Moments on the Road

I'm seeing a pattern here - my thoughts for posts come together while I'm out running. It makes sense, seeing this is the time I am completely alone with my thoughts, and the only distractions are other exercisers and their dogs. Some thoughts come together because of needs I'm praying for, others from things I hear or see on the road. Today's comes from something I heard on the road...

I was about a mile and half into my run when I saw another runner about a half mile ahead of me. Pretty soon (without changing my pace) I was gaining on him, he was a third of a mile a way, then a quarter of a mile, finally I caught him. As I caught him, I said my usual "good morning". His reply, "I could never keep that pace."

Naturally, that made me feel great! It's not often I pass other runners, and certainly not men! But for the next seven miles, I thought about keeping the pace.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...

Running the race... that's what we're all doing. But as my fellow runner pointed out, we are not all running the same pace. Some are running uphill, coming out of the valley; others are on the mountain top; others are headed toward the valley; and unfortunately some have stopped moving or turned back. Some will run side by side with us for a while, others will leave us in the dust. And there are others that will drag us down and bring us to a complete stop if we let them.

I usually run 6 mornings a week (taking Sunday off for rest). Does that mean I WANT to run every morning? Of course not! I went to bed with a headache last night that was still with me this morning. I was so tempted to stay in bed! But once I got out the door and started moving, I felt so much better.

How many times are we tempted to stay home from church when we're sick, sad, depressed, angry, or just lazy? But when we make the effort to keep going, and when we feel the presence of the Lord or hear His word, it was worth the trip!

When I was heavier (30 pounds!) that extra "baggage" made running a lot harder! There are times when our burden is heavy through no fault of our own, but bitterness and unforgiveness, carrying guilt or shame when God has not only forgiven, but FORGOTTEN our sins, just makes the journey harder.

To keep my running interesting, I change my routes frequently. But I always have one goal in mind - to make it home! If I'm 4 miles from home and get a stitch in my side, I have to keep moving. If I'm 2 miles from home and it starts raining, I definitely have to keep moving! When I turn the corner and the sun is in my eyes - keep on moving! When Santa Ana winds are blowing 20-30 miles per hour, I press on! Sitting down at the corner of Alamo and Yosemite just isn't an option!! When I keep moving, I know awaiting me when I get home is a warm shower on a cool morning, or a cool dive in the pool on a hot day!

What a "home" we have waiting for us! "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not hear!" Run on, today! If you're weary or the load is heavy, keep on walking! Can't you hear that great cloud of witnesses? They're cheering you on! Don't ever give up!

Blond Moment

Most of you know that I have blond hair. Gray is slowing taking over, but for the most part, it's still blond. I don't usually have "blond moments." I leave that to some of my friends who shall remain nameless... But when I do have a "blond moment" it tends to be a doozy. Last night was one of those!

Bro. Victor Gonzales, the pastor of our daughter work in Boyle Heights, was teaching/preaching last night. Bro. Oscar Moran was translating from Spanish to English. As often happens, they were speaking over each other. When Bro. Gonzales gave his text, I heard Timothy chapter 1, verses 1-6.


Verse 1
What I read:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
What I heard:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

"Hmmm... Bro. Moran must be reading from a different translation tonight."

Verse 2
What I read:
Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
What I heard:
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 3
What I read:
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
What I heard:
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

"Huh?" "Les, where is he?" Les: "Verse four"

What I read:
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
What I heard:
Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

"What in the world!?" I finally looked at Les' Bible. His was open to SECOND Timothy, while mine was open to FIRST Timothy!!

"Oh, I was in First Timothy."
Les: "You're so blond."

You know, he was right!! And while this post is neither uplifting, encouraging, or challenging - hopefully it gave you a chuckle!

Our Footprints In the Sand

We've all read "Footprints in the Sand", so I won't post it here. It's a beautiful story reminding us of how God carries us through the darkest times of our lives.

A few months ago, I was praying with a close friend of mine who was going through a dark time. As I was praying I was reminded of this poem, but a new thought came to me. WE are God's hands and feet on this earth, and it is often OUR prayers that are carrying our friends and loved ones through dark times. I've certainly experienced those times when I knew I couldn't go on without the prayers of others. Four simple words, "I'm Praying For You", can make all the difference.

Galatians 6:2 says, "Bear ye one another's burdens..."

Can I neglect to pray, while there is one who needs the help my prayers can bring?

- Mom's Bible

So if you see a friend in need, put your feet in the sand next to theirs, and it may be that the footprints seen will be yours.

Leavin' on My Mind

My thoughts for today came while I was out running this morning. I'm not sure that I'll be able to articulate them clearly, but I'm going to try.

Lately I've got Leavin' on my mind.

