Day 6 - The Race

Day 6 – Ok, today was definitely one of those days where each minute and every step seemed endless. I can truly only blame myself. I ran myself ragged and then expected to have a flawless workout like many of the other days. And if that wasn't bad enough, I have been eating so well this week. I have been eating so many fruits and veggies and then we went out to dinner tonight. I had been eating so well and I thought to myself, "Self – you have been eating well – one meal won't hurt." HAHAHAHAHA I ate a burger and onion rings. While it tasted good, I am paying the price now. I instantly felt tired after eating and it made my later workout seem beyond endless.
How often do we put ourselves in situations where we think we will be ok because we are normally good? It can truly be something as simple as food, but usually we put ourselves in situations with money, people, or places where maybe we shouldn't be. What I keep reminding myself is that this is a marathon and not a sprint. This journey we are on is more than 100 days – it is our lives and how God wants us to live. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says:

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

 ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I'm not sure why I would torture myself in such a way this evening but it was a clear reminder that even in the simple things, we are vulnerable. I have my eyes on the ultimate prize and want to make every step and minute count. I will be honest with you, there were moments I absolutely wanted to quit today. No one would know….but wait, God would know. While I know He would completely forgive me – I made a commitment to see this through all the way even when it was beyond difficult.

What part of the race is difficult for you?

Day 5 – Roller Coaster

I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that you have been to an amusement park. For me, up until the age of 23, I loved every second at the amusement park. Eating food that should probably be banned in most countries, standing in line, riding the rides, wading through the crowds and being sad when it turned to nightfall because that meant it was time to go home.

I will never forget my first major roller coaster. I was 8 and beyond tall for my age. My family lived in Virginia so we had our pick of Kings Dominion which was 25 minutes away or Busch Gardens which was a little more than an hour away. My parents loved Busch Gardens because they could go to the shows while my brother, who is 6 years older, and I went and rode rides. When you walk into Busch Gardens, you can see the Lochness Monster roller coaster. It was massive and had two upside down loops in it. I truly thought I was ready for such an adventure. My brother was beyond convincing that I would be fine and off we went to stand in line. It had to be a hot day, or at least that's what I remember about almost EVERY trip to any amusement park. It was like a rule that you had to stand in ridiculously long lines in 98 degree heat or it wouldn't be a true experience. As we were standing in line, I ran the gamut of emotions from being super excited about my first major coaster to wanting to throw up. Who knows how long we stood in line but it truly seemed like forever. We got to the front of the line and the next train of cars would be ours. I looked at my brother and promptly told him that I was NOT going on. Just then, the cars pulled up. The gate opened, he pushed me forward and said, "You're going!" I guess he didn't want me to miss out on so much fun…or maybe he was just ticked enough at me that we had waited so long in line. I sat down, and pulled down the enormous bar and my legs were shaking. I was terrified and excited all at the same time. We got the thumbs up and off we went. The anticipation up that first hill about killed me and I'm surprised that I held it together. As soon as we reached the top, I saw the cars in front of us starting to go down the hill and I held on for dear life and just screamed. When we got to the end of the ride, I looked at my brother and said, "Let's go again!" He rolled his eyes and laughed.

It is funny to look back. Years later, I was on that same roller coaster and we got stopped halfway up that first hill due to some malfunction. We all had to walk down the tiny stairs that are attached to the track. That was by far, much scarier than the actual ride.

The experience that took me away from my roller coaster days was at Kings Dominion when I was 23. I had taken a group of youth and they knew how much I loved roller coasters. We decided to try this new one that was inside and in the dark. It went from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and you could not see anything (hence the dark). We whipped around 3 corners right in a row and it knocked my head so hard that I almost blacked out. It was all I could do to get through the rest of the ride. I was so sick afterwards and clearly had a serious concussion and I was just doing my best to keep the youth from knowing that I was seriously hurt. I didn't ride another ride the rest of the day. Now, I minimize how many coasters I go on because the equilibrium has never been the same since. (pout pout) I truly miss riding them non-stop.

I bring up the roller coaster experiences because many people refer to life as a roller coaster. While I agree that life can have ups and downs, I would say that life is more like an amusement park. There are times when you will stand in line and await with anticipation. There are times when you are going to be strapped into a ride where you cannot get off and when you finally do, you might say, "Let's do that again…" or maybe you will say, "Never again". Then there will be times when you will need to have a map to know where you are going and other times when you can sit and watch a show. Bottom line, there are times in our life when I truly want to get off the ride and just puke. Being on this adventure and journey with God will always have ups and downs. But it is how we respond to Him and what He calls us to that is the real adventure. I cannot tell you how many times He has asked me to do something and I just sit there and say I don't want to get on that ride. He always manages to nudge me on anyway.

