What really matters...

Sidelined.  So I have been meaning to write posts for a couple days now and I haven't actually even turned my computer on until today - I've just been checking stuff on my Kindle.  But between Wednesday (4) Thursday (5), and Saturday(6), I ran 15 miles, and I now have 13 miles to go.  And I had this great plan - I was going to run another 6 today and then 4 in the morning tomorrow, and 3 in the evening to arrive at Bethlehem right at midnight.  It was a great plan, until I spent most of last night dealing with a stomach bug, which led to spending most of today in bed.  So I am going to be a little late arriving in Bethlehem.  But it's still pretty impressive that I was able to run 67 miles in 19 days.

Goals.  We all have them, but this running to Bethlehem has reminded me how much easy they are when specific and clearly defined.  Yesterday I finished the book Not a Fan  by Kyle Idleman.  I know I have talked about this study several times in my blog, and there is another blog post processing, but the basic premise is that many people who call themselves Christian are not actually following Jesus.  They are more like fans cheering for Jesus from the sidelines. So yesterday as I was running, I was thinking about how having a specific goal of running 80 miles has spurred me to be more consistent in my running and to run longer distances.  Through all of September, October, and November, I ran about once a week, occasionally twice, and there were 2 weeks in there I didn't run at all. I also never ran more than 4 miles, and I only ran 4 a handful of times.  Most of the times I ran it was around a 5k distance (3.1 miles).  In contrast,  I have run 11 of the past 15 days (it will b

Sorry I didn't manage a post the past couple of days.  I wish I could say I was busy running and didn't have time or energy to do both, but the truth was I didn't do either on Saturday or Sunday.   Saturday was a crazy day and Sunday I was exhausted.  But today (I consider it the same day until I go to bed for the night unless I'm at a lock-in), I am finally back to both. I ran 4 miles today (that brings me up to 46.5, 33.5 to go - yikes!), and as I ran I was reminded of the importance of water.  I did not hydrate well today, or over the weekend, and I definitely felt that as I ran tonight. And I was reminded that there is more to running than the running itself.  Sleep, nutrition, and hydration all play important roles.  And I haven't been doing a super great job on any of those, so when I ran tonight, I felt tired and draggy and had a dehydration cramp that I had to push through.  I managed to still do 4 miles, but it wasn't pretty. As we run through life,

Today was kind of a crazy day for me, so this morning as I was trying to figure out my schedule for the rest of the day and the best way to fit everything in, I decided that my best option was to run to the church, do the work I needed to do, and then finish my run with whatever time I still had after that.   I usually can't run to the church because I have things to take with me or people to meet, but today I had a very specific list of things that I needed to do which required nothing I had at home and were all about getting organized for tomorrow and finishing up a couple tasks I started yesterday. So that's what I did.  And as I decided to interweave my work and running schedules, and I thought about my post from yesterday, I started thinking about how sometimes we think we need to set aside time for God.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing - in fact, I do think setting aside time to pray and read the Bible is important, even though I freely admit I struggle with t

I really did run this morning.  It wasn't early morning because, well, I avoid those as much as possible, but I did run before noon.  However, I was busy the rest of the day, and am just now getting around to writing this blog post.  I needed to clarify that because my thought this morning as I was running was how much better I felt running this morning than I felt running in the evening earlier in the week because earlier in the week I was running at the end of crazy busy days. As I considered that, I realized that is why God wants our first and best.  God doesn't just want what's left over after we finish with everything else on our schedule.  Which is what I tend to do - it's pretty clear just from how late I'm writing this post.  I've been home more than 2 hours and am just now getting around to the writing of it. But God wants all of us - our best and even what's left after we have given our best.

I have a quote somewhere that says, "I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several of them attack me at once."  That is how I have felt the last 2 days.   There is far too much to do, and far too little time to do it all.  So I remind myself to do what I can, focusing on what absolutely needs done and prioritizing the rest, remembering that tomorrow is a new day and the world will not end if that one thing does not get accomplished.   Yesterday, I prioritized my run at the end of my day because I needed a stress relief, but decided not to take the time for the blog.  Today I am prioritizing cleaning, then attempting to get to bed early so I can run in the morning.  So this holiday season, when the craziness hits you, remember that things don't have to be perfect. Don't hold yourself to impossible standards.  Do what you can, and let go of what you can't.  And don't forget to take some time to just breathe and appreciate the miracle that is Christma

Today was another day with a lack of motivation.   I had a busy afternoon at the office, followed by finishing up some things at home, heading to the middle school band concert, and grocery shopping.  By the time I got home, it was almost 10pm, and I was exhausted.  But I was already 2 miles behind since I didn't run yesterday, and I didn't want to be 6 miles behind tomorrow, so I got my butt in gear and went to the treadmill. Unlike other nights, I didn't have something in mind to watch on tv while I ran, so I spent the first bit of my run flipping through channels.  And by the time I found something to watch, I had gone a half mile, and I found myself thinking about focus.  See I rarely actually enjoy running.  I enjoy the after effects of running - my body feels better, I feel better about myself, and I look better when I run on a regular basis.  But the actual running is only occasionally enjoyable, and with the level of exhaustion, tonight was definitely not one of

