the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us.  We have the Bible to give us boundaries.  And we have the body of believers to help us along the way.  

All of this hard work is so worth it to be able to run this "life marathon" with passion and determination.  Both Gwen and Tim ran faster than previous races and beat their personal records on this race.  This is a great reminder that each of us has our own race to run.  We are not competing against anyone else.  Each of us has a different path.  No two are alike.  Each has been uniquely designed and is perfect for us.  What a wonderful and amazing God we have.  

Thanks to Gwen and Tim, I will be running my life's marathon with more passion and more determination.

Jesus, thank you for this revelation of your plan for each of us.  Holy Spirit, help us to remember to train well for the marathon that is our life.  Give us grace to do the hard work.  Increase our faith and give us courage and strength to let go of the things that are hindering us.  Thank you for the examples that you give us to encourage us to stay on the path you have marked out for us.  Amen 

A great accomplishment..........that takes lots of training!

This past weekend Tim ran his first Marathon!  This is just as he crossed the finish line.  All I can say is WOW!  We are all so proud of this great accomplishment.  Less than 1% of the population has ever completed a marathon.  And he did it well!  I can not imagine running for 26.2 miles.  It seems just impossible to me that people set out to do this in a few hours!  Our whole family came out to watch him cross the finish line.  Doug and Susie and Ken and I got there in plenty of time to  watch this happen.  Gwen and the kids had been sort of following Tim around the course to catch a glimpse of him at various mile markers.  Gwen had the kids make these signs and they loved cheering for daddy at each stop along the way.  And they were there when he crossed the finish line!

There is something so positive about the kids seeing their mom and dad finish these very difficult races.  The kids have watched as mom and dad have trained for months in preparation for these runs.  All of the kids have biked or ran or ridden in a stroller on some of these runs.  This was truly a family accomplishment.  One that the kids will not forget anytime soon.

Today when I was with the kids, we got to talking about the race and just how special it was to be there to see their Daddy complete this event.  Even Anna had many, many words to say about the race and just how good it was to see Daddy run.   This conversation ran into talking about the Bible verse "with God all things are possible".  It was an interesting discussion and they all concluded that I should be able to run a marathon because of this verse!  Of course we had a bit more talk about exactly what that Bible verse could mean.  It was good to explain that if God needed me to run a marathon, THEN he would make it possible!  It is an entirely different thing to just think I could set off and do the race without training and preparing for it, expecting God to take care of me.  I'm not sure how much of the discussion they actually understood, but it was good to talk with them about the actions required of us when we are seeking something from God.  

Today Anna wanted to look just like Lia.  So they both had pigtails in their hair.  They both had purple shirts and both wore "tutus" (skirts to the rest of the world).  Anna is suddenly so old.  She holds long conversations about so many subjects.  She remembers everything!  And she copies all of her older siblings!  Today she spent the better part of two hours riding her tricycle up and down the sidewalk.  She has mastered the art of the peddles!  Once she figured out that she could actually do this, she did not want to stop!  In followup to our conversation about the race, I reminded the kids that Anna was in training for the time that she would be able to ride a two wheel bike without training wheels!  All of this time riding her trike is helping her muscles and her balance.  Ellie and Zeke spent some time on their roller skates today and I reminded them that this is just practice for those roller blades that they would like to have.  

Yes, there is so much in life that takes lots of practice and often tedious training time.  Even as I sit here at my computer, typing away, I am reminded of just how hard it was at first to figure out a computer.  But after years and years of practice, it is easier now.  The thing is, tomorrow my computer will be out of date and then there will be another new thing.  And I will need to practice with that until I have mastered it.   It seems like with each new "update" things change and you have to get used to doing something a bit different.  But you just have plug along and soon it comes easy.  

We need these times of really extraordinary accomplishments to remind us all that we can set goals and meet them!   We can look beyond our day to day routine and shoot for that higher target.  I know that I am guilty of selling myself short.  I don't think that I can reach a goal, so I don't even try.  Tim's race reminded me that all you need is a plan and a set of steps to work towards a goal.  This was a message that I really needed to hear right now.  

Maybe you also have been thinking about an idea or goal or vision and it just seemed......impossible.  Today I believe that if you make that blueprint, if you take the time to build a solid plan, you can take small baby steps towards that goal.  Just like Anna on that trike, we can practice and practice at a much smaller scale than our completed project/goal/vision.  But we will get there!  All in due time!

Jesus, thank you for the reminder that there are steps that we need to take to reach those goals set before us.  Holy Spirit, help us all to see where we are right now, as a stepping stone towards that higher goal.  Give us grace to practice, faith to continue, and hope for the outcome.  Amen