Lessons learned from my first half marathon

I've worked out moderately for the last five or six years, but since moving back to Idaho I haven't been too consistent.  Pretty hit and miss at best.  Recently a friend asked me to run a half marathon with her to celebrate her 40th birthday...in two weeks.  My brain, being the smart part of me, was logically saying, "No way!" and yet I heard my mouth forming the word, "Yes!"  WHAT???

As the day drew closer I began to get more and more nervous terrified.  What was I afraid of?  Not so much the pain, although I don't relish the thought of torturing myself for 13.1 miles.  No, it was more a fear of failure.  Of holding others back.  Of what people would think if I didn't finish.  Just being real.  Fear can either be a stumbling block or a motivator.  I chose to make mine a motivator and what I ended the day with was far different than the fears that plagued the starting line.

I learned:

Never underestimate the power of encouragement.  Around mile eight my entire body felt like wet cement.  Keep in mind I had never, up to this point, run further than three miles at a time!  Yes, that's right...three miles.  Running alongside me was my very own cheerleader, Susan.  I call her Pollyanna.  She is the most positive person I know and she spent her 40th birthday encouraging me to do what I didn't think I could.  She never let me quit, but pushed, cheered, laughed and best of all prayed with me the whole way.  The race itself was an amazing experience, but running with her alongside was even better.  I know for a fact I would not have finished but for her encouragement.

You are never too old to make positive changes.  I am 40...ish.  Things are migrating south that use to reside up north.  Time is marching on, but it doesn't mean I have to sit by and watch it happen.  I will probably never love running like some people I know, but I do love the changes I'm seeing.  Is my body changing?  Yes, but that's not the whole point.  More importantly it's changing ME.  It's changing my perspective and outlook on life.  There are some things in life that are out of our control...situations, relationships, aging, taxes.  Living life focused on what I CAN control allows me to trust God with the things I can't.  It's never too late to do things differently.

The choices we make are as much for others as for ourselves.  My hubby and kids were SO proud of what I accomplished.  Seeing and hearing that from them made every single painful step worth it.  They were there at the finish line cheering us on, even running beside us.  They see me getting stronger, making good choices and pushing myself out of my comfort zone and they are given the courage to do the same.

Good choices lead to more good choices.  Seeing what I'm capable of motivates me to keep moving in the same direction.  We're already planning on a race in September, but this time I'll be all trained up.  Mike is even training with me so he can run it with us.  It's having a ripple effect on our whole family and that's a very good thing.  We are learning and growing together.  Isn't that really the working definition of family?

I am far stronger than I realized.  Was I the fastest?  No, in fact I think we came in almost dead last.  Did I have the best form?  Nope.  I looked like a little old lady shuffling along the route.  Did I feel like quitting?  Absolutely!  But none of that mattered because ultimately I did what I never thought I could accomplish.  I CROSSED THE FINISH LINE. 

Every day of our lives is a race.  The question is will we run it well or will we sit by and watch everyone else run by?  Will we run with endurance, steadfastly looking forward to the finish line or will be live in mediocrity, crawling our way through each day?  Some days I run well and others not so much, but as Susan is fond of saying, "Just put one foot in front of the other!" and keep the finish line in sight.

Stop circling the wagons!

I have one complaint about Christians.  OK, maybe more than one, but for the sake of this blog post we'll go with one.  I love my fellow Christ followers...I do.  Despite the fact that we love Jesus, we're still mortally flawed human beings desperately in need of grace. 

What I have a problem with are the cliques that seem to permeate so many Christian groups.  We (yes, I'm including myself in the proverbial "we") get involved in something, find the set of friends we want to associate with and there we sit.  We're comfortable.  We don't want anyone to disrupt our little bubble.  Heaven forbid that anyone else might want to join us.  New people show interest in participating and the uproar begins. 

"No, we like things the way they are.  We don't want things to change. Let them start their own group."

Really?  Is that how Jesus handled the masses who pressed in around him?  Thankfully He welcomed them all, excluding no one.  Not the lepers, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the most unclean.  No one was left out. Scripture tells us God is no respecter of persons.  So why are we?  Do we think we are that much better than him that we can choose who to include?  God calls us to reach out and mentor, helping those who are behind us on the journey, loving those who have not yet begun.  Instead, we close our ranks and become exclusive. 

If we're circling the wagons around our "perfect" little piece of terra firma, how on earth is anyone suppose to grow?

Mall reflections

For the first time in forever I found myself in the mall today. Since I'm sure you're all dying to know why, I'll tell you. We were celebrating (still celebrating) Connor's birthday from last week by taking the kids to Amazing Jakes. In case you're not familiar with Not So Amazing Jakes, it's one of those places with go-karts, Tootsie rolls redeemable for a small fortune ("Oh look Mom, it's ONLY 10 tickets!") and something slightly resembling a pizza buffet...yes, it's every boys' dream and every mother's...well...you know of what I speak.

