Jesus, Running, and Whatever Else

Jesus and running seem to be the two big loves of my life right now. I'm graduating college and running a marathon which should lead to lots of great big adventures (which are the "whatever else").

The Marathon.

I’m a terrible blogger…I realize that. Oh well. Today is April 4th which means yes, I ran a marathon yesterday. If only I could actually explain what it was like. I have a few words.

Painful

Rewarding

Exciting

Humbling

It was painful, because I ran (and walked :) ) 26.2 miles. I was consistently going for 5 hours and 14 minutes. I did it though. I took a really long tour around Knoxville yesterday and I never want to do it again, unless I am driving.

It was rewarding. I ran a marathon! for crying out loud, that was one of the most incredible things I have ever done. I ran a marathon. I got to do something not many people are capable of doing. It was also rewarding for so many other reasons. My sweet boyfriend, parents, and friends were there cheering me on. It was rewarding to know that Jesus has blessed me with people who are willing to drive around Knoxville like crazy people just to cheer me on a bit. Man I’m blessed. Nat, Mom and Dad, Amy, Katherine, Bethany, Allix, Grace, Bekah, Jenna, Jordan, Amanda, Casey, Mark, Courtney, Emily, Brooks, and Britton. Thank you for being there yesterday. You got me through.

It was exciting. Crossing that finish line and getting that finishers medal was probably the most thrilling thing ever. I did it. I finished it. I am a marathoner. That 26.2 sticker is going to look beautiful on my car.

Humbling. Man, this morning I am humbled. I am humbled that the Lord chose to give me the strength enough not just to finish a marathon, but to train for a marathon. The past 4 months have been horrendous but fantastic. My life has been captured by running and I’m excited to get it back. I’ve done things I NEVER thought I could do. And I came through alive. I know this is a well used verse but it has been truth in my life and I hope people have seen it as evidently as I have

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Until this marathon, I didn’t really think on this verse. I knew that Christ could get me through everything but I never realized the strength part. He is strong and mighty. He has made me strong. Thank you, Jesus.

I am also humbled because of my thankfulness. The Lord has done a lot of good in my life but never before have I seen it like I did yesterday. I ran a marathon (good!). But most importantly, I didn’t run it alone. I have sweet sweet friends who were willing to tag along for a few miles just to give me a little company, and boy did I need it. I am just so humbled at the fact that my friends were willing to give up their morning just to see me do this. Thank you, Jesus. And thank you, friends (and mom and dad!).

All I can say is I can’t believe it is over. I can say that I am glad though. Also- ouch!

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

—Rosemary Urquico (via kblitz)

(Source: blitzkreigkate, via themonicabird)

But now, O Israel, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom. I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.” Isaiah 43:1-4

God makes some big, loaded statements that I know he means. “I have called you by name,” “I will be with you,” “You are precious to me,” “I love you.”

Why should I be insecure when He makes such big promises to me? He has never gone back on his word. He is so good.

Sometimes you just have to write it down.

Sometimes you just have to write it down.

It is not hard, you find, to trust the management of the universe and of all the outward creation to the Lord. Can you case then be so much more complex and difficult than these that you need to be anxious or troubled about his management of you? Away with such unworthy doubting! Take a stand on the power and trustworthiness of your God, and see how quickly all difficulties will vanish before steadfast determination to believe. Trust in the dark, trust in the light, trust at night, and trust in the morning, and you will find that faith that may begin perhaps by a mighty effort, will end, sooner or later, by becoming the easy and natural habit of the soul.

—Hannah Whitall Smith