July 2002

Remember the blond year?

Lompoc, 1990

2 7 24 39 41 26.2 5:44:49

No, it's not a football play count--it's the numbers from Sunday's "26.2 With Donna, Marathon to End Breast Cancer."

Wendy, Lori, and me on the beach

preparation

2: The number of friends I traveled with for the event.
7: The number of hours it took us to drive to Jacksonville Florida.

24: The low temperature on race day. TWENTY FOUR. in FLORIDA.
39: The temperature when I finished the marathon. THIRTY NINE. in FLORIDA. at NOON.
41: The temperature when I met up with my friends and we headed to the hotel for warm showers before returning to Atlanta.

26.2 The RUN.

Sunrise

The 26.2 with Donna showcases Jacksonville at its best. Every street, every neighborhood, and every shopping center along the route was fully decorated with pink streamers and balloons and signs. The more impressive thing was the PEOPLE. Despite the cold, the streets were lined with people cheering, clapping, handing out water, orange slices, banana...and the occasional mimosa to runners. They held signs, played music, shook maracas (really), high-fived, and any thing else they could do to encourage us along the way.

pink firetruck, covered with signatures and messages of hope

The course itself is beautiful. One bridge, 3 miles of beach, and then the quirky beach neighborhoods kept things interesting. Along the way there were pirates and bands, tutus and tiaras, and even a pink firetruck. The sun rose as we crossed the bridge over the marshes, and it warmed our spirits, if not our frozen bodies. A few people had forgotten to turn off their sprinklers and the resulting ice sculptures sparkled in the cold.

I left out one set of numbers. What I wore: 1 pair of running shoes, 1 pair of compression socks, 1 pair of cushioned socks, tights, running skort, sports bra, sports tank, long sleeved tech shirt, fleece vest, two pair of gloves, one pair of hand warmers, bandanna, ear warmer, visor, and sunglasses. At the start I picked up a discarded trash bag and wrapped my arms. Normally I would start shedding layers by mile 5, but this time I only ditched the bag--not because I was warm ,but because the wind kept blowing it into my face. It was mile 19 before I gave one pair of gloves to someone at a water station, and mile 20 before I relinquished the hand warmers to one of the police officers on the route. I felt fairly thawed by the end, but as soon as I stopped moving, the shivers started again. I was grateful for the space blanket one volunteer tied around me at the finish.

Ice sculpture--unintentional, I'm sure

5:44:49 My Official Time
A best for me. I was hoping for 5:30, but that will wait for another event. Any personal record is to be celebrated--and I am celebrating! (The winners both finished in under 2 hours, 15 minutes; they didn't get their money's worth!)

These marked the route

Will I do this race again? Absolutely. There were a few glitches (buses running late, pacers out of position) but those are to be expected. This event IS special. Add to that the fact that ALL of the proceeds go to breast cancer research via the Mayo Clinic, and it becomes such an inspiration. There are stories everywhere--survivors, those left behind, those still battling, and those who just want to be part of something bigger than themselves. It is an event that every marathoner should do at least once. (There's a half-marathon as well.)

Post race friends

Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics before the start

one of the many humorous signs along the way

yep

On leave from Afghanistan. Each ribbon had a name on it.

gorgeous finisher's medal

Finishing chute

My race bib

Until there is a cure.




(Thanks to my shutterbug friend, Wendy Mitchell, for most of the photos)

Connection

For years I have tried to learn crochet. I've had people try to teach me. I've read books. I've seen videos. Nothing ever clicked. I still kept trying, though, in hopes that eventually I'd get it. AND I DID! Randomly, a couple of weeks ago, something connected between my hands and my brain, and it worked. I don't know what made the difference, but look what I made:

I make lots of mistakes, but that's part of the process. I'm just glad it finally connected for me!

I got the pattern from Crochet in Color. I like her blog because she has a ton of pictures and lots of patterns.  She also has links to other sites, which are handy.  Anyway, now that I have started to figure it out, I hope to make lots of fun stuff--for me and for friends :)

Like I need a hobby or something. lol

Crusing 1989

Another layout from the 25 years book I'm working on...

Because I haven't posted a card in a while...

He's a Keeper

Twenty five years is a long time. There are lots of memories made, inside jokes, and any number of stories---good, bad, and ugly. I decided to make a photo book of our years together. Brian, however, out-creatived me.

First he made a reservation at a new restaurant in East Cobb. He secured the chef's table and made sure they knew it was a special anniversary.

Then he presented me with a pillar candle holder filled with frosted marbles and dark chocolate kisses. That was good, but THEN...

 Mixed in the kisses were 25 strips of silver cardstock, each printed with a memory, an inside joke, or just something he thinks about when he considers our marriage.


Husbands, take note. MAJOR props. EPIC win.

 The restaurant provided two delightful desserts: a maple pote de creme with cinnamon biscotti and a pineapple upside-down cake with macadamia nut ice cream and nut brittle. Both were served with a fabulous sweet dessert wine with hints of honey.

