New blog - c'mon over!

Hello all, it has been a long time!  I'm not sure if anyone is still following me over here, but if you are I have two things to say.  1) Thanks for your loyalty; and 2) I am blogging over at sarahchetney.wordpress.com now.  I'd love to have you join me over there.  A new season just called for a new site.  Thanks a ton!

Our First Race

I've been meaning to talk about how our 8k Ole's Spring Run-Off went a couple of weeks ago.  Maybe you remember me talking about it when I first started running again.

It was awesome.  Kris ended up joining me, and some really good friends from the city came out to run it with us too.  I was really glad for the company.  


The run was not particularly easy, but it was not necessarily grueling either.  There were lots of rolling hills, and one quite steep one at about the half way mark.  I've been doing a lot of incline training, and Kris can't let his wife beat him, so we ended up being able to pass a few people that we were following on that hill.  It felt great.  


What didn't feel so great was my intense urge to use the washroom the entire time.  In both... ahem... ways.  I evacuated my bladder before starting the race, but all of my hydrating (okay, AND the cup of coffee) filled it right back up.  I spent the entire run feeling pretty uncomfortable, and I had to pass up the opportunity to rehydrate at the water station because there was no way I could fit more fluid in me.  


Anyways, here we are, starting out:

We didn't pass this man...

...or this woman...

... until kilometre 6.  They were machines.  

And, Ole himself...

... because you can't have a race without some random mascot to commemorate it.

We certainly didn't come out on top (the winning time was around 26 minutes - which is insane and kind of annoying), but we didn't come in last.  We ran it in just over 51 minutes, beating our trial run time a few weeks before by a couple of minutes.

And we beat the seniors.  Barely.  :)

Here we are coming in to the finished line:

We did it.  We finished it.  And we didn't stop.  (Not even to use the washroom!)

Fighting Giants

Life has been good lately.  Things aren't always easy or perfect, but I don't think that is a requirement for life to just feel good, and to know that we are headed towards something.  Something awesome.


Our treadmill has a section that displays the intensity of your workout - everything from "Cool Down" (whose bars light up in a blue colour) all the way to "Endurance" and "Performance" (which lights up orange and red, respectively).  One day while I was running up a hill segment, but keeping up my good pace, I noticed that I filled up all the coloured bars to the top, all the way to the "Performance" section.  It didn't feel good.  But it felt good.  Know what I mean?

It's kind of how I feel about life.  I've really learned lately that in order to grow, to change, to be transformed, to "endure" and "perform" (to accomplish something) in the Kingdom, I must be willing to hit the red.  To not feel good in my flesh, but to feel good in my Spirit.  That's where muscle is built, and where something of real value is accomplished in my life, and in others.


A beautiful, inspiring friend of mine shared a Graham Cooke quote on Facebook recently, one that really spoke truth and encouragement to me:

“If we have a giant in our life it is because we are meant to be a giant ourselves. The circumstances in front of us are designed therefore to increase our size in the Spirit. So upgrade your stature in relation to Jesus; and radically increase your power in the Holy Spirit. Or, if you prefer, just quit and never realize your true self and the inheritance that goes with it.”

I, for one, would like to increase my spiritual size.  After all, David didn't start out fighting his giant - he worked his way up to Goliath.  I would like to be able to face a Goliath without fear, but with trust.  To be able to endure and even perform when faced with adversity and darkness.  


I've lived in the blue a lot of my life.  At times, I've hit some yellow, orange, and on the rare occasion, some red.  I want to live more and more in the red.  Because living in the red means that I'm walking with my Savior every step of the way.  And that's where I want to be, no matter how intense it is.

The Death of a Friend

Each year, as I get to know Jesus better and more intimately, I feel a lot more strongly about Good Friday.

I feel sadder about his death, the death of a loved one.

But I also feel the triumph and victory more.  I feel so indebted to this Man that I love, and what He did for me.  It makes me love Him more, and it makes me want to seek His face more and more.



So, today, I am thinking of Jesus, and what how He took all of MY sin upon His shoulders that day.  How He paid MY price.  And how He did it willingly and lovingly, thinking of ME all the while.  


Can YOU say that a King died in your place?


Yes.  Actually you can.  He did it for you too.

Letter to the Editor - the follow-up that blew me away!

Remember this letter I sent to the editor of the local newspaper?  Well, I never heard back, and it certainly wasn't published.   


God had bigger plans, it turns out.  And often, when things don't turn out right away, it might turn out BETTER if we just give God some time to work.  And time for me to learn some trust and patience...

Since I first wrote that letter and sent it it, the explicit advertising for the night club in town has continued, and it hasn't ceased to eat away at me a bit.


So instead, I made a phone call and talked to the editor himself.

At first, he was pretty defensive of the fact that the night club is a legitimate business in town, and that as an advertiser, he can't discriminate against certain businesses and refuse advertising.  He informed me that his hands were tied.  We chatted a bit more, and I validated the fact that he was in a tricky situation - on the one hand, serving a paying customer who wants to promote their business, and on the other hand, keeping an entire community of readers satisfied.  He opened up more and more as we talked (for nearly 30 minutes, not kidding), and told me how he tries his hardest to find images that are both appropriate for the reader, but promotes the business as well.  Apparently I am not the only one who has either called or written, and he has noticed that certain weeks elicit more calls than others.

By the end of the conversation, he welcomed, and even asked for my opinion.  He requested that I contact him tomorrow regarding the appropriateness of the ad that will come out in tonight's paper.  AND THEN - he even went so far as to ask if I would be willing to be a bit of a "community liaison" for him to use as a sounding board for future images, to see what I think before it gets printed.  Seriously.

God, you are good.  Trusting in your plan is always better.