In an attempt to escape for a bit of quiet, I took a stroll around the mall. Now, before you freak out and call CPS, Mike was with the kids. I did not leave my kids running around unsupervised...good...glad we cleared that up.

Back to my stroll. After a few short minutes, I remembered why I don't shop at the mall. OK, I remembered several reasons why I don't shop at the mall.

#1 - Victoria's Secret - Can someone please tell me just WHAT she is keeping secret, because it looks to me like she's lettin' it all hang out! Put your clothes on for pities sake. Enough said.

#2 - Forever 21 - Seriously? Do I need to tell you all the things wrong with this one? I thank the good LORD I am NOT forever 21 and if I'm at least twice that age, I certainly don't need to be dressing like I THINK I'm 21. Where's the Pushing 40 store...that's what I want to know.

#3 - Shoes - OK, I thought at least this one would be safe, but have you SEEN the shoe styles for this summer? Seriously? They look like a case of gold lame and Gladiator gone bad. Uh uh...I don't think so. I'll keep my flip-flops thank you very much.

Which brings me to another pet peeve - why do they hide the women's size 9 shoes in the v.e.r.y back corner by the men's clearance section? Should I be so ashamed at having an ample sized foot that I have to shop in the back corner after walking past all the cute, petite little shoes up front? Good grief.

Needless to say my saunter around the mall was brief and I didn't spend a dime. Made Not So Amazing Jakes look a bit more amazing.

Raising the right kind of awareness

SOAPBOX WARNING!

Seems people are always trying to raise awareness about something. Save the whales. Cancer research. A tiny frog living in the Amazon. They come up with some pretty creative ways to get people's attention focused on their cause.

True awareness is something that makes you sit up, take notice and want to make a change, to really DO something about a problem. After the recent raising breast cancer awareness campaign stunt going around facebook, the only thing we are now aware of is what color bra everyone is sporting. Don't get me wrong. I am all about finding a cure for such an awful disease, but can someone please tell me what change will occur from sharing this information?

Scripture tells us we are not to be a stumbling block to anyone's walk. Ladies, you're giving every one of your male facebook friends personal information that should be reserved for your husband alone. Men are visual. I can only imagine what they have been imagining over the last couple of days as they have been inundated with such a rainbow of colors, along with a whole slew of other information they didn't need to know. Trust me, the next time they see you, guess what they are going to remember?

So I guess my answer to the Facebook color question of the week is 'nobody's business!'"

America IS a Christian nation

"The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests." Andrew Jackson

"Millions will be on their knees at once before their Great Creator, imploring his forgiveness and blessings; His smiles on American councils and arms." John Adams (speaking of the national day of fasting and prayer called at the beginning of each session of Congress)

Did you know the first law beginning and governing our public school system, the "Old Deluder Satan Act", was enacted in order that our enemy Satan would not steal or dilute Scripture, but that all children would hide God's Word in their heart as a guide for living? Did you get that? Our public school system was established as a means of advancing Christianity. Ironic isn't it?

Or that Congress printed the first English Bible in America for use in the newly created public school system?

Did you know that of our Founding Fathers, 29 of the 56 had theology degrees? Wait a minute. Haven't we been taught in our public school history classes that the majority of these men were atheists? Of the 56 signers only two, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, considered themselves "not particularly religious." Despite what our own Supreme Court and the president himself are saying, our country was founded as a result of the spiritual truths these men held dear.

Hamburgers, watermelon and fireworks are a great way to celebrate our nation's birthday today, but let's not forget WHY we're celebrating. Take a few minutes to watch this short sermon by David Barton, founder and president of Wallbuilders. You will learn more about our decidedly Christian heritage in 20 minutes than I learned in 12 years of history class.

Happy Fourth of July and may God continue to bless our great Nation.

Clueless parenting

* Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Spending time at the pool affords many opportunities to witness parenting in action...or inaction, whatever the case may be.

Little Suzie and Bubba were already terrorizing swimming when we arrived this evening. Before we could even unload our gear, Suzie attempted to snag on of our floaties. After politely reminding her she needed to ask before taking something that didn't belong to her (a novel idea), I let her borrow the giant lobster.

Mistake number one. For the next five minutes we listened to little Suzie and Bubba (who had immediately pushed Suzie off to take it for himself. Who says chivalry is dead?) fighting over the toy. Just as I was about to reclaim our large crustacean and hopefully some peace and quiet, Mom rouses her head from her phone to see what Suzie and Bubba are screaming about.

Where was mom all this time? Why, texting on her phone of course.