Rest is not something we do very well in our modern culture.  We find ourselves constantly on the go and overextended in our schedules - especially this time of year with all of the shopping, parties, concerts, and other things to do on top of our normal busy schedules.   I know that I have come to a point where I try to schedule rest in my life, but even doing that, I am not great at protecting that time.  I am going on a retreat in February that is focused on refueling and reenergizing for youth pastors. But the thing I have noticed is that when I make time to rest, I actually get more done when I am trying to do productive.  Most notably for me is that when I actually take my day off on Monday and rest, I am significantly more productive on Tuesdays than I am when I am incredibly busy on Mondays.  And did you know it's easier to eat healthy when you get enough sleep because you get your energy from sleeping rather than your body wanting more and more calories to get it's

Today was a late run and filled with lots of stops and starts for various reasons - too hot, too cold, my shoe untied, planning to stop and then deciding to go another mile.  And as I kept stopping and starting the treadmill, I realized that I do the same thing in my faith journey.  I get going on a good path and then I get distracted.  For me, it's usually "good" things that end up distracting me, like getting busy with work or saying yes to too many things people ask of me.  But when I say yes to so many things, I stretch myself too thin and neglect things like sleep, cleaning, me time, and time for me and God tend to fall by the wayside.   But the good news is that God allows me to get back on track - as many times as I need.  I just need to keep paying attention to where my priorities are, see if they line up with what I want them to be, and keep working toward those goals. 22 miles in, 58 miles to go.

Surprisingly, motivation wasn't as challenging today despite running less than 12 hours after finishing a 5 mile run.  Part of it was probably that I knew I only wanted to do a short run since I didn't have a lot of time and I plan to do a long run tomorrow.  And part of it was probably just that it was morning, and I was rested.  At any rate, I did my first outdoor run of this journey despite the not so great weather.  It was just drizzling, not full on raining, so that was good.  But it was still cold and wet.  And I took Tinkerbell.  As I was running, I found myself wondering what people driving past me were thinking.  Did they think I was crazy? But then I'm sure a lot of people thought Mary and Joseph were crazy while they were on their journey.  I mean, they had been visited by angels, but their friends and family (other than Zechariah and Elizabeth) hadn't.  But then there are a lot of people who were thought to be crazy because they were doing what God told th

So today I decided to lighten things up a bit - but don't worry, I'll blow your mind at the end by taking it serious :-P. Ok so today while running I was watching the Big Bang Theory.  I have been thinking whether the fact that I have been watching TV while running will cause me to focus less on the purpose.  But I really can't handle the treadmill without the tv.  One of these days I'll run at a reasonable hour so that I can run outside, but in the meantime, TV it is.  So anyway, I was watching Big Bang Theory which reminded me of my all time favorite scene from the Big Bang Theory - which happens to be a Christmas scene.  Here it is because there is no way I could describe it in all it's amazingness:  I love that scene.  Everytime I watch it, it makes me laugh.  But when I was thinking about this while running and thinking whether I could possibly tie it into my blog (because hey - what else did I have to do during commercial breaks while running?)  And h

So today I really didn't want to run.  After the 5 miles yesterday, my legs were tired.  Then I had a full day today as Wednesdays are one of my crazy days at the church.  I had an afternoon full of 5th and 6th graders.  And Taco Bell for dinner.  So no, I didn't really want to run. But I had 75 miles to go before Christmas.  So I put it off as long as I could, then changed into running clothes and went to the gym.  I'm not gonna lie - I was hoping the fitness center at my apartment was closed when I went over there. I know it closes but I couldn't remember if it was 10 or 11 when it did.  It's 11.  I went at 10:15 so I got in no problem. And I ran.  I didn't run fast.  I set a nice easy pace of a 10:30 mile on the treadmill (who would have thought I would say that was an easy pace), and went for it.  And I ended up going farther than I planned, because once I got started it felt good to move, and I figured I might as well keep going. I can imagine feeling

So today one of my Facebook friends issued a challenge to take the 80 mile journey to Bethlehem in the days leading up to Christmas, and I decided to take her up on it.  But in an effort to make it more than simply motivation to get back into my running (even though that is also a good thing), I want to make sure I am thinking about what Mary and Joseph went through on the journey to the arrival of their baby boy. So the beginning.  As I thought about this challenge this afternoon before I committed to it (by telling my roommate who is also my running buddy - there's no coming back from that!), it felt a little overwhelming.  My schedule is kind of crazy and I have not been running very consistently lately.  In fact, tonight's run was my first since Thanksgiving.  So averaging about 4 miles a day between now and Christmas seems like A LOT. But then I think about how overwhelming it must have been for Mary and Joseph.  I mean in the midst of all the rest of the craziness of

Sermon: Inscrutable By Katy Wright November 18, 2012 Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13 I just heard that song for the first time last weekend.  I was at Fort Rapids with a group of youth and the band who sings that song was there for a concert and they sang that song which resonated with me. And each time I listen to it, I am more convicted and reminded of what we are called to be as the people of God.   We are called to be the proof of God’s love in the world today.   The question is, are we?  Are we the proof of God’s love? Because the world needs love.  I remember during camp training talking about how kids who are acting out are often the ones who are hurting the most.  The ones who are being bullies are doing so because they are trying to distract you from the ways they are hurting but what they really need is someone to tell them they are worth loving just the way they are.  And there are a lot of people like this in the world today – people who are hard to love