Category Archives: Personal

Anecdotal, Fitness, Inspirational, Nutrition, Personal, Running, Spiritual, The Bridge Church, Uncategorized

Hail Mary, full of grace……Again!

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Seeding and Leading (Set up at the Bridge Church)

As you can see, it’s been a full year since I’ve “wo-manned” my blog. I have started and stopped blogging consistently on several occasions, but I have  said my obligatory “Hail Mary’s”, I am confessing to you now, and on your part, it is time for the grace to flow, yet again.  I have always valued and enjoyed writing, and I am a prolific reader of numerous blogs. I just can’t in good conscience let the world exist without the deep insights that I have to share with it.

You can read some details in the “About” section, but in summary, my life consists of these components:

SEED. LEAD. RUN. EAT. REPEAT

In the vast resources of my brain, I will share with you all of these segments of my life. Here is my solemn, sacred vow:

1) I will blog consistently (In fact, I pledge to fall into a blog routine and a predictable schedule/habit of blogging that you can follow even if you aren’t on amphetamines. This schedule is going to organically take route and I will keep you informed of it once the voices tell me to.)

2) I will talk about running

3) I will talk about eating

4) I will talk about my family

5) I will talk about people

6) I will talk about God

7) I will talk about leadership

8) I will talk about health

9) I will vigilantly and adamantly contend for the fact that YOU/I are/am Mind, Soul, and Body and NONE of these items operate independently.

10) I will NEVER post pictures about cats with a caption stating affection or in any way claiming they are lovable/cute

I transported in all of my old posts from my old blog. If you are bored, scared, fighting insomnia, intrigued, or otherwise have no life, please feel free to scroll through these blogs and comment on them. You will find evidence of my on again/off again relationship with blogging and my need for public confession about it.

What about you………………..

Have you ever loved something but had trouble staying consistent with it?

Do you have an affinity to post pictures about cats and how adorable you think they are?

Anecdotal, Fitness, Inspirational, Personal, Running

Passing the "Century" Mark

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Me and My honey at the finish line of the Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus, Ohio 2011
“Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is some of us are in training, some are not”. 
Dr George Sheehan
#runstreak Day 150 in the books. Gearing up to PR hopefully at 1:59:59 at my May Half Marathon Race.
This week while running I was hot, cold, tired, energized, sweaty, revived, inspired, focused, ready to quit, ready to run, and ready to rule the world…………..all at the same time.
2012 in review (1st Quarter):
January:                        117.89 Miles Run at a 6.2 MPH Average Pace Burning 12,088 Calories
February:                     124.20 Miles Run at a 6.3 MPH Average Pace Burning 14,811 Calories
March:                         146.37 Miles Run at a 6.5 MPH Average Pace Burning 17,365 Calories
April (Up until 4/11/12):  55.56 Miles Run at a 6.5 MPH Average Pace Burning 6,711 Calories
Total (Up until 4/11/12): I have run 444.02 miles– Burnt 50,975 calories– and Averaged a 6.3 MPH pace Running
I’m 44% of the way to my goal of 1,000 miles run in 2012, only 556 miles left to run. I’m thinking of reassessing my goal because we are only 1/4 of the way through the year and I’m almost 1/2 of the way to my goal. I want to always keep a challenge before my eyes.

My average pace increased from 6.2 MPH Average Pace to 6.5 MPH Average Pace due to speed drills and strength training. Plus, the difference between running in the dead of winter and nicer weather is significant, at least for me. My shorter runs have sometimes been as fast as an 8:23/mile average pace, but those faster times are balanced out by my longer slow endurance building runs.
 
In running, there are no time outs, half times, substitutions, or designated hitters. Running is the only true sport. It is up to you and you alone to perform and your greatest competitor is yourself. Ruminating on these facts brings me a great sense of pride. I’ve gotten to the point that I no longer really care if anyone else knows about my running, it is my own private little paradise.I’m carrying around a huge secret everywhere that I go. One of my favorite kid’s shirts says “My mom ran a marathon this morning. What did your mom do?” Now, the fact that I’m blogging about it seems to contradict the fact that it’s my secret and my private paradise, but there is a great sense of accountability that comes with linking up with other runners in the blogosphere, on twitter, and in private Facebook groups. Without the accountability of other’s, there are definitely days that I could have convinced myself to take a day off here and there, but at this point, the #runstreak owns me and it brings me great pleasure. Once you have run well over 100 days and are nearing the 6 month mark of running everyday with no break, you are intrinsically motivated to continue. Sometimes envisioning the race day crowds holding “Chuck Norris has never run a marathon” or “My sport is your sports punishment” signs can make even the most routine and mundane of runs a complete adrenaline booster. Whatever mantra gets you through the run can be the key to your success, and the great thing is no mantra is better than another. It’s whatever makes you run harder, faster, and longer, so start memorizing some energizing “pick me up” lines.