I was chatting with a friend today and she was getting bogged down in some serious life struggles. While it is easy to get caught up in the negative side of what could or could not happen, I suggested to her that was strap into the ride and scream together.

If you look back at the adventures that the disciples had with Jesus and all he asked them to do was to follow him. It is an exhilarating venture and if we are always standing at the gate, we will miss out on what He has in store for us.

So as I did my mile today, I was picturing the roller coaster and wanting to embrace it, hold on for dear life and scream with delight that God is allowing me to join Him along the way.

Karate Chop

Marilyn Monroe once said: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
Why in the world am I quoting Marilyn Monroe?! While she had a point that people should like us the way that we are, it was almost as if she was excusing her behavior.

Tonight, I took my son and my friend's daughter to Chick-fil-a for a fundraiser. Sarah (my friend's daughter) and I sat at a table and she started to open a mayonnaise packet. As she sat and struggled to open the packet on the "tear here" line, I could foresee mayonnaise spurting out all over the place. No sooner did I think that – that is exactly what happened. Mayonnaise was all over the floor and luckily missed the two of us. We both laughed hysterically knowing that something like that was bound to happen. Some things ARE truly out of our control.

However, after that, we went to my daughter Grace's JV basketball game. We were playing a rather physical team. During the game, one girl on the other team had been excessively physical on a number of plays. During one of the last plays of the game, our player went up for a layup and this same girl on the other team karate chopped her arm. Our player was writhing with pain on the floor holding her arm. It was clear that she was injured and all because this girl was out of control. We can sit and say that the referees didn't do their job but at what point do we take responsibility for ourselves? She may not have intended on hurting our player, but her lack of self-control may have broken this girl's arm and she will be out the rest of the season. A split second changed the course of someone else's life.

As I was doing my mile, I sat judging the situation and felt justified with my feelings, I felt convicted about a situation that I went through a year ago. I run a Drama Club at a local school. We were down to the last 2 rehearsals and one young man was repeatedly missing and always with an excuse that was lacking. I couldn't replace him at the last second. Everyone in the club knows that dress rehearsals are mandatory unless you have prior permission to be gone. This young man didn't show up…AGAIN. He was truly ruining the show and I was beyond angry. I let the anger well up and I threw a script down on a platform. Wouldn't you know, it ricocheted off the edge of the platform and hit another student in the face causing her to swell up and have a small cut. I felt horrible and my heart just sank. I apologized profusely to her and her mother and thankfully she was more than forgiving. However, my lack of self-control in that moment hurt someone else even inadvertently. I wasn't aiming for her – but she got hurt. I tell you, that moment is forever in the forefront of my brain so that I NEVER lose control again. I have learned to walk away and cool down because even when we mean well and don't want to hurt anyone – our actions or words can. God truly had me sit and pray for this other girl on the other team.
Small things that we do and say can ruin our witness for a lifetime for someone else. People are watching and judging all the time and it only takes a moment to blow it.
1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 says: ⁶So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. ⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.


If we live with the Holy Spirit inside, then self-control should be a place of peace. We ARE human and are going to have our moments where we lose control. We need to continue to keep our eyes on God and not on feeling justified in our actions. We need to own our shortcomings and ask God to fill the holes.
Where is God asking you to learn self-control? Whether it is with words or actions, God wants to be the driver in our lives and if we continue to lead the way, we will always fall short.

Sludge That Binds

Have you ever had a day where you felt like you were just dragging a 500 lb person through the sludge and mud?

Yesterday, I decided to replace a twenty year old faucet in our bathroom. This project actually started as an idea to replace a light fixture that was outdated in our powder room. I'm very fortunate to have grown up with a dad who made me…oh, I mean was nice enough to have me help him with all of the household projects. He had me learn how to use tools and how to fix various things. This has really paid off as my husband really did not grow up learning all the handy stuff. So, I replaced the light fixture. Then, I decided that the other fixtures in the bathroom were outdated. I replaced the towel bar, the toilet seat, and the toilet paper holder. After that, I stood back pleased with my work and saw that several other things were outdated. Talk about a snowball effect. Then, I decided to replace the mirrored medicine cabinet with a beautiful mirror. I showed my son how you use math in "real" life by measuring and placing the mirror on the wall. I stood back pleased with my work and saw that it wasn't quite complete. I replaced the door knob and knew that the piece de résistance would be a new faucet. Clearly it was outdated since it was 20 years old and surely this would only take a little while to replace. Let me start by saying our powder room is not particularly large and the vanity has two small openings to access the works underneath. I maneuvered and twisted my body to fit in the small opening and started to remove the old faucet. I did shut off the water in case you were wondering if I took a face full of water. After getting almost every piece undone, I pulled out the final pipe and the most putrid smelling sludge came sliding out. It was black and slimy and covering my hands everywhere. Really gross and slimy things do not normally bother me (I do have children) but the smell was HORRIBLE and made me nauseous. I pulled myself together and got massive amount of paper towels and cleaned everything out thoroughly. I guess after 20 years, it is understandable that there was that much sludge in there. However, it was such a reminder of what we hold onto.

