-Mollie, crawling on all fours after taping a pencil onto her backside as a tail.
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. - Prov 31:10
Today Amy and I celebrate 10 years of marriage. Looking back on pictures of our honeymoon, I am overcome with that dual sense of the past--it seems like yesterday and like worlds ago at the same time. I am reminded of how our friendship first grew over months and even years, how we led music together before we were even dating, and how many times I played (and replayed) one particular answering machine message from her.
These 10 years have been a great adventure of life together and life as a family. Although it is not always easy, Amy is committed to honoring God and being the kind of wife and mother that He desires. God has used her in my life so many times--both in the joy of ministry together, and also to point out my weaknesses and sin to help me grow. Any experience that I have is made better when I can share it with her. Neither of us is perfect, but I pray we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and that he will continue to draw us closer to him and closer to each other as we move toward the years ahead.
Amy, I'm so blessed to have you as my companion on this journey. I love you.
I am finally reading John Piper's book on missions, Let the Nations Be Glad. It was an excerpt from this book in the Perspectives class reader that first introduced me to Piper in 2003. Ever since then, I've appreciated Piper's unique "Christian Hedonism" theology and Bible-saturated teaching, mostly through podcasts of his radio program. This book is proving to be no different. My favorite quote so far has to do with prayer:
Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den.-John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad
I recently returned from spending 10 days with my brother in Niger, West Africa. Mark and his wife Parker have been living in the village of Ayorou for about 18 months now. I had planned for a while to visit them sometime in 2008, but the timing of this trip came about because Parker is pregnant with their first child. She had to leave the country a month before the delivery to travel to Senegal, where there is good medical care. Mark couldn't go with her the entire time, so I went to Niger in between Parker's leaving the country and Mark's joining her. And in case you're worried about a pregnant Parker being alone in a foreign country, her Mom flew to Senegal to be with her before and after the baby comes.
So Mark and I had just over a week of brother time. I got to see first-hand what life is like with 8 hours of electricity a day. What 120 degrees feels like, and what an amazing refreshing treat a glass of cool water can be. Men and women who live today almost exactly as they have for hundreds of years, and for whom the concept of the future has no meaning, only survival for another day. Children that will instantly melt your heart, and whose smiles almost make you forget the harsh realities of disease and need that they face daily, with over half the population age 15 or younger.
And in the midst of it all, God doing amazing things. Answered prayers. Meeting Isa, the first ever adult Songhai believer in the village of Ayorou. Seeing Mark communicate in French and Zarma/Songhai and share the love and truth of Christ with so many people, and how they respect him. And, as Parker put it, feeling like I left a piece of myself in Africa.
I rode on the donkey cart with these boys to get water from the river. I had no ability to speak to them, and no idea at that point where we were going. Quite an experience!
I got to baptize Yacouba in the Niger river, an amazing blessing!
Chillin' with camels & giraffes!
Hanging out with my brother: a restaurant in Niamey, at the top of Mt. Kandadji, and... sewing?
A shack, literally on the side of the road, where we had breakfast one morning. Mark brought this man some eggs from the city, and worked it out that we got a breakfast of omelettes and a yummy hot chocolatey drink as payment.
Sitting in the shade during the hot part of the day. Everything basically shuts down between 1-4pm. The white girl in this picture is a volunteer with another mission team who is also in Ayorou.
We gave out dresses that were made by some of the women from First Baptist Church in Franklin, KY, my parents' church.
Three kids who stole my heart: Sakina, Bushira, and "Z".
Hanging out at Mark's compound with the kids.
I could go on forever (and probably already have for too long). As you can probably tell, I'm very glad I made this trip. Mark and I had a great time together, my eyes were opened, and I fell in love with Ayorou and the people there.
For more: here's my complete photo set and also a blog post that Parker wrote about my visit.
Matthew's class recently did a creative writing exercise where they wrote tips to another teacher and her fiancé on how to be a good wife (and husband). The tips were to be read at their rehearsal dinner. We didn't know about this until some of the them were published in the school newsletter. Matthew's was one that was published. Here's his advice on being a good husband:
“You should love God. You will need to know how to take out the trash. If you ever have a baby, you will need to know how to shop for baby stuff, and for regular stuff. You will have to know how to take care of your wife when she gets sick. If you ever have children, you will need to know how to tell them about Jesus."
Spotted on the Lloyd Expressway in Evansville
A few months ago, Chris suggested that I should run the 23K distance at the LBL (Land Between the Lakes) Trail Run. There are multiple distances you can race, all built around the 11-mile "canal loop" trail near Grand Rivers, KY. Chris was coming into town to run the 50-mile distance, and he said we could run the first lap together (after which I would be nearly done, and he would still have 3 more laps to go!!!) 23K works out to about 14.3 miles, so it's not much longer than a half-marathon, but the uneven surface and the hills make it significantly harder physically. For the 23K distance, there would be about 1000' of vertical gain. After waffling for a while, I finally decided I would try the race and began my preparation.
Unfortunately, good trail runs are a little hard to find in Evansville. Add to that the fact that we had an unusually wet winter, and I was stuck doing most of my training on flat roads. By the time of the race, the longest trail run I had done was just short of 5 miles, and my longest road training run was 12 miles. But I felt like I was better prepared for this run than the Evansville Half Marathon, and about a week before the LBL run, the weather forecast was looking good--dry with temps in the upper 40s, nearly perfect for running.
That all changed about 2-3 days before the race. Suddenly, there was a weather advisory that mentioned a possibility of accumulating snow on Thursday or Friday, then there was a winter storm watch, then a winter storm warning that covered Evansville and all of Western KY. There would definitely be significant snow--the question was just how much would fall and what areas would be the heaviest. On Thursday and Friday leading up to the race, I was checking multiple forecasts hourly, trying to gauge if I would even be able to get to the starting line safely. I knew there was the possibility of having to turn around, or getting snowed in down there, but it seemed like the NWS forecasters were backing off on the snowfall amounts, and also pushing the heavier accumulation forecast more Southeast of where I was headed, so I thought it was worth a try. In the end, we decided that only I would go down (Amy and the kids had planned to go), and simply take it slow and cautious.
Continue reading "LBL 23K Trail Run Report"