Endurance running is an indescribable experience for me. I’m the girl that would literally about pass out in elementary school during the Phys Ed President’s Physical Fitness test. I dreaded every year that we had to run a mile to be scored for some statistical analysis of the general American public. I especially dreaded running laps in Freshman and Sophomore gym class because there were always cute boys there, and I’m not one of the perfumed up honey’s that you see at the local Urban Active Fitness. When I run, I look like I’m running. I sweat. I breathe heavy, and sometimes I wear Kinesio tape on my leg to support my Achilles Tendon. In light of my physical fitness history, you can imagine why I constantly tweet about my running and blog about it and the beautiful thing is, if it annoys you, no one is forcing you to read it. I’m the king of the world! (It is Titanic celebration week so humor me.)

I’m celebrating the review of my 2012 running so far. Since the end of the 1st quarter of the year is upon us, I wanted to assess my goals and review them and share them with you. I’m hoping to inspire those who are just starting out to know that you can do it and show those that are way beyond me where they use to be so they can maintain perspective of the work it takes to make significant improvements in both speed and endurance with running. The “century” mark celebration refers to a distance of 100. Whenever the term century is used in sports, it’s used to speak about going 100 or more miles. I remember when I was as big as a house pregnant for Gentry, my husband rode his bike on his first century bike tour, then turned around and rode another century the next morning. I really thought he was nuts. Who wants to ride their bike 200 miles in 2 days? Of course, I was jealous that he was getting buff on his bike while I expanded to Martian proportions baking a bun in my oven, but I had not gotten the heart of an athlete yet. Now, I have found a whole sub group of people who run 100 plus miles at a time. These people are called Ultra Marathoners and Ultra Endurance Athletes.Believe it or not, these people know intrigue me. Instead of it being shocking for me to hear about people running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, I dream about doing it one day. I doubt it will happen because I don’t have the celebrity of an endorsed athlete to pull it off, but every month, every year, and every decade I can add miles and speed to my repertoire and no one can take that away from me.
Start training today. Find the athlete within. Strong is the new skinny. Running gear is the new “little black dress”.
Anecdotal, Inspirational, Personal

Own up to It

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Some people drift through their entire life. They do it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. It happens so gradually they are unaware of how their lives are slipping away until it’s too late.

Mary Kay Ash

 

Knowing that most New Years Resolutions are over by Valentines, I figured now that not only Valentine’s is gone, but St. Patrick’s Day and Easter, it was time to put my year and my rear back in gear: Game on! See, I haven’t strayed from the major boundaries of my 2012 resolutions, but it’s a few small things that I promised myself would change that have slipped. Often, it’s the small holes in a boat that cause it to capsize, not always the major storms that hit. I have a print out by my computer and a list in my phone that highlight my goals and resolutions for 2012. I know that in order to achieve goals, you must revisit them daily, and oftentimes, several times throughout the course of any day. The resolution that I have slipped on the most is my BLOG, as if I have to inform you of that. I’m borderline humiliated to see that my last post was in February. I must have caused extreme duress for all 1.25 fans out there that follow what I have to say not hearing from me for so long 🙂 It’s time for me to quit drifting in this area of my life and have a comeback.

This blog is important to me for many reasons:

1) I have been on a journey and am still traveling that journey and feel like my experiences and honesty can help you in your quest to get fit, stay healthy, and whip yourself into shape.
2) The blog helps hold me accountable to my health and fitness goals. Thankfully, my #runstreak twitter feed and countless running friends on twitter have held me accountable when I was slacking on my blog.
3) The blog causes me to think through situations in life and think of stories and scenarios for everything. In essence, the blog makes life even more fun and interesting. Life is just one great story to be lived out, and the blog helps me see the plot highs, lows, resolutions, and sequels.
4) I love to write. I identify myself as a writer. I am going to write something great one day and the way to be identified as an author and as a writer, is just simply to put words down and slowly build an audience. Truth be told though, even if no one reads or likes what I say, the fact I said it makes me a writer.
5) I get great pleasure in relaying pertinent information to people and drawing people together toward common ground. When I share my experiences in cyber space, I’m making myself available to people as an information resource and friend.

