"My refuge and my fortress
my God in whom I trust." (Psalm 91:2)
Two times this past week these words from Psalm 91 helped me get through difficult points in my runs. On Thursday a 5 mile run at Marathon pace was on the schedule. There was snow and ice on the ground and it was cold on Thursday morning. I set out on my 5 mile route from my house over to Lake Mendota drive (which is really hilly) along the lake into Shorewood and then back home via the bike path. It was a 5.2 mile course and I made it to the 5 mile mark in 49:10, which is exactly my hoped for Marathon pace of 9:50. The last couple of miles were tough but instead of focuing on my sluggish legs and labored breathing I started saying this verse with my breathing. Focusing on the words and not on my thoughts helped me stay focused through the challenge. When I reached the 5 mile mark and realized I reached my goal I was elated. I did it!
This morning it was a 10 mile run - my longest run yet. The first 6 miles were pleasant, running with Bob, who's training for the Boston Marathon and ran 16 miles this morning, and LuAnn who's training for the Lake Mendota 20K. We ran in the Arboretum and after one loop all went our separate ways - Bob to finish his run, LuAnn headed for home and I started on the final 4 miles of today's run. The first mile or so was down hill and flat. The last 3/4 of the second mile was uphill, turn around and repeat in the opposite direction. Some downhill, some straight away ending with a long 3/4 mile uphill stretch. The final uphill section was tough and once again the mantra kept me focused to finish these 10 miles in one hour and 50 minutes.
As I was running this morning I was thinking of how grateful I am to have stumbled on this little technique of using scripture verses to distract me from the voices in my head that would really love it if I'd quit when the going got tough. The repetition of scripture occupies my brain with something positive so my body can do what it needs to do.
I don't imagine that God needs my little mantra as much as I do. I do imagine that God appreciates the way in which I reach out to her, my refuge and my fortres, my rock in whom I trust, throughout my days and whenver I need a refuge, a fortress or a rock in the storms of life.
This is one of the main gifts of faith in life. Our faith and the ways in which we exercise our faith gives us resources for the long and often challenging training run that is life. Throughout life, hopefully, we grow in faith, we train our spiritual muscles in worship, prayer, study and relationships with others. Then when the going gets tough the resources are there to focus us and keep us moving one step at a time until we make it through the difficulties and can run again on smoother ground.
A deep and abiding, active and alive faith is how the people of Haiti manage to stay as positive as they are. Encountering their faith in the midst of the numerous and extremeley challenging day to day reality of their lives was the most humbling and the most inspiring aspect of my time there in February, 2009. In the midst of unbelievable poverty people go about their daily lives, and even when they don't have nearly enough for themselves they share what they do have with others. And at the core of it all is a strong and vibrant faith in God, the refuge and fortress, the one in whom they trust. I learned from the people of Haiti I encountered that no matter how difficult life is God is with us in the midst of it. God is yearning for our healing, yearning for a vibrant, rich, meaningful life for all of God's children and crying out for justice on behalf of those who struggle too hard and too long just to have the basic necessities of life.
Thanks be to God who runs with us, who walks with us, who dwells with us through all the ups and downs of life. Amen.
Catch ya next Saturday!
P.S. I added the tents to haiti website to this blog page - check it out and make a donation if you're able.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 2
For some reason this week was tough. I had a lot of fun and interesting things on the calendar but I think it was a case of too much of a good thing. I did manage to get all my training runs and classes in but it wasn't easy. I'm proud of myself for forging ahead no matter what and not giving myself permission to skip something with the justification that it's early and I'll make it up later.
My saturday run was only 6 miles. That's the shortest "long run" I'll be doing between now and the marathon. I left the house around 4:30 in the afternoon. My sermon wasn't done but I was stuck and I figured a run would clear my mind and help me refocus on the task at hand. In the end it worked and I'm really glad I didn't postpone my run until Sunday.
As I left the house, the sun was shining and it actually felt warm on my back. I worried that I'd dressed too warmly. But by 5:00 I was feeling the chill as the sun dipped and it moved toward night.
I struggled some on this run because there are a lot of people who haven't done a very good job of clearing their sidewalks. I really don't want to fall and hurt myself so it was slow going much of the time. Still, I stayed within my normal pace of running about a 10:30 mile on my longer runs. I felt good as I walked in the house. I always feel good right after a run. It's an awesome high!
Bryan Sirchio returned from Haiti on Thursday with a new project in mind. The group he traveled with took two truckloads of supplies to our partners in Haiti including a few tents. While they were in Haiti and talking with the leaders of the SPARE Program and of CONASPEH (two Haitian organizations we partner with) it became really clear that there is a growing urgency around providing shelter. Too many people are still living out in the elements with little to no protection from the sun and rain. Haiti's rainy season is approaching and it is now crucial to do what we can to provide some better shelter. This is how our "Tents to Haiti" project was born. The goal is to send 15,000 tents to Haiti between now and March 15. If you can help with that project, go to http://www.tentstohaiti.org/ for more information.
