Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat

I just got home from the Northwest Passage Ragnar Relay. I ran the first leg, starting in Blaine, WA, on the Canadian/US border, heading south into Washington state. There were 152 teams, with between 4 and 15 members, mostly each team had 12.

I was runner number 1, 13, and 25. Our team was The Naked Chickens, so I began the race doing the chicken dance. The music for this would be blared in my ears for the next 30+ hours. It would also be the only time our team was ever first in the entire race. I was passed in less than 10 yards. I started out two days sleepless and continued sleepless through the whole experience; my already defunct memory has left me with only bits and shreds.

I remember running and running, as I have in many dreams, and with the same attitude. Trying to run away from or find something, having people cheer for me, wondering what exactly they thought they were doing, mostly wondering why I was running, why I was not sleeping, why I was enjoying it so much...sleepless, tired, sore, and still running. The most vivid memory is of the long, hard leg, the 7.8 miler that I stayed up for all night, the one I could have slept for, if I had been capable of sleep. It turned out to be light when I finally ran it, so I didn't get the support biker, although I was still required to at least carry the headlamp and wear the reflective vest. It was a pain, encumbering. I don't usually get up early but I soon understood the attraction. The morning sun was literally sending cascades of crystal light off the ocean. As the road wound around, up and down the dreaded hills, I felt I owned the morning, at least in my dream. My support van was pretty sleepy and I wasn't very nice to them; really I wanted to just keep running. I didn't feel sleepy or tired, just the need for speed and meditation. I wanted to make the beauty of Whidbey Island mine, and it seemed to become that way. The last hill was murder and I finished slow, reluctant for it to be my last leg. Others had volunteered to run extra legs, (we were missing a runner), but I ended up running only my allotted three.

I was on a team of relatives. Everyone but me and a 14 year old speedster were related. I became attached! I have been missing them all day today, wondering what is wrong with me. I felt so close to people I barely knew before. I shared things on the way home I don't remember sharing, at least not on that level, at least not very often. It is amazing what a grueling three day run with strangers will do for emotional closeness.

My hardest leg was supposed to be my easiest. It was short, 3.6 miles, and I wanted it to be fast, but it started out on a steep hill, and well, starts are not my forte. By the time I got to the top I wanted to quit. But thankfully, I got mad instead. I could hear him behind me, getting closer and closer, but very short of breath. He passed me but only barely, and then abruptly slowed down, forcing me to dodge to avoid trampling all over his heels. And then he stayed there, going slower slower. Ticked me off! I breathed down his neck for awhile until I got over the beginning hill and then powered past him. I ran the whole leg that way, running at a faster pace than I have raced before, finishing my leg much faster than I had expected. I was tired, but I was finished and only had one leg left.

AND. It is so much easier to run when there is support. 99.9% of running is alone, with no support, with family barely able to pretend to listen or acknowledge that I went out. Suddenly there are support vans and even fans, standing on corners and on lawns. I will never forget the man, standing in the yard on my long leg, looking as meditative as I felt, studying me to see how I was doing, clapping slowly, smiling. It was like everyone else was asleep but still watching me. It was different.

I want to do another relay. Soon.

Water!

I've been listening to MEE's book on tape about her adventures in Africa. They have so much work to do to get clean water; it takes hours and hours each day. How I appreciate water! And how I need water! Or so I thought...
With the fire here, then the water main break, and then our own grinder pump problems last week, there have been several days when we were without water. This means I am without a shower or toilet, which makes me a real wimp since the most important aspect, the life-giving aspect, is not in danger. I have bottled water, lots of it.

But that isn't what I am thinking about. MEE also talks about the Savior's reference to "living" water, or the spiritual giving aspect of the Gospel. I just have one thing to say about that. During a water crisis, or any other crisis for that matter, I realize, just a little better, what I need and what I don't. The definition of the word need is subjective and evolves based on the crisis we are in.

I don't need water because I don't need my physical life to continue indefinitely. Rash statement, I know. But it's true. The resurrection has taken care of all that. Priorities. The only thing I really need is living water, because my spiritual life is not sewn up, is not finished. I am not Done. I guess I don't need water then, except insofar as its absence facilitates my desire for The Living Water.

Fire!

I did not take this picture, but thought it was amazing. I just typed kxly into Google.

My first awareness was of the wind, for which I was grateful, having just washed my car and it needing a quick dry. But it was a very hot and dry wind and I soon noticed the smoke, which rapidly seemed to engulf the sun, creating an ethereal feeling as it turned orange, looking weirdly like a sunset, an ugly one.

We are not in the evacuation area, about 6 miles away. However, we want to evacuate too since the water main broke in an unrelated incident; we had no water for a day. A pain since we needed showers and a functioning toilet, but no so much since we had bottled water. All in all, a humbling day. Many people are affected economically.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

A friend and I watched this documentary awhile back; it's by Ben Stein and is about the censorship of any mention of intelligent design in science, http://movies.sympatico.msn.ca/features/ArticleAnneBrodie.aspx?cp-documentid=530615#toolbar

I thought of it as I read this,
1 Timothy
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith...

My perception of the documentary was one of amazement; how can so many highly intelligent people be so smart as to miss the obvious: If God is, He knows more than us....therefore, if we don't understand, that means we have more to learn, not that He is wrong and we are right.
I guess it is as Sheri Dew says, "sin makes you stupid". Truly there were some "no, duh" points missed by the academicians Stein portrayed. (Although Ben Stein portrayed intelligent design as a non-religious viewpoint, that didn't work for me; it is simply another way of supposing legitimacy is impossible if connected with religion).

Another example? While mocking any person using religion as a "crutch" or "source of comfort", and stating outright no intelligent person could entertain religious explanations for creation, these same zealots expect us to believe that it all started with a Big Bang. Um, that is quite more far-fetched than the idea there was a purpose....which is harder to believe? Not God. Not to me.

But back to the verse,
1 Timothy
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith

That's what they were doing, vain babblings. And falsely calling these babblings science.
I have a medical background; I understand a few of the great things science has contributed. I am grateful. The irritant for me is those who try to separate science from God. God is the chief scientist. Not only was the earth not created because of a random Big Bang, but I doubt God created it by any other "poof" method.

Instead I would guess He uses science, some of which we may have gotten right, (for which we congratulate ourselves ad nauseum), most of which we have not even begun to surmise, and this largely because of sin, censorship, and "vain babblings" in general.

So, keep studying...but study science and scripture, architecture and prophets, music and the beauty of nature. It all goes together, it all makes sense. Until we "get" this on a much grander scale, we have not truly begun to learn.

E

wilted on the way to dead

James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So I’ve been reading about faith. Here is what I think, or the Gospel according to E.
Faith is work. It needs to be exercised, unlike hope. I would rephrase “faith without works is dead” to say, “Faith without works isn’t faith”. Then all Paul's verses about faith make sense. Hope is letting. Hope is letting God encourage my heart, believing that His plan for me will make me happy, not just happy, but happy beyond all comprehension, believing that what God wants for me represents the fondest desires of my heart. To me that is faith, and hope. Neither are feelings, both are power.

What does this have to do with the Gospel? If there is no Christ, or if Christ is not God, then faith is not. And hope is not. And we are not.