Shazam!
This Sunday I ran in the beautiful Des Moines half-marathon and I couldn't have asked for more fun. I take that back, if there were kittens racing with me it would have been perfect. Regardless, I had a great time with beautiful weather, great co-racers, friendly volunteers and sweet friends in Iowa.
I roughly guessed I'd finish in 2:30 (keep in mind that my training for this race was running 8 miles two weeks before race day) and went over by only 7 minutes. Frankly, I know I would have met my goal, but...I chatted with too many people, wasting too much energy talking and walking to enjoy the conversations instead of jogging to keep on pace. I have no regrets for these choices that I've made. Learning about Patriot's Day from Boston Man is worth the extra 7 minutes alone. I am eternally grateful for his knowledge about General George Washington and his ability to keep the British at bay.
I used the half-marathon as an excuse to visit my Iowa-dwelling friends again, and really Iowa too. That made it worth the race: seeing my friends, driving around in an old Plymouth, talking about cows, drinking coffee, and having great conversations. And, even though Rebbeca, my friends' 2.5-month old, wasn't much for conversing, she still left me smiling.
At any rate, drop me a line if you want to join me on the race course in your running shoes...good times for sure.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Little Oak Tree
I've been meaning to snap a picture of Little Oak Tree for months now and finally had my camera in my car to take this picture of Little Oak Tree, my favorite tree around.
I first noticed Little Oak Tree last fall when all the other trees had lost their leaves and this one was still fully leaved a beautiful red-brown. One of my favorite things to do outside is looking at trees with a stormy or cloudy sky behind them; take my word that Little Oak Tree is just beautiful in this gloomy weather we're having. I just named Little Oak Tree on a walk with Baxter dog tonight. It was the first time I've walked up to it; I said "hi," Baxter left his mark, and I realized Little Oak Tree is really two trees acting as one, which makes it all the more beautiful.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
God Chooses Unlikely People for His Purposes
Ah, another year of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) has started and as usual, I'm amazed at how useful, powerful and in-depth it is.
We're studying Matthew this year, which means I get to revisit a lot of stories and verses that I've read growing up and look at them through a completely different lens than the felt board* from Sunday school.
This is why I like BSF:
We studied the first 17 verses--16 verses of listing out Christ's lineage to Abraham and David--and picked out 5 women (prostitutes, foreigners, schemers, etc) that were in the lineage and discussed why we thought Matthew included them. In the lecture, it was pointed out that God included them to show that he came from simple and broken ancestors and highlight the grace of God. Since he had sinners for ancestors, he'll have sinners as his descendants (that's us!), the whole point of Jesus' coming, to erase the sin from his family, his spiritual family.
God doesn't just see us for who we are, but for who we can become; he takes our failures and uses them for his glory. God chooses unlikely people for his purposes.
*felt board: an old, 2-dimensional educational device to visually depict various bible stories to help children understand a little better with a piece of felt as a background and various people and props cut out of smaller pieces of felt.
In rare cases, felt boards were left alone after story time. from 1984-1990, 95% of Sunday school classroom teachers reported children playing with the felt board and cringing as children depicted their lack of understanding of gravity as clouds were placed on the ground, sheep floated in the sky, shepherds gravitated just above ground and rocks were placed precariously on both people and animal heads.
We're studying Matthew this year, which means I get to revisit a lot of stories and verses that I've read growing up and look at them through a completely different lens than the felt board* from Sunday school.
This is why I like BSF:
We studied the first 17 verses--16 verses of listing out Christ's lineage to Abraham and David--and picked out 5 women (prostitutes, foreigners, schemers, etc) that were in the lineage and discussed why we thought Matthew included them. In the lecture, it was pointed out that God included them to show that he came from simple and broken ancestors and highlight the grace of God. Since he had sinners for ancestors, he'll have sinners as his descendants (that's us!), the whole point of Jesus' coming, to erase the sin from his family, his spiritual family.
God doesn't just see us for who we are, but for who we can become; he takes our failures and uses them for his glory. God chooses unlikely people for his purposes.
*felt board: an old, 2-dimensional educational device to visually depict various bible stories to help children understand a little better with a piece of felt as a background and various people and props cut out of smaller pieces of felt.
In rare cases, felt boards were left alone after story time. from 1984-1990, 95% of Sunday school classroom teachers reported children playing with the felt board and cringing as children depicted their lack of understanding of gravity as clouds were placed on the ground, sheep floated in the sky, shepherds gravitated just above ground and rocks were placed precariously on both people and animal heads.
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