After several minutes of listening to Suzie scream (you know, the ear piercing, nails on a chalkboard sort of scream) at Bubba for torturing her, we moved to the other side of the pool. At least there the noise was merely a dull shrieking. But oh no...they followed us and proceeded to take every toy we brought directly out of our kids' hands! No amount of asking nicely on our kids part would do any good. Only when I got out of my chair and instructed her to return the toy NOW, did she reluctantly do so.

Where was the mom all this time? Why texting on her phone of course.

Every once in awhile Mom would tell Suzie to be nice. Suzie's reply? "NO!"

Um...excuse me? Is this the point you yank her out of the pool and give her a good spanking? Nope. Mom does nothing.

It's finally time for Bubba and Suzie to leave (insert cheering) and it takes 20 minutes to get them out of the water. Two ladies who were with them had to physically drag, yes DRAG, Bubba out of the pool. For pities sake, the kid had to be at least ten!

I love to people watch, but this one takes the cake.

Obama in bed with Planned Parenthood

We are at an incredible crossroads in our nation's history. The choice we make for president will decide our future in ways I believe will be unprecedented and that at this point cannot even be comprehended.

One critical issue facing our country is that of abortion. Author Randy Alcorn has written several incredible articles on his blog laying out distinctly why Christians cannot vote for someone who does not stand for the unborn. Rather than reiterating what he has already so eloquently stated, you can read it here, here and here.

I will leave you with a chilling promise from Obama himself. He leaves no doubt that he does NOT stand for the unborn. The question is what will we do about it?

Do you know your candidate?

Sounds like the name of a popular game show. Maybe I'm on to something.

You would think as important as this election is that people would take the time to educate themselves a bit before pulling the lever on November 4th. Apparently not.

We have speculated all along that many people are voting for Mr. O simply because he is black. Of course any mention of this brings cries from the far left that we are playing the race card. I don't have a problem with someone who chooses to vote for Obama as along as they can articulate why they are doing so. Being able to give well thought out, educated reasons for their choice of candidates proves there is more to it than the color of his skin.

Here is proof that many democrats are pulling the race card themselves. This my friends is our political system at its finest. Come on people!

Struggling School-Aged Boys

For years I've been saying that school as defined by the public system is not designed for little boys. Rather than being made to sit quietly in desks, punished if they wiggle, little boys need to be running, jumping and creating in their own way - no matter how messy that may be. This is what little boys were made to do; this is how they learn. When are they allowed to be kids? When are they allowed the freedom to explore an idea or a passion? Instead, they are made to conform to a system that cares mostly for standardized test scores rather than the individual success of a child.

Finally, a mainstream media news article that agrees with me. Check it out in Newsweek's article, Struggling School-Aged Boys. Rather than admit they may have been doing things backwards, the "experts" are now blaming our school problems on an "epidemic" of ADHD. Seriously? That's your answer? Blame it on the child and then medicate him in order to make your failing system look better? No, it is instead an epidemic of over-medicated, over-scheduled children and parents who do not have time to properly parent their kids.

Now I realize there are some children who need the help of medication in order to stay on task. I am in no way minimizing this. Having been a teacher in the classroom, I can say that of my students who were on medication, about 1 out of 10 truly needed it. Many of the others needed a serious lesson in self-control and some parents who gave them the love and attention they were craving.

It's time parents stopped listening to these so-called experts and start listening to their children.

Ms. Pelosi needs to find another job!

WARNING - POLITICAL SOAPBOX AHEAD

We're all feeling the crunch of exorbitant gas prices at the pump these days. At what point do we put aside our partisanship and look for ways to solve the problems real Americans face? I'm all for protecting the environment, but sending our country into a major recession and keeping us completely dependant on foreign sources of oil from countries who don't particularly care for us is ludicrous.

Ms. Pelosi's adamant resolve against drilling shows quite clearly that she certainly does not represent the voice of Americans. Do you think she is working hard to put gas in two cars, paying an ever increasing energy bill, feed four growing kids while still trying to save for college? Of course not! We are paying her salary. We are paying her to disagree with us and not take a stand for what is best for America's future! WHY are we allowing the opinions of just 27% of the people to dictate how the rest of us must live?

This is an excerpt from an article from GOPUSA.com. To read the rest of the article, go here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that she would block any vote to allow offshore drilling. This remarkable stance comes in the face of the latest poll that says 73 percent of Americans favor offshore drilling, while only 27 percent oppose it. Nancy Pelosi again displays her contempt for her employer, the American people. Her arrogance and wrong-headed philosophy have led Congress to an approval rating of a staggering 14 percent, the lowest ever.

OK, I'm climbing down now before I pull a muscle.

Have we forgotten?

We all remember where we were the day the World Trade Center fell. The day the Pentagon became a memorial. The day, over a field in Pennsylvania, ordinary people became heroes.

In the days that followed, flags flew proudly and we stood together, united as no other nation on earth could unite. We loudly proclaimed, "We will not forget!".


