Half Marathon

“Do 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.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

I ran my half marathon this morning.  It took my 2 hours and 24 minutes.  The only thing that hurts is my back…not my legs, not my feet or my blister on my foot, my back. 

One of my best friends, David ran his marathon in 3 hours and 9 minutes.  Finishing 45 minutes after I finished my half.  He qualified for Boston Marathon and this was his first marathon. Stud right?

When it comes to running, I generally don’t run for time, I am just trying to finish.  I mean I may not get a crown but I get a metal, the same metal as the person in front of me. 

It doesn’t last forever.  It will hang on my wall along with last year’s metals in their shadow boxes, so that I can look at them and remember how for some odd reason I decided to run.

God wants us to look at the eternal prize, Him.  Not that metal or finisher shirt waiting for us right after we cross the finish line. 

God wants us to prepare and we should want to prepare for him.  I prepare for my marathons like nobody’s business.  I need to prepare for him just as much! 

Love,

Katie 

The Greatest Love Affair

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

            “We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  And his has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

1 John 4:16-21

Love.

I love donuts on a Saturday morning after a long run…or not after a long run.  I love donuts. 

I generally love running. 

I love serving people. 

I love God.  God loves me.

Hate.

I hate the word hate.  But I probably use it too much.  Never about people, mostly about the foods I dislike. 

When you think about it, we all dislike something, maybe even hate it.  But we are called to love. 

God loves us no matter what. 

I mean I’m in college and love the thought of some guy singing up to my window. 

But if you think about it, truly think about.  We have the greatest love anyone could ever want.  We have unconditional love coming from God, who I would like to add created the earth!

We have the master of the universe loving us.  Unconditionally. 

I have the greatest love I could have ever imagined. 

You do too.

Love,

Katie

Answered Prayers

“And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of requests with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Ephesians 6:18

Throughout the bible you hear of people like Hannah who prayed and fasted until the Lord answered their prayers, for Hannah it was a son!   

There are so many times throughout the day that I forget to just stop and pray for whatever it is that I am worried about because God can take that weight.

But not only to just pray but to pray faithfully, knowing that God is going to answer my prayers, it may not be the way that I want them answered but they will be answered.

I found myself going on these long runs and just jamming to my music and not even thinking about why I kept running in the first place.

I kept running because I was no longer doing it for myself but for people in need.

So why would I not be praying for these people and nations as I run?

It took me a while to figure this out and once I had figured it out I was just so upset with myself that I had to take several days off from running to really sort things out. 

But I think a lot of the time we forget how powerful prayer really can be and that we shouldn’t just be praying for ourselves and our loved ones, but for the people who don’t have loved ones that pray for them everyday. 

We NEED to pray for all the Lord’s people because all the Lord’s people NEED our prayers.

Love,

Katie

Headlamps and Railroads

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

           

Light is an essential.  God made it.  He is the light.

I like running at night, however it rarely happens.  Considering I am a girl, living on a college campus, with a protective dad, a roommate who threatens to call him if I do go running at night, and no light.

Pros to running at night:

The run is significantly prettier.

My dad is somewhat really against it

Cons to running at night:

I scare myself

When running at night you have to have a headlamp if you aren’t going to be running on the street.  I ran on the railroad tracks, so I needed that headlamp. 

Just like that headlamp last night lit my path on the railroad tracks and stopped me and my friend I went with from breaking our ankles, God is that for literally every aspect of our lives. 

Just like the railroad tracks were the path that I followed, God wants to be the path that I follow along.

Jesus doesn’t just want to be our headlamp he IS our headlamp!

Jesus doesn’t just want to be our railroad tracks he IS our railroad track!

Love,

Katie

What do you run for?

“Do 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.  Everyone 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 the crown that will last forever.  Therefore do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, 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.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

 I think about this passage a lot.  I think it applies to a lot of things that we as humans go through. 

In this passage Paul is telling us to prepare.  We all prepare for tests, work, different games, etc. but do we fully prepare ourselves for God and all the wonderful things God has in store for us? 

We all often times walk around aimlessly. 

However we all seem to be in a hurry.

But for what?

Do we truly prepare ourselves for the things we are going to come into contact with?

Can we ever truly be prepared?

Am I ever going to be prepared to see what I am going to see when I go on mission trips? 

Probably not, but I am prepared to have my life changed and to maybe change some one else's life.  

I used run to prove to my best friends that I could finish 26.2 miles. 

I now run to prepare myself.  I run for that crown that will last forever.  I run for change.

What do you run for?

Love,

Katie

How Great Would it Be!

When you are running, unless you are running with someone else, you are left with nothing but the road, the clothes you have on, and your mind.  You let your mind wander, and the best thing you can do is forget that you are actually running then you realize that you don’t know where you have been running or how long since you thought about the fact that you are running.  It’s like a free mile! It’s the best!

            The same thing happens to me when I’m reading the bible, I get so wrapped up in what I’m reading, it’s like a movie playing in my mind, I can see everything and then I look at my phone and have five missed calls and several texts, and I’m left wondering how long I have been reading. 

            How great would it be if we got so lost in everything we did that time was no longer a concern or that dumb technology was forgotten?           

            How great would it be if we could all work like this? If when we were all on mission trips that we just loved what we were doing so much that we get so wrapped up in serving the people who need us that we forgot that we had the most comfortable life back home!

           

            How great would it be if all college students could get so wrapped up in their studies that no one ever wanted to just sit and hang out but they just constantly wanted to be learning? Never thinking of that comfortable bed that is right above their desk or that new movie that just came out!

            How great would that be?!  If we all did that we could change the world!  People would be serving everyone they came into contact with because they loved serving others!  Every college student would have a 4.0 just because they loved studying!  Every runner would get lost in their runs and forget how long they had been running for!  Every Christian would get so wrapped up in their faith that they could never take their eyes off the eternal prize! JESUS CHRIST!

             

            How great would that be?! Really though, think about it.  

Love,

Katie