We finished the evening at rehearsal for the Georgia Symphony Orchestra Chorus. We took a cake and some of our original wedding napkins to share. Everyone enjoyed celebrating with us.

On to the next 25. Brian has that long to top his ultra-creative silver anniversary gift!

Twenty Five Years

I thought only old people had silver anniversaries. I was mistaken. YOUNG people do too!!  We were just REALLY young then!!!

I am working on a book of our first 25 years married. Now that today has passed, I will start sharing some of the pages as I go. I had hoped to have it finished, but...

Here is the first page:

I started the project last September, but, as my projects usually do, it expanded. Maybe I'll have it done before Carrie's wedding. We shall see.....

What's in a Name?

So, the Southern Baptist Convention is considering a name change. To that I say, "It's about time!" The Southern Baptist name rings of old, stodgy, and stale religion. Southern Baptist will always be stained by years of shameful racism. Southern Baptists make up a large part of the maligned right-wing, conservative, dogmatic, intolerant "moral majority." Whether the perception is correct doesn't matter. Perception IS reality in our current culture.

Having been a member of a vibrant, Bible-teaching, people-loving church that happens to be affiliated with the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) for seven years now has taught me that even the most stubborn Southerner, if he truly wants to please God, will become able to adapt and change. Eventually. With much prodding. One of the things that attracted our family to our current church home was the "ten core values" printed for all to read, posted on walls, and repeated by the Pastor. (And recently, administered in pop-quiz form to all church employees---even the lowly part-time baristas like me!) Most were familiar, as I grew up in an American Baptist (mercy) church, and have attended a number of non-denominational churches that had solid Bible teaching. However, one stood out as unique: We believe in an unchanging message and are committed to ever-changing methodologies. WOW. Not "we will never deviate from the master plan set in place 50 years ago" or "but we've always done it this way." That was refreshing to read as a core value of the church. We have seen that worked out, too, as the church has added contemporary music to some of its services and has fully embraced technology in reaching a younger seeking population.

Churches that do not adapt, die. Churches that forget their first love in making those adaptations destroy. It's a delicate balance that even the best-intentioned churches don't always achieve, but it follows the Biblical model of Paul who met people where they were and modified his approach without minimizing his authority.

The SBC as a group has recently committed to a new focus on reaching the lost and discipling them. This is a change of past years when the focus was on maintaining church order and condemning those who attacked it. Once internally centered, the SBC is making an effort to reach  outward with its time, personnel, and money. It's an exciting change, and one that I think pleases the Father. There is a long journey ahead, but the paradigm shift has begun, and a new enthusiasm should begin to emerge.

It makes sense, then, that the Southern Baptist Convention considers a name change. Saul became Paul. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. Each name change signified a new role, a new character, and a new vision. The SBC has a new vision and is developing a new character AND a new role. A new name will allow the old perceptions to be put aside so that the new ideals can prosper.

It's about time.

My word for 2012

I have read a number of blogs and challenges in the the last few days about choosing a single word to represent the hopes and wishes and goals for the new year. I certainly like that idea far better than resolutions that are made and broken within days. I stopped making resolutions years ago. Last year I did an art piece at called it "The Year of Being Content." For the most part, that concept did work itself out in my daily life. Even thought I was busy, I didn't wish for more than I had, I was grateful for most days, and content with the experiences I shared with my friends and family.

In the last days, I have considered what my word might be for 2012. Within the last 24 hours, two different sources led me to consider the word "dissipate" as the opposite of what I wanted to do. One sermon preached by John Wesley (1703-1791) complimented a sermon by John Herring (Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, 8 January 2012) and by the end of the day, I knew my word for 2012: connected.

When my friend, Bryan Black, chose "Do less, Be more" as his status on Facebook the other day, my first thought was about Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus. Luke 10 tells how Jesus stopped to teach at their house near Jerusalem. Martha, being the good hostess, worked to prepare food fitting for a rabbi and for those who traveled with him. Mary, however, sat at his feet, listening to his teachings. (Dr. Herring aptly noted that a woman seated in the same room as a rabbi was not standard behavior for women of that day. That Jesus allowed her to sit there was an example of how he elevated the status of women.) Martha, whose intentions were good, complained that Mary was not doing her fair share of the work.  Jesus rebuked her saying that Mary had chosen the better thing. 

This brought me back to Bryan's status and the link he shared with me to Wesley's sermon on dissipation:

6. And even as much serving dissipated the thoughts of Martha, and distracted her from attending to her Lord's words, so a thousand things which daily occur are apt to dissipate our thoughts, and distract us from attending to His voice who is continually speaking to our hearts: I mean, to all that listen to his voice. We are encompassed on all sides with persons and things that tend to draw us from our centre. Indeed, every creature, if we are not continually on our guard, will draw us from our Creator. The whole visible world, all we see, hear, or touch, all the objects either of our senses or understanding, have a tendency to dissipate our thoughts from the invisible world; and to distract our minds from attending to Him who is both the Author and End of our being.

