Beg by Shane and Shane

So here I am one more day of not loving Him the way He asks,
In fact my heart is singing praises to the things that make me feel alright

So I'm sinking fast like a stone heart should and on the way down
I've done what I could to try and try to turn this stone to flesh

I'm haunted by my God who has the right to ask me
What by the nature of my rebellion I cannot give

So I beg for You to move, I beg for You to move
I beg for You to break through

So here I am got my deeds for the day and all my cute little words of how I am saved
Am I saved?

Could I love You with my mouth like a church kid should?
At the end of the day my words get burned as wood
Oh but I was good

I'm haunted by my God who has the right to ask me
What by the nature of my rebellion I cannot give

So I beg for You to move, I beg for You to move
I beg for You to break through

These songs are noise in Your ears, a clanging drum
You want my love

Marathoner

It had been on my bucket list to run a full marathon (42.2km) by the time I turned 25, and I officially crossed it off on April 14th at approximately 11:01am for the 11th annual Look Gopher Attack Marathon.

So I guess you could call me a marathoner, but I probably won't run that distance again...at least not any time soon.

The main problem was that I did not train properly for this race, having only run about 12km as my longest run over the three months I was hoping to utilize prior to, and it became very clear to me during the last 15 or so km of the marathon that I should have taken the time to prepare or at least last-minute switched to run the half-marathon instead (as my mother earnestly prompted me to do).

Alas, it was too late. With only 15km left, there was no way I was quitting now. I was in for the long haul. You don't just run for three hours and give up with one more hour to go!

To describe what my body was telling me along the seemingly endless final 10000 meters would be extremely difficult because my mind was focused on pressing on rather than trying to discern what new muscles I was discovering as my feet continued to pound the pavement. All I knew was that I couldn't stop running because I had attempted to walk for a couple of seconds and quickly realized it was a poor choice by the way my legs instantly grew heavy and I had to work super hard to will them to run again.

My goal was to make it to church in time for the 11:30am Good Friday service, and I did. There is no mistaking the spiritual lessons I have learned from this experience.

Sin drags you down and makes you weary. It tears you away from the One who can give you the strength to carry on in life. Many times in my life I have been foolish. Giving in to my sin instead of trusting in the Lord enough to do His will instead of my own.

In my mind I know the truth, but I often live as though I do not believe it. Like knowing that I need to train hard to run a marathon race well, but not following through with it. Both have consequences of suffering.

In life, failing to fight the battle against sin leaves me numb, frustrated, confused, tired, and anxious while failing to train properly for a marathon leaves me very sore, tired, and weak.

There have been times that I doubted my faith just as there were times during the marathon that I thought I might not finish.

Friends, I have discovered that there is great reward and blessing in living God's way even though it is very hard at times as it is against our human nature. I have to consistently remind myself of His truth and press on in faith, knowing that His ways are perfect and are for my good.

May many say with Paul someday, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timothy 4:7

Skinny Pig

I was at Petsmart with a friend innocently having fun peeking into the various cages and windows checking out the different kinds of pets throughout the store and we saw this...

My first thought was oh no! They've shaved a guinea pig! It must be sick...

I mean look at the poor thing! What a weird hair growth pattern...

My friend and I agreed that this little guy was quite like a house hippo (childhood commercial featured animal reminding us not to believe everything we see on TV) but not nearly as appealing to the eye. So what is this creature, you ask? Well, Petsmart gave us a handy description below...

Who knew these things existed? I really wish I got a video of some purring and dancing. Anyways, I'm discovering new things every day. God is super creative!