The Psalm this week was Psalm 99. This is a Psalm of unabashed praise and adoration of God and God's holiness. It lifts up God's faithfulness to God's people throughout Israel's history and encourages the people to worship and praise God because of how great God is and has been with them and for them.
I'm not always that comfortable focusing on God's holiness. It seems this emphasis places God so far away from me, so high and exalted, unreachable, untouchable. I tend to imagine God in more intimate, personal, present with every breath ways. Still, I appreciated the reminder that God isn't only one thing and doesn't only act in small, intimate personal ways. God also is able to act in large, world altering, game changing ways. And for this I am also grateful. I want God to act in large ways because the challenges of the world are large and we need a God who is up to meeting those challenges and whom we can trust to be attentive to the big picture.
It is this great and holy, high and mighty wonderful God who is watching over the people of Haiti and over all of us with love and compassion and looking for ways to act in the world through us and in spite of us to bring healing and wholeness, peace and redemption to all that is broken and in need of transformation. We may not see God's work in Haiti or in our world now but I trust God's presence and God's activity and am grateful that it doesn't all fall on my shoulders!
Have a great week - catch ya next Saturday.
Tisha
My saturday run was only 6 miles. That's the shortest "long run" I'll be doing between now and the marathon. I left the house around 4:30 in the afternoon. My sermon wasn't done but I was stuck and I figured a run would clear my mind and help me refocus on the task at hand. In the end it worked and I'm really glad I didn't postpone my run until Sunday.
As I left the house, the sun was shining and it actually felt warm on my back. I worried that I'd dressed too warmly. But by 5:00 I was feeling the chill as the sun dipped and it moved toward night.
I struggled some on this run because there are a lot of people who haven't done a very good job of clearing their sidewalks. I really don't want to fall and hurt myself so it was slow going much of the time. Still, I stayed within my normal pace of running about a 10:30 mile on my longer runs. I felt good as I walked in the house. I always feel good right after a run. It's an awesome high!
Bryan Sirchio returned from Haiti on Thursday with a new project in mind. The group he traveled with took two truckloads of supplies to our partners in Haiti including a few tents. While they were in Haiti and talking with the leaders of the SPARE Program and of CONASPEH (two Haitian organizations we partner with) it became really clear that there is a growing urgency around providing shelter. Too many people are still living out in the elements with little to no protection from the sun and rain. Haiti's rainy season is approaching and it is now crucial to do what we can to provide some better shelter. This is how our "Tents to Haiti" project was born. The goal is to send 15,000 tents to Haiti between now and March 15. If you can help with that project, go to http://www.tentstohaiti.org/ for more information.
The Psalm this week was Psalm 99. This is a Psalm of unabashed praise and adoration of God and God's holiness. It lifts up God's faithfulness to God's people throughout Israel's history and encourages the people to worship and praise God because of how great God is and has been with them and for them.
I'm not always that comfortable focusing on God's holiness. It seems this emphasis places God so far away from me, so high and exalted, unreachable, untouchable. I tend to imagine God in more intimate, personal, present with every breath ways. Still, I appreciated the reminder that God isn't only one thing and doesn't only act in small, intimate personal ways. God also is able to act in large, world altering, game changing ways. And for this I am also grateful. I want God to act in large ways because the challenges of the world are large and we need a God who is up to meeting those challenges and whom we can trust to be attentive to the big picture.
It is this great and holy, high and mighty wonderful God who is watching over the people of Haiti and over all of us with love and compassion and looking for ways to act in the world through us and in spite of us to bring healing and wholeness, peace and redemption to all that is broken and in need of transformation. We may not see God's work in Haiti or in our world now but I trust God's presence and God's activity and am grateful that it doesn't all fall on my shoulders!
Have a great week - catch ya next Saturday.
Tisha
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Week 1
My training program for the Madison Marathon has officially begun. This week I ran a total of 18 miles. This morning I ran 8 miles in and around the Arboretum with two men who are veteran marathoners. It was a beautiful run as the sun was coming up. It was a little windy and cold (26 degrees when I left my house at 6:45 a.m.) but it felt good to be up and out in the world when things are quiet and most people are still sleeping.
When I think about the next 4 months of training I am mostly excited but occasionally overwhelmed. I am excited because I feel so proud of myself for setting such an ambitious goal that will push me beyond anything I've ever imagined I could do or would even want to do. I feel overwhelmed when I think of finding the time and energy to get my 4 weekly runs and 2 weekly cross-training classes in. My greatest asset at this point is the fact that I am a person who thrives on routine and discipline. I love to do lists and see my Marathon training plan as a 4 month to do list. I know I'll take pleasure every morning in crossing off each day's first task.