This list could go on forever, but the main goal of this post is to own up to the fact that I haven’t been faithful and consistent in my blog, and therefore, I haven’t been faithful to myself. Sure, I have lots and lots of very valid excuses for why I haven’t been on here. They are all legitimate and genuine, but great people do not build their lives on excuses, even the most well-founded life altering excuses. Even the Bible tells us that the race isn’t for the swift, but for those that endure. The prize is given to those that don’t make excuses, but keep producing and moving forward.

In closing, let this confession be a reminder to you to get back on track in 2012. We are only 1/3 of the way through. Picture the person you want to be on January 1, 2013 and start working on that person today. You still have 2/3 of a year left to do it. I’m happy to report that with the exception of the blog, my 2012 resolutions are progressing quite nicely. God is proving my scripture of the year that he gave to me, Romans 3:4 “Let God be true and every man a liar.” He has moved in amazing ways in my life and the life of the Bridge Church. I have continued my #runstreak and I am focusing on communicating, challenging myself and others, and connecting. Most of all, I am growing as an individual and growth is my word and theme of the year. Even dropping the blog portion of my communication resolution has helped me grow. Go get what you want out of 2012………………..NOW, NO EXCUSES!

Inspirational, Personal, Spiritual, The Bridge Church

"The Preacher’s Wife" Commentary

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 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” Colossians 3:16

There can never be any real opposition between religion and science, for the one is the complement of the other. -Nobel physicist Max Planck 
You can trust the Bible.
 The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine.–MIT physicist Vera 
 You can trust the Word of God

Due to the fact that the Monday Morning commentary hardly ever actually happens on Monday, I have decided to rename the series, “The Preacher’s Wife” Commentary. The Spirit and purpose of the commentaries will be to share with my blog readers, and thereby journal and remember for myself, my personal synopsis and summary of the things God is doing at the Bridge Church and give a brief overview of my thoughts on the sermon and sermon series. Of course, I am my husband’s (The Lead Pastor of the Bridge Church) biggest cheerleader, so don’t expect to find my commentaries containing any potshots at the choice of sermons or sermon series. I know from first hand experience the hours of prayer and fasting and studying that go into every decision that is made, so I can rest confidently not only as his wife, but first and foremost as a member and servant of The Bridge Church, that our Pastor hears from God. Will everything that happens always be perfect? Absolutely not, but you can rest assured that motives, hearts, and intentions are pure. That is why I love the Bridge Church. It exists to reach those far from God and those who have never known God to bring them into a thriving relationship with Christ and  equip them for service in the kingdom. I am so blessed to be a part of a church that has the great commission as it’s primary mission. Hopefully these commentaries will happen on a weekly basis, however, realistically there will be times when they get buried under a pile of other duties. Regardless though, know that the “Amen” corner and cheer leading section of the Bridge (comprised of me being the captain) is always there to encourage the Pastor and my fellow friends in Christ.

This past Sunday was sermon number 2 in our “40 Days in the Word Series”. This series has been an amazing way to drive all of us into the Word of God, not just for information, but for transformation. Our Pastor has said he feels like our church is going to grow, God is going to perform miracles in every life, and every person that participates is going to reach new levels in God through this campaign. You literally can’t go wrong in your life by adding a daily devotional. So far, there have already been reports of miracles. We have 9 different “DevoGroups” or Devotional Small Groups going during the mid-week where people are coming together to learn how to study the Bible, live on purpose, and put the Word of God into practice. Our church is experimenting with a devotional blog right now to become an asset after this sermon series is over. A church that Loves the Word, Learns the Word, and Lives the Word will be a blessed, growing, thriving epicenter for the glory of Jesus Christ. Sermon 1 was “Building your Life on the Bible” and this past week was “Why can I trust the Bible”.