Today is a new day 3 (in my quest to start over again) and day 3 is ALWAYS the hardest in anything that you do. Every step I took today during my mile, seemed like I was climbing the largest mountain in the snow and ice. It was hard to breathe, tough to move and just plain difficult to keep going. Isn't that true in our lives? The more that we store up, whether it be fat or whether it is something deeper like a grudge, anger or hurt, the harder it is to move. Part of me laughs about my experience over the last several days regarding switching out all of the pieces in the bathroom. God sat back after everything he created and said it was good just like me surveying my bathroom and seeing what else needed to be added. But the more I sat thinking about that slime and sludge and the awful smell that it brought, the more I thought about how God is trying to clean that out of our lives and yet we continue to hold onto it. The longer we hold onto it, the more we just plain STINK! Philippians 3:13-14 says:
¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As I reflect on my mile today, I realize that maybe I am holding onto things that I should not. They stick to us like stinky slime and I will be praying about what those things might be. What are you holding onto that while you can't see it, is sticking to you and making you just plain stink?

Thirsty

Thoughts of the beach go swirling through my head as I did my mile today. The wind whipping my hair as the waves wildly roll into shore. The suns beating down on my skin as little beads of sweat begin to form. Ok, a lush view. I'm not so graceful so the real picture is probably the following:
I stand in the surf, walking out as far as I can without being slammed to the ocean floor picking up a mouthful of sand. There is nothing like licking sand paper and choking on the ocean to put things into true perspective.

I really felt so incredibly thirsty during my mile today. I'm sure I was dehydrated and needing fluids before I even started but alas I began thirsty and I ended absolutely parched. It reminded me so much of doing The Breast Cancer 3 Day walk in the summer for the past two years. This is a 60 mile trek over 3 days in the dead heat of summer. The first year that my friend and I went, the coolest day was 95 degrees. There wasn't enough water and Gatorade to keep us hydrated. I really hate Gatorade and was drinking Propel instead of Gatorade. Little did I know that there is not the same amount of electrolytes in Propel. I developed a condition called hyponatremia where your electrolyte level is way too low. It is extremely dangerous and landed me smack in the med tent. I was so incredibly thirsty even though I was drinking over 32 ozs every hour. Nothing was absorbing and I was really sick. The second year, I learned my lesson and pretty much drank Gatorade. Let me tell you, every flavor ends up tasting exactly the same after 60 miles. I never knew that Grape could taste like orange...but I digress. All I remember being so incredibly thirsty that all I wanted to do was suck on anything. As soon as I started to think about that today, I began to think of what Jesus went through on the cross and how thirst really wasn't the biggest thing he was dealing with.  He was dealing with the sin of the world on top of everything else. 

There are so many clear cut prophecies in the Old Testament foretelling of what will happen in Jesus' time. Psalm 22 is just one. Look at this passage in Psalm 22:15 with such a vivid description.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
       and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
       you lay me ^[b]
in the dust of death.



While I can completely relate to the tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth, I wouldn't dare even begin to understand what Jesus went through on the cross. Minutes probably seemed like hours while everything seemed to dislocate and pain was at an insurmountable level.


Today, I was grateful for the thirst. I actually woke and cranked out days of my Bible study while my son was getting ready for school. I thirst for more knowledge and to be closer to Jesus. Our bodies are made of more than 70% water. I do not think it is a coincidence that Jesus is called the living water. It is time to quench our thirst with not only 8-10 glasses of water but to overflow our cup with the Living Water. Just like when we seek pop as a way to help our thirst, we will come up empty when we look to the wrong thing to fill us up.

With what are you filling your body and mind that is just empty calories for the soul?

Are You Listening?