As I look at the next 4 months with thoughts about Haiti on my mind and heart I hope and pray that by the time I cross the finish line of the Madison Marathon the situation in Haiti will be more stable than it is right now. I hope that people will have access to food and water and shelter that is reliably available. I hope the world community will have agreed to cancel Haiti's debt and to see the aid being given by goverment organizations as grants rather than loans. I hope that people will be steadily rebuilding their lives. But for right now, as of this week, I know that food and water and shelter continue to be difficult to come by and the supplies on the ground are largely inadequate.
This week the core leader of Haiti Partners MCC, Bryan Sirchio, is in Haiti along with 4 others taking supplies and cash to our Haitian Partners in order to support their efforts to feed and provide water and shelter to the students of the Community School of Cite Soleil and the SPARE students and their families (see haitipartnersmcc.org for more information on these programs) and to support the ministries of CONASPEH, partners of our denomination's Global Partners Missionaries. CONASPEH (The National Spiritual Council of Protestant Churches in Haiti) is an ambitious organization made up of Protestant churches and their pastors that provides training for nurses, mobile medical clinics, schools for children, education and training for pastors and many other programs and efforts that work for justice and a better life in Haiti.
The primary building out of which CONASPEH operated in Port au Prince collapsed in the earthquake killing many of their nursing students and others. In the face of this incredible loss they are casting a courageous and ambitious vision for recovery. (See www.globalministries.org for more information on this ministry and partnership.)
Throughout my training I will be selecting a weekly Psalm to read each morning and reflect upon as I run and work out. This week I've been reading and praying Psalm 138 as interpreted by Nan C. Merrill in her book Psalms for Praying. Psalm 138 includes these words:
"All the leaders of the earth shall one day praise You,
When your Word awakens in every heart;
And they shall proclaim the new dawn of Light and Love,"
I pray that this will be so in the case of Haiti, in the case of all the places in the world crying out for justice and peace. I pray that this time of training for a marathon will also be a time of deepening faith and growing compassion.
Until next week,
Amen.
When I think about the next 4 months of training I am mostly excited but occasionally overwhelmed. I am excited because I feel so proud of myself for setting such an ambitious goal that will push me beyond anything I've ever imagined I could do or would even want to do. I feel overwhelmed when I think of finding the time and energy to get my 4 weekly runs and 2 weekly cross-training classes in. My greatest asset at this point is the fact that I am a person who thrives on routine and discipline. I love to do lists and see my Marathon training plan as a 4 month to do list. I know I'll take pleasure every morning in crossing off each day's first task.
As I look at the next 4 months with thoughts about Haiti on my mind and heart I hope and pray that by the time I cross the finish line of the Madison Marathon the situation in Haiti will be more stable than it is right now. I hope that people will have access to food and water and shelter that is reliably available. I hope the world community will have agreed to cancel Haiti's debt and to see the aid being given by goverment organizations as grants rather than loans. I hope that people will be steadily rebuilding their lives. But for right now, as of this week, I know that food and water and shelter continue to be difficult to come by and the supplies on the ground are largely inadequate.
This week the core leader of Haiti Partners MCC, Bryan Sirchio, is in Haiti along with 4 others taking supplies and cash to our Haitian Partners in order to support their efforts to feed and provide water and shelter to the students of the Community School of Cite Soleil and the SPARE students and their families (see haitipartnersmcc.org for more information on these programs) and to support the ministries of CONASPEH, partners of our denomination's Global Partners Missionaries. CONASPEH (The National Spiritual Council of Protestant Churches in Haiti) is an ambitious organization made up of Protestant churches and their pastors that provides training for nurses, mobile medical clinics, schools for children, education and training for pastors and many other programs and efforts that work for justice and a better life in Haiti.
The primary building out of which CONASPEH operated in Port au Prince collapsed in the earthquake killing many of their nursing students and others. In the face of this incredible loss they are casting a courageous and ambitious vision for recovery. (See www.globalministries.org for more information on this ministry and partnership.)
Throughout my training I will be selecting a weekly Psalm to read each morning and reflect upon as I run and work out. This week I've been reading and praying Psalm 138 as interpreted by Nan C. Merrill in her book Psalms for Praying. Psalm 138 includes these words:
"All the leaders of the earth shall one day praise You,
When your Word awakens in every heart;
And they shall proclaim the new dawn of Light and Love,"
I pray that this will be so in the case of Haiti, in the case of all the places in the world crying out for justice and peace. I pray that this time of training for a marathon will also be a time of deepening faith and growing compassion.
Until next week,
Amen.
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