30 days and counting…

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise

or wealth to the brilliant

or favor to the learned;

but time and chance happen to them all.

- Ecclesiastes 9:11

With 30 days to go until the Calif. Intl. Marathon, I am amazed, blessed and humbled at the journey of preparation that I’ve been blessed to experience. God blessed me today with a great 22 mile run; the longest run until the Dec. 5th run in Sacramento. For the next weeks I’ll be tapering the lengths of runs, with one highlight being next weekend’s Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay.

I’m certainly amazed at how the past 5+ months have flown by with the running; amazed at the blessing of health, support and encouragement from family and friends; and amazed at how God has worked within our family with the challenges of jobs, school, friends, and the everyday challenges of life. The blessings have been many. From the progress made with training schedule, the blessing of the money pledged for Ishimwe, with a new job, with the ongoing blessing of my family and serving at church! Humbled? I am continually humbled by the blessings of a faithful God who provides for our daily needs. He never fails! I’m humbled by the task ahead. Last week a friend asked how the training was going, to which I replied that the marathon is a long, long run! Duh!! Until you have hiked or biked or run 26 miles it may be hard to appreciate the distance, and the effort it takes to run such. Early on I estimated that I’d run 500+ miles in training. But I’m approaching 1000! And I’m delighted! I write this not to boast at all, but with respect for the many dedicated runners whose efforts to run well take them well beyond whatever my finish time will be. Keep running! - John

PS - A new record was set at the 2011 Boston Marathon, even before the starting gun goes off. Registration for the 2011 Boston Marathon opened on October 18 at 9am (EDT) and closed at 5:03pm (EDT) — that's right, in 8 hours on the very same day. In 2009, registration closed approximately two months after opening.

I am grateful for God’s blessing on our nation!
I am grateful for a country where we can worship freely!
I am grateful for a country where we can criticize our gov’t!
I am grateful for powerful teaching by our church’s Pastor David!

I am grateful for my wonderful Sister and Brother!