In a day and age with so many people who don’t believe in God, or who aren’t sure about God, you have to have a reason why you can trust the Bible. It is no longer to be assumed that those raised in American culture have adopted the Bible as a guide. It used to be that everyone believed in God and the Bible even if they didn’t practice it. Today, however, there is little cultural Biblical foundation and, in fact, there are many that proclaim to be Christians that aren’t even sure they can trust the Bible. If they do believe the Bible, they don’t read it or apply it very often. (This makes for an interesting phenomenon known as the “Christian Atheist”- Those that profess there is a God, but live as if there is no God)

Psalm 119:86 tells us “All of your commands can be trusted” (NCV)
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us “All scripture is God-breathed”

Ultimately, you can trust the Bible because it is the Word of God and God is true, but, there are reasons beyond faith and belief in God why you can trust the Bible.

1) It is Historically Accurate- Archeology always confirms the Bible eventually and the Scriptures have been copied with extreme care. Most of the Bible is from eyewitness accounts.

2) It is Scientifically Accurate- The Bible wasn’t given to be a textbook, doesn’t use scientific language, and in fact is always ahead of contemporary views historically. The Bible never gives bad science.

J.Kepler (astronomer) “Science is thinking God’s thoughts after him”

3) It is prophetically accurate- The bible has predicted 1,000’s of events that happened just as God said.

4) It is thematically unified- Out of 66 books by 40 different authors over a period of 1,600 years in over a dozen countries on 3 different continents in at least 3 different languages by people from all walks of life, comes one unified message. The Bible makes one book with one main story without contradiction that has survived centuries of attacks.

5) The Bible is confirmed by Jesus- Matthew 5:18

6) The Bible has survived all attacks- The most despised, derided, denied, disputed, dissected, debated, outlawed and destroyed, bestselling book ever!

7) It has transforming power- Nothing can change your life like the Bible (Romans 12:2) (John 8:31-8:32)

You can believe the Bible.

So, this Sunday, you will see me in the “Amen” corner cheering on our Pastor because I know that he uses the Bible as the guide and basis of all he does. You can quote me on that. I am loving this series. Nothing refreshes my soul like spending time in the Word of God.

John 1:1 and John 1:14 are my two favorite scriptures about the Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

Anecdotal, Inspirational, Personal

Love Challenge: Love the one you’re with

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The Love Challenge
A Love Note from Reese

  