Life has returned to normal for most of us since that fateful day...at least for those of us who did not loose someone dear to us. We've gone about our lives, business as usual and once again taken for granted that we are safe.

Have we forgotten? Do we feel the same patriotism and connection to our neighbors we did that day? Does our heart well with pride and thankfulness when we see a soldier in uniform? Does our flag still wave proudly from every corner and building?

Sadly, I believe the answer is yes, we have forgotten to some degree. The horror we felt as we watched the towers crumble has become a distant memory. The pride that swelled in our hearts as we heard the words, "Let's roll" has faded.

For the sake of the 2,974 lives lost that day, we must not forget. For the sake of the children who will not know a parent, we must not forget. For the sake of the spouses who now sleep alone, we must not forget. For the sake of the parents who have outlived their children, we must not forget. For all of them - we must not forget.

Nanny nightmare

Watching Fox News last night, I found myself gasping out loud at the footage being shown of a nanny gone bad...very bad.

How could a human being treat a baby the way this woman did? Does she not have a conscience? It is absolutely reprehensible and she should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Of course she will most likely cry 'foul' and hide behind her right to privacy.

My two cents? She should have no right to privacy. She was in someone else's home. Does the government have the right to censor what I do in my own home? The mom who hired this woman has every right to do what she must to protect her children - even video taping. How else can the rights of the babies be protected when the very person hired to care for them turns out to be a nut case?

I shudder to think what might have happened had she not been caught.

That's all I have to say about that...

Disturbing news about Oprah

Newsflash - Oprah is NOT God!

I received a disturbing e-mail this morning about some new teachings of Ms. Winfrey. My first response was cautious, until I did some checking of my own. My understanding of Oprah's background was that she was raised by Christian parents and believed in the One True God of the Bible. If that is the case, she has strayed completely the other direction in her belief system and is in serious need of our prayers.

On Oprah's website, she is offering a year long "Course on Miracles" taught daily by Marianne Williamson. I have not read each daily teaching, but here is one excerpt from today's lesson.

You think with the Mind of God. Therefore you share your thoughts with Him, as he shares His with you. They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind. To share is to make alike, or to make one. Nor do the thoughts you think with the Mind of God leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source. Therefore, your thoughts are in the Mind of God, as you are. They are in your mind as well, where He is. As you are part of His Mind, so are your thoughts part of His Mind. (Marianne Williamson)

This circular teaching flies directly in the face of the Bible. Though the Holy Spirit allows us to understand spiritual things, no one can know the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:11 clearly states, "Who can know the thoughts of another person? Only a person’s own spirit can know them. In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts."

A few more excerpts from Ms. Williamson's teaching:

"There is no sin . . . "
A "slain Christ has no meaning."
"The journey to the cross should be the last "useless journey."
"Do not make the pathetic error of 'clinging to the old rugged cross.'"
"The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol... It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray."
"The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself."
"The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation."

Throughout the course, participants are being brainwashed through daily repetition of phrases such as "I am the light of the world (lesson #61) and most disturbing "There is nothing my holiness cannot do" (lesson #38). Students of Ms. Williamson are retraining their thinking to convince themselves that because God is in them, they are God. The very idea sends chills down my spine.

Writing for Crossroads.com, Warren Smith states,

"Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset—a New Age worldview that includes the belief that there is no sin, no evil, no devil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything. A Course in Miracles teaches its students to rethink everything they believe about God and life."

I could literally spend all day and into next Tuesday refuting the incredibly ignorant teachings of Ms. Williamson, but instead I will ask that we pray against the lies being studied by the participants of this class. They are being led down a dangerous path completely away from the Truth. These are lies from the enemy disguised to look like truth.

Oprah has a large following of women who hang on her every word. They have elevated her to a position of authority and trust her not to lead them astray. She is careening down a dangerous path and dragging countless women with her. 2 Timothy chapter three gives us a good description of what is taking place.

They (speaking of false teachers) are the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires. Such women are forever following new teachings, but they never understand the truth. And these teachers fight the truth...Their minds are depraved and their faith is counterfeit.

Oprah is invited daily into the homes of millions of women. She has won their confidence and has a profound influence on the way they view the world.

Pray also for Oprah. To whom much is given, much is required. She has an incredible amount of influence on our society and should be using it to point others to the Truth. Each of us will be held accountable for the words we speak that influence others.

Lord, help us all to be able to give an answer to those who are seeking the Truth. May all that we do illuminate You to the world around us. May your light shine brightly in the dark places and expose the lies of the enemy for what they truly are. I pray for the participants in this class, that the blinders would be removed from their eyes and they would see clearly. I pray against the lies the enemy is perpetuating in the minds of those reading these lessons. Show each of them the Truth and expose the lies for what they are. For those that are truly seeking you, make yourself very real to them today.