- Mom's Bible

I know these words came from a song, but what I don't know was when Mom wrote them in her Bible. Many times I heard her say, "I can't die, my family needs me." Her love for her family kept her fighting cancer for many, many years.

Leavin' on my mind... how often does that happen to me? I am so extremely blessed, the world's greatest husband, a wonderful family, fine friends, an incredible pastor and church, a beautiful home, more clothes and shoes than necessary, I never go to bed hungry... what about leaving?

Earlier this year, Les and I read a series of books by Ted Dekker entitled "The Martyr's Song". If you've read anything by Ted Dekker, you know to expect the unexpected in his stories - Obsessed, Blink, House (with Frank Perretti), Saint, the Circle Trilogy - all these books have twists and turns, unusual and often crazy characters, hilarious scenes that have made me laugh out loud, but they always make me think. The Martyr's Song was no exception.

Without spoiling the story if you haven't read it, there is one reoccurring event in The Martyr's Song that puts "leavin' on my mind." Each time a "believer" (and I use the term loosely) is dying or facing death, they hear laughter. Not a single laugh, but a chorus, a monstrous choir, of uproariously, contagious, laughter. The sound is overwhelming, the joy indescribable.

A CD was included with these books that contained an interviewed with Mr. Dekker. These stories came about after his brother died suddenly. He said the event caused him great soul searching, questioning our attachment to this world when there is such glory awaiting us.

I pray that the only reason for wanting to stay in this world is to reach others. Lord, help me to want to leave every THING, but take every ONE with me.

In closing (as the musicians come), our choir sings the wonderful song "My Joy". Each time we sing it, amidst the joy and rejoicing, I am filled with an overwhelming thankfulness to God that He has "turned my mourning into dancing!" And as great of joy as He gives here on earth, I can only imagine the joy that awaits.

My Joy

Oh Lord, You have turned my mourning into dancing
over and over and over again
Oh Lord, You have turned my sorrow into joy
over and over and over again

You have been my shield, the lifter of my head
You are my Joy, You are my Joy
and I will always worship, I will always worship You
For You, You are my joy
You are my Joy
and I will always worship, I will always worship You
For You, You are my joy
You are my Joy!

You turned my mourning, into dancing
over and over, over and over and over and over again
You turned my mourning, into dancing
over and over, over and over and over and over again

- Words and Music by Trent Cory

Choices

One of Mom's favorite sayings was, "I can laugh or I can cry." When faced with the choice of letting trouble make her or break her, she came through stronger. Sitting down and crying just wasn't the option she chose.

Our choices are the same - will we pray today? read the Word? say a kind word?

When chemo caused all Mom's hair to fall out, she was naturally devastated. But I remember her visit to our house when we took this picture:

I don't know if you can read it or not, but the hat says "Another Bad Hair Day" and the hair is a fake ponytail. Instead of letting discouragement take over, she started wearing fun hats and scarves. She had a wig, but this is how it was worn:

What happens around us is largely outside our control, but how we choose to react to it is inside our control. We can throw our hands up in defeat or we can choose to trust God for His solution.

- Mom's Bible

Choose prayer today! Choose joy! Choose laughter!

Now I've Seen It All

I see a lot of things when I'm running. Other runners, walkers, cyclists. People leaving for work, some barely awake and others driving too fast. I also see a lot of wildlife. I saw two deer this past Saturday. I see birds and bunnies aplenty everyday. I see coyotes about once a week. And I've seen an occasional bobcat. But today, today topped it all...

I was running up Alamo, a slight hill. It was about 5:50 a.m., with a bit of ocean air, so not completely light out. As I was running I saw a shape on the sidewalk. My first thought was "it's a dog". But it neither moved nor barked. "Oh, it's a stuffed dog." But as I got closer, I saw that it wasn't a dog, but a stuffed seal. It was about 2 1/2 feet long and was staring up at me just like those old "Save the Baby Seal" posters. Yep, now I've seen it all!

I also saw a hairy tarantula this morning... ewww!

Trust

Sure, it takes a lot of courage

To put things in God's hands,
To give ourselves completely,
Our lives, our hopes, our plans,
To follow where He leads us
And make His will our own,
But all it takes is foolishness
To go the way alone.

- Mom's Bible

I did a quick scan through the book of Psalms in Mom's Bible and found so many verses on TRUST underlined. Here is a sampling:

7:1 - O Lord my God, in thee do put my trust...
11:1 - In the Lord put I my trust...
16:1 - Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
18:2 - ... in whom I will trust...
25:2 - O my God, I trust in thee...
31:1 - In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust...

I know trusting every day isn't easy, but "all it takes is foolishness to go the way alone."

Gratitude

Not the greatness of our troubles, but the littleness of our spirit makes us complain.