Day 1b – Isn't it funny when you are intentionally seeking quiet time with God…every distraction in the book comes along?! All I asked for was one mile…not twenty…just one. This afternoon, I desperately needed a nap. After sleeping for a good 15 minutes, my daughter woke me up not remembering me being at home. Ok, easy mistake. Then I reminded everyone in the house that I was taking a nap and within 15 minutes of falling asleep, my husband came in and woke me up. I felt like I was speaking into the wind. Is anyone listening? Then, I went to do my mile and within the first 5 minutes – I had family asking me questions of where certain items were in the house to which all mothers have the answer. We do read minds you know! Sadly, I often do know where the Lego head from some Star Wars kit is because I stepped on it on the way up the stairs. Anyway, I just felt like no one was listening to me today.
It reminded me about time around Christmas. I always know who knows me well by how well they listen to things I like throughout the year. It isn't to say that some don't listen – they might just be poor gift buyers. Truth is – I am a poor gift receiver. I would like to say that there is some 12 step program for this problem but there isn't. Hello, my name is Tris, and I am a poor gift receiver. I hear the first step is admitting you have a problem.
I absolutely LOVE shopping for people throughout the year. My family actually makes fun of me because I usually have shopping done most of the way by the end of October. I pick up little things throughout the whole year that are significant to that person. I would rather receive a bunch of little things that mean something and have little or no value than something extravagant and of little meaning. Don't get me wrong, if my husband wants to wrap a bow around a nice shiny car – I am not about to tell him to take it back…but you get the picture. I even took to writing a list for my family to follow this year so that I wouldn't look goofy when receiving my gifts. It isn't that I don't appreciate them. I just really enjoy giving more than receiving partially because I just want to know that people were listening to me and that I had value.
It really caused me to pause one night and ask myself how well we listen to God. It talks ALL throughout the Bible about how we need to listen to God. Proverbs 8:32-34 says this:

 ³² "Now then, my sons, listen to me;
       blessed are those who keep my ways.

 ³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise;
       do not ignore it.

 ³⁴ Blessed is the man who listens to me,
       watching daily at my doors,
       waiting at my doorway.

How often are we ignoring God or being constantly distracted? How often are we letting other things distract us rather than keeping our eyes directly on Him? More often than not He is talking to us but WE are the ones not listening or we are waiting for a different answer or question. He says you will be blessed if you listen to him. Wait upon him and listen at the door because He IS there talking to you.

My husband and I joke about how God comes to you in a whisper. Then, after you don't listen the first time, he comes and taps you on the shoulder. When you do not listen again, he whaps you upside the head with a 2x4. I have had those 2x4 moments and they do NOT feel good. When I am in direct connection and really listening no matter how hard it is, the outcome is glorious and so fulfilling.

Take 5 minutes today and try to focus ONLY on God – if not for an actual mile then for a virtual one. Don't be texting, watching TV, listening to the radio or whatever. Just sit and really listen to God. Watch how many distractions try to veer you off course. I believe it will amaze you and surprise you how well the enemy knows how to get in the way.

A Do Over

There are times when no matter how good our intentions are – we just fall short. I let so many things get in the way of doing my mile with God every day. How sad is that? I would do a mile elsewhere – but my quiet time and mile with God fell by the wayside for any number of reasons. I was either busy with preparing Christmas for the family or I was not feeling well. But seriously, I couldn't come up with time to do just one measly mile? It makes me so very sad and I can sense the lack of deep connection like I was feeling when I was consistently doing the mile.
I really did do some writing…I had written many other days about various things but didn't post thinking that no one was really reading what I was writing and that it didn't matter if I got it posted or not. Truth is, it really didn't matter if anyone else read it. I needed to stay committed to what I promised God. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because it just goes to show you that not everything will be perfect when you set out to fulfill something with God's will in mind. We WILL fall short if we rely on ourselves. I think that is where I lost sight of the bigger picture. I was more concerned with if others were reading rather than fulfilling what God asked me to do. All He asked me to do was to do a mile a day for 100 days and write about it. He didn't promise me that anyone would read about it and He didn't promise anything would come of the whole journey. It is my transformation and no one else's.
It was about this time of me sitting in my self-pity party that my friend from Toledo called and said she was trying to read my blog but that I hadn't posted anything new in awhile. Can we say, "Convicted"?! I was immediately saddened that I had let it go.
I am so blessed to know that God gives 2^nd, 3^rd, and 95^th chances. He wants us to succeed and He wants to grant the desires of our heart but with His will in mind.
So, I am blessed to get a do over. Rarely do we get those chances except with God. He will accept us where we are and continue to work with us despite our downfalls and flaws. If you think you need to be perfect, then you will never measure up. In fact, it is usually through our weakness that he shows up like a knight in shining armor so that His true glory and greatness can shine through. It isn't about us at all…it is ALL about Him.
Tomorrow starts a new 100 days. I can't believe I am saying that but I truly want to complete the assignment the way that God put it out there for me. 100 days – 100 miles
I will do it for Him and I will do this to grow closer to Him. Truth is – I have even in my pitfall.  I realize minute by the minute how I need Him more than anything else.