Do Something

I'm studying Jonah with two different groups of middle school girls. We do one chapter each week. The girls in the before-school-morning group at IHOP are working on not climbing on the chairs at a restaurant, and the evening Bible study is trying really hard to not spend the whole time pointing out every plant and animal in the backyard of the house where we meet. Both groups are spending probably too much time talking about what it'd be like to be inside of a big fish for three days and debate, with great passion, how one would breath, what it would smell like and how exactly he got spit out. Yup. Middle school.

If you have ever worked in youth ministry, you can relate to both of those situations.

I went into leading this book study thinking that it'd be the "same old same old." We'd talk about not running away from God and what it means to do this in different ways on a daily basis. We'd talk about sharing the news of God's grace and how his compassion is never-ending. And we'd conclude with the big finale of how God's love covers even the people we don't like, and we need to learn to see others as God sees them, not following the example of Mr. GrumpyPants (Jonah himself!) at the end of chapter 4.

We made it through Jonah running away from God, the shipwreck and being in the belly of the big fish. Last night, we came to the point where Jonah was wandering around Ninevah telling people about God.

A little background for you: Jonah was an Israelite. He believed in God. God asked him to go tell the Ninevites (a couple hundred thousand people) about God and that they should stop sinning. The Israelites and the Ninevites were not friends. In fact, the Ninevites took it on themselves to make life miserable for the Israelites. But they were still people, and God wanted them to get their act together and to worship and love him. God loves all people, and this included the Ninevites. So Jonah, after running away from the idea for a little while, finally came around to talking to the Ninevites about God.

Jonah's job was simple: Give them a message from God. Jonah was not responsible for what would happen next. If the Ninevites listened to God, Jonah would have been successful. If the Ninevites did nothing, Jonah would have been successful. The outcome didn't matter. Jonah was only held responsible for doing his part. The rest would be up to God and the Ninevites.

This morning, while thinking about taking a few risks in my own life, I realized that the reason I didn't pursue these opportunities is partially because I couldn't control or know the outcome. Duh. OK, so that's not rocket science...but sometimes we're the last one to get the memo on things in our own lives. (Please tell me that I'm not the only one to have ever been standing in these shoes!)

The circumstances for taking these risks could not be better. I could have never dreamed or predicted such a perfect environment or the time to do what is needed to be done. It's so "too good to be true," that if those who are pursuing similar goals discovered the opportunities I have at hand, they'd probably get mad and scream and yell at me for taking so long to thinking about acting on them.

I guess with all that being said, now it's time to do my part and do something. This might sound crazy for the third chapter in Jonah, but please, know that this blog was not meant to be a theological explanation of the text. It's more of a window into the train of thought in my head and the "ah-ha" moment that I had with a cup of coffee, a Sharpie and a journal early this morning.

Project Complete

I signed up for a marathon several months ago. Then I hurt my knee/IT band/something that caused lots of pain. I stopped running for several weeks. About two weeks ago, I started running again. I did about two miles when I was in Austin for the weekend on my old running route. It was through neighborhoods and nowhere special, but I loved trekking through my former stomping grounds. I returned to Atlanta, kept stretching and managed to complete several other runs.

OK, I could maybe possibly attempt to run the half marathon.

Less than a week out, I ran 8.77 miles. My knee/IT band/whatever felt OK, so I was going to go for it.

Thursday afternoon, I left for NashVegas. One may think of live music and tourist events, but my time there was filled by reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. I saw people from college, grad school and Austin. We did a lot of nothing and a lot of resting. And it was awesome. If you know me at all, you know that I'm not that good at doing nothing and resting. I like to explore and play...all the time. But I am thankful for the time to just BE with people who I've known for more than a few minutes and who know me. It was awesome.

Race day was awesome, too. I ran with a friend who is so inspiring. Seven months ago, she was maybe able to run a mile. Three months ago, on a good day, she was up to three on a treadmill. I suggested that she run the half. She told me I was crazy. But then she registered for the race (maybe she was a little crazy?). Whatever. She did it. She ran all 13.1 miles. And it was awesome. We laughed. We talked. She met one of her favorite music stars and recognized someone from her favorite TV shows.

I'm glad that I did the half, even though my knee hurt a LOT toward the end (if not for Amber, I probably would have given up several miles before the finish line). It was a good time. And it also encouraged me to want to run a full marathon even more than I wanted to before. I'm not sure which one I'll pick for that...maybe Nashville again? Maybe San Antonio? Maybe Austin? Maybe Chicago? We'll see. If anyone reading this wants to run one - ideally on a Saturday - let me know, and maybe we can meet up to put ourselves through 26.2 miles of insanity. It'll be awesome!
 

Project Update: Half

I signed up for a marathon about two months ago. It was my new project. I have run a half, but the whole 26.2 is a carrot that has been dangling out there for a while now. I used to think crazy people ran marathons. Maybe that's still true...and I just became one of them. That's fine. I know that it's a little insane to run for so many hours. But the race. The challenge. The crowd. The weeks of training. The hard work. The discipline. It made me giddy to think about these things. My blood would start flowing, and my face would light up. I was going to train for and run a marathon.

Or not.

My IT band started hurting about three weeks ago. It was slightly sore on a 12-mile run that was cut a little short. The same soreness crept up on me on a shorter jog, as well. So I rested it...kind of. I only ran short rans and did other work outs before attempting about 15 miles. That was a mistake. Over an hour from the car and in the woods with two ultra-marathoners, it started hurting so badly that I had to walk - more like hobble - back to the car. It was over. That run, at least, was over. And so were my hopes and dreams of completing the 2010 Nashville Country Music Marathon. 


Ouch.

Physically and mentally, that hurt a lot. I thought that I could stretch it enough to get back into it in a few days, but a week later, a 3.7-mile walk to the farmers' market and back caused me to go straight for ice upon returning. So I rested and stretched and iced and stretched and rolled it out with the styrofoam tube of torture. I consulted my trainer friend and did everything I was supposed to do.


And they were right. It all worked. My knee is better, and I can run. At least a little.


But it's too late. It's too late to train up to the full 26.2 in about 11 days. 


So now the new project is a half marathon. I can do that. My body can take 13.1 miles...if I can get in a few longer runs between now and then. 


It's OK. I was super disappointed at first. I told people that I was still going to try to run the full. I planned out some long runs. It was supposed to still happen. But it's not. And that's OK. I'll run my second half, have a fantastic weekend with friends from all over the country and different phases of life and it'll be a huge, physical challenge after barely running at all this month. 


It'll be awesome.