- Mom's Bible

I found this written in both the front and back covers of Mom's Bible, so it was obviously something she was thinking about. Most of the time when I called to ask how she was doing, she was "fine". Of course Dad and Kim told me another story, but Mom wasn't going to complain!

It's so easy to complain. It takes absolutely no effort and we can always find something to complain about. But...

Gratitude is a seasoning for all seasons.

- Mom's Bible

We can always find someone who is better off than we, but we don't have to look far to find someone who is worse off. Next time you're tempted to complain or compare, think about Psalm 68:19: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation."

We not only have the hope of salvation, He loads us daily with benefits! Give thanks!

When Mom Became Grandma

I don't want anyone to think that Mom's life was one of constant pain and sorrow. You know, she did have ME, so there had to be some joy! Her family brought great joy to her life and three little ones that all arrived in 1987 tripled her joy.

I'll never forget Mom's excitement about finally becoming Grandma. Diana, my oldest brother Rick's wife, was expecting when my sister Kim became pregnant. Kim had suffered numerous miscarriages, but this time she took every precaution and her pregnancy progressed as normally as possible for a woman carrying twins.

From Grandmother's Memories:
"When I first became a grandmother, I felt like a Queen. I couldn't stop grinning; I got 3 grandbabies in 10 weeks! Ryan, Krysten & Lauren."

Ryan was born on January 11th (his daddy's birthday) and Krysten and Lauren showed up 7 weeks before their due date on March 20th.

We ALL had a great time falling in love with these new members of our family, but nobody enjoyed it more than Mom. I was still living at home and I remember many times Mom going to the store for various household supplies (toilet paper!) or groceries and she'd come back with some toy, book, or clothing item for one of the grandkids! We often had to send her back for what she didn't buy.

It was a wonderful time and I wouldn't trade these memories.

S - H - O - E - S !!

I'm like most women when it comes to shoes. I can never have too many. My motto: "If the shoe fits, buy it in every color." Of course with a size 5 foot, that's not always easy, but I try!

So here's what came today:



A box? Hmmm... what could be in the box? 5 more boxes!!



Yes, FIVE boxes of SHOES!!!! Now you're probably going to be very disappointed when you see that the shoes are identical. There's a story behind this. A story of me running, and running, and running. Every morning at 5:45. So I wear out running shoes quickly.

A few months ago I found out that Saucony was no longer going to make my favorite running shoe - the Shadow 6000. I went to my local running store, tried on DOZENS of running shoes, ran on the sidewalk out front, and none fit right. What was I going to do? Hit the Internet of course!! I found a website that still carried my shoe and ordered FIVE pairs. Then they called and said they were back ordered. So I waited, and waited, and waited. In the meantime, my normal source started carrying the shoe again. I don't know what was going on with that. But when the company I originally ordered from called last week to say they had my shoes if I still wanted them, I said "Send em on!"

So here they are. Five pairs of Saucony Shadow 6000 just waiting to hit the streets.



Rejoice with them that rejoice...

Mom's Bible

As I mentioned in the previous post, I will be sharing thoughts from Mom's Bible. I'm sure many of the thoughts are not original, most likely they are things she heard during the preaching because she always took her Bible to church. (And that's a thought for another post!)

She received this particular Bible for her 47th birthday, January 1, 1987, and it was the final Bible she carried. This contains her thoughts during an eight year battle with cancer and the loss of her youngest son, Rod. While that was obviously the most difficult time in her life, the notes and thoughts are constantly positive and uplifting.

So... if you see a note or thought labeled "Mom's Bible" that is exactly where it came from. And if the thought was originally yours, thank you for sharing it with her, because I'm sure if she wrote it down it was an encouragement to her.

One who uses the Bible as his guide , never loses his sense of direction.

- Mom's Bible

Memories

The "Memories" portion of my blog is dedicated to my wonderful, loving mother, Norma Fultz who went to be with the Lord on October 10, 1998.

As I contemplated creating a blog, I thought how much fun Mom would have had blogging and reading blogs. She loved staying connected to her friends, (spending much time on the phone!) and this would have been a wonderful avenue for her. I have in my possession Mom's Bible, my baby book, a book called "Grandmother's Memories" and a stack of notebooks with handwritten notes and sayings from Mom that I want to share in her honor.

Uncle!

When I was a kid and one of my older siblings was beating up on me, crying "Uncle" was the ultimate surrender. You not only admitted that they were bigger and stronger than you, but you bowed to their superiority, thus making their day.

I have been blog stalking (blalking?) for the past couple of months, enjoying the posts, and thinking of things I might say if I had a blog

So.... "Uncle"

To those bloggers that have been at it a while, you are stronger (I won't call you bigger!) and superior to I. I will strive to reach your level in humor, wisdom, family events and fun! But for now, here's my first post.