Song of Solomon Chapter 1
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
   for your love is more delightful than wine.
3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
   your name is like perfume poured out.
   No wonder the young women love you!
4 Take me away with you—let us hurry!
   Let the king bring me into his chambers. 
(Love Lessons from Jessica: Kiss your spouse at least 10 seconds every morning and 10 seconds every evening no matter what. You will be amazed at how much benefit will come from this 20 second  investment into your day.)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today is the day of the year that you either dread, get annoyed by, are ambivilent too, or celebrate with the zeal of a 6th grade school girl with a crush on the popular boy in class. Thankfully, I feel like I fall into the ambivilent category. I am absolutely in love with love. I would choose a romantic comedy or drama anyday over any other type of movie, and love weddings just like everyone else. (Side Note: “The Notebook” is still my all time favorite romance movie. Confession: I’ve never read the book) However, I feel like society puts way too much pressure on relationships on these grandiose days. This is just my opinion, but, if the only time you ever celebrate the ones you love is when stores are pressuring you to purchase 4ft tall Vermont Teddy Bears or else divorce looms over your head, perhaps you need to take a new look at what love is. I do like the fact that Valentine’s Day netted me a bacon wrapped steak dinner on Saturday night though 🙂
Today I celebrate the great loves I have had in my life. My heart aches for those who have never experienced great love. The old adage says, “It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.” This can be debated for hours and I’m not even sure how I feel about that quote, but I do know that it feels good to love and be loved. The first great love of my life was my parents. Sure they annoyed me. Sure they wouldn’t always let me do what “everyone else” was doing. Sure, they forced me to do chores and homework, but they were my first glimpse into the world of love and they must’ve done a fantastic job. I have read that a woman can be saved by the love of her father. I believe that. Because my dad thought I was the smartest, prettiest, most talented girl in the world, I believed it, and didn’t need a pimple faced 15 year old pubescent boy to tell me those things. I was being hugged, praised, and affirmed at home, so, although I had thousands of crushes and plenty of gangly boyfriends, I didn’t need affection and affirmation from men enough to compromise my personal morals or values. My dad showed me that I was valued and worthy of a great romance in my life. I could wait for God to send me my knight in shining armor because my dad would fight my battles until then. My mom showed me how to respect and care for a husband and how to love my children through the love she gave me. I was blessed with an intact home, full of affection, and never once had to wonder if I was loved. Although, plenty of times I screamed ” I hate you” to both of my parents and slammed doors loudly because they must not have loved me when they wouldn’t let me be out until 3 AM when other kids were. (I’m so looking forward to these days with my own children. (smile))
Then, God blessed me with the very best man I could’ve ever hoped for. I can’t believe that He let me meet my soul mate when I was only 19 years old. Some people have to wait a lifetime to find “the one” and I had my “one” dropped into my lap while I was still too young to see it. (I tried my best to break up with him once, but he wouldn’t let me. It was quite the scene) This handsome, hardworking, respectful, and at the time kind of shy and quiet, romantic boy was chasing me and I was still stuck mentally on some loser. God and Jonathan must both really love me. On my 20th birthday he told me he loved me for the first time while we were gazing at the moonlit Ohio river. I mean, seriously, could you get any sweeter? At this point, I thankfully realized how insane it was that I was pining away for some guy that would’ve ended up destroying my life, and embraced the beautiful destiny God had designed for me. Our relationship, friendship, and love grew until the week between Christmas and New Year’s when my amazing boyfriend flew me to Europe to Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, and proposed to me on the Charles Bridge after a 5 star dinner and horse drawn carriage ride through the ancient town and cobblestone streets. He even had picked out my ring all on his own, a glistening princess cut diamond that he paid cash for because he saved all of his $1 tips from his bellman job just for me. Little did I know at the time what a blessing starting a marriage out debt free would be. I’m glad I didn’t spend the first 5 years of my marriage paying off a $3,000 ring because I had a man wise beyond his years that knew “cash was king” before Dave Ramsey was even popular. At 21, we married, and have  had an extraordinary life together since. One day I’ll detail for you some of our story. It has been a journey. It has been marred with sadness, sorrow, and struggle in the midst of all of the great joys, but any life worth living always has tragedy and triumph. You can’t have one without the other.
God instituted 3 types of love, but we, as English speakers, use the same word love for everything. Do you really love Doritos as much as you love your kids? I hope not, yet we use the same terminology for both. 
The 3 types of Biblical love are:
1) Eros: Erotic or Romantic Love (You Eros your spouse I hope)
2) Phileo Love (Which is a brotherly type of love)
and
3) Agape Love (Which is the most perfect form of love, the love God has for us)
Because of Jonathan and I’s eternal love for each other, we created 2 gorgeous blonde haired, blue eyed, smart, amazing boys. They are truly the greatest love I have ever experienced on this earth. There is no way to describe the depths of my love for these boys. I was awakened early this morning by their chatter because they had made me several Valentine’s Day gifts, of their own volition. Dad did not guide them or tell them what to do. Reese is also always making me love cards and poems (a picture is exampled above) and Gentry is always hugging, kissing, and snuggling me. This makes me so happy for two reasons. Reason number one is becasue I love it. It fulfills me. It makes the ocassional drudgery of parenting bearable. It gives purpose to my life. And, reason number two, because I am giving them the foundation for love that my parents gave me. They will know how to treat a woman right. They will know that waiting for the right girl is worth it. They will know that no matter what they say or what they do, they always have a place to go. They know that there is nothing in this world that can change the love or passion I have for them. They know that when/if they hit rock bottom and life gets tough, there are open arms of love to accept them.
Finally, I have experienced the love of Christ in my life. So, if your parents were abusive losers and you’re single and/or childless, there is still hope for you. Agape love is the purest form of love. It is the only love that never fades or changes and that is the love Christ has for His children. Therefore, today, love the one you’re with. The love challenge is to love no matter what. If you are with no one, love God and love yourself. If you are with someone, love them the way Christ designeed, with an unselfish love. If you have children, love with the love of the father of the prodigal son, never faltering no matter what. Love the one you’re with is not a death sentence, but a gift of life. Quit looking everywhere for love, you have love right in front of you. If you are married, commit to being the best spouse your spouse could ever have. You can only control yourself, not them, so make yourself the best you can be. If you have children, model for them self-respect, integrity, purity, and grace. Teaching them these principles will be one of the greatest acts of love you can do for them. Don’t buy their love, show them love with words and deeds. And, finally, if you are single, love yourself. Married people need to love themselves too or it will cause major problems in their relationship, but love yourself. Love your community. Love those around you. The grass is not greener on the other side. The grass is greenest where it is being watered and fertilized, so love the one  you’re with.