I can so relate to Martha. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but in pursuing the good, she missed the best. Her focus was pulled out of connection with Jesus, and scattered by all the tasks set before her, tasks expected of her by her society and culture. How often to I get carried away by the tasks before me? Do I keep myself from being connected to my Lord and to true fellowship with my brothers and sisters by a routine that is busy at best and chaotic at worst?

The natural man often fills his days with good things: humanitarian endeavors, goodness to family, loyalty to friends, and other admirable qualities. But in the midst of all that, he is still alienated from God. That tendency toward dissipation is only mastered by the Holy Spirit's leading to sit at the Master's feet and listen. To be still and know God is counter to everything our current culture demands. 

10. But so far as any one yields to this temptation, so far he is dissipated. The original word properly signifies to disperse, or scatter. So the sun dissipates, that is, scatters, the clouds; the wind dissipates, or scatters, the dust; and, by an easy metaphor, our thoughts are said to be dissipated, when they are irregularly scattered up and down. In like manner, our desires are dissipated, when they are unhinged from God, their proper centre, and scattered to and fro among the poor, perishing, unsatisfying things of the world. And, indeed, it may be said of every man that is a stranger to the grace of God, that all his passions are dissipated, --


"Unhinged from God." Isn't that just the perfect phrase for most of Christendom today? Unhinged, disconnected, scattered.... We DO the right things. We SAY the right things. We show up to church. We may even tithe. (Okay, probably not. Statistics show that fewer than ten percent of American Christians actually tithe.) In any case, even those of us who call Jesus "Lord" find that we are mostly unhinged from God on a regular basis. We love the experience of connection during events and retreats, but when the mundane reality of life re-establishes itself,  we are quickly scattered once again. It's not that we don't care, but that we, like Martha, get busy with doing and forget about being. Being quiet with God. Being still.

12. Hence we may easily learn what is the proper, direct meaning of that common expression, -- a dissipated man. He is a man that is separated from God; that is disunited from his centre, whether this be occasioned by hurry of business, by seeking honour or preferment, or by fondness for diversions, for silly pleasures, so called, or for any trifle under the sun. The vulgar, it is true, commonly confine this character to those who are violently attached to women, gaming, drinking; to dancing, balls, races, or the poor, childish diversion of "running foxes and hares out of breath." But it equally belongs to the serious fool who forgets God by a close attention to any worldly employment, suppose it were of the most elegant or the most important kind. A man may be as much dissipated from God by the study of the mathematics or astronomy, as by fondness for cards or hounds. Whoever is habitually inattentive to the presence and will of his Creator, he is a dissipated man.

I like this section of Wesley's sermon. Our church culture tends to look at a word like "dissipation" and equate it with "sins."  If we don't smoke or drink or dance (or go with those who do), we pat ourselves on our Pharisaical backs and applaud our righteousness. However, we (and I am more guilty than most) often become "serious fools" who forget God in all sorts of elegant and laudable pursuits. Working with humanitarian efforts or feeding the poor or teaching the young or caring for a family--these are noble efforts, but if they distract us from relationship with God, they are no less sinful than less honorable activities. Ouch. 


So what is the solution? How do I, in 2012, maintain a commitment to be connected? Wesley, of course, has a brilliant solution:



20. It was from a full conviction of the absolute necessity there is of a Christian's setting the Lord always before him that a set of young gentlemen in Oxford, who, many years ago, used to spend most of their evenings together, in order to assist each other in working out their salvation, placed that question first in their scheme of daily self-examination: "Have I been simple and recollected in all I said or did?" Have I been simple? -- That is, setting the Lord always before me, and doing everything with a single view of pleasing him? --Recollected? -- that is, quickly gathering in my scattered thoughts; recovering my simplicity, if I had been in any wise drawn from it by men, or devils, or my own evil heart? By this means they were preserved from dissipation, and were enabled, each of them, to say, "By the grace of God, this one thing I do: (at least, it is my constant aim) I see God, I love God, I serve God. I glorify him with my body and with my spirit."


To be free from dissipation and to be truly connected requires an active accountability of my days. "Have I been simple?" It's such an easy question to ask, but the implications are profound. My activities are not the problem that leaves me "unhinged." Rather, it is the focus of those activities. Where are my thoughts as I do what I do? Do I work so that HE is glorified? Do I sing that HE is honored? Do I serve my family, my friends, my church for HIS  sake? This must be my constant motivation: HIS glory, HIS renown, HIS fame. In that, there is connection with HIM, and from that, connection with others.


Let this year be one where I am fully connected in my relationship with the Lord, and after that, in my relationships with others, and then (and only then) with the things that I do.

 Quotes taken from John Wesley's Sermon 79 on "Dissipation"