A Weekend of Learning

Snipets from this weekend:

- Perspective is important. "It's all downhill from here" isn't always a bad thing.
- Agonizing tasks seem to go by a lot faster when there is someone next to you, even when you both know how much it's killing you.
- The tougher it looks, the better it feels when you finally conquer it!
- Regular training makes a BIG difference.

Saturday was the Horror Hill run. 15K road race, with hills (note the plural on the "hills"). Eric and I ran this last year, and though we were both hoping to improve, we both ended up with worse times. But at least I finished, and Eric got a prize for being 3rd in his category. I finished in less than 2 hours, which is REALLY slow, but it was what I figured was a reasonable target, given I haven't run since the race last year. Bad idea to run 15K hills untrained aside from a practice run the week before, which left me aching until Wed. I'm certain this week the aches won't subside til Friday earliest!

Runners train so that when the race day comes, they are prepared, and ready to tackle the mountains and the hills. In the same way, praying to God regularly is training for the race day when I will need to tackle the mountain. Except that I might not know that I'm running the race until the mountain is before me. The result would probably be something like the pain I feel now, the soreness all over, and walking like I need a wheelchair, instead of having the confidence that comes with being prepared.

Conclusion: I need to run and pray more regularly. Hebrews 12

- The best kind of problems are the ones where you realize how awesome God is, how blessed we are, and how His plans are always *way* beyond what we could possibly imagine
- When you take a disorganized group with different gifts and skills, but all with this desire to serve Him, God figures out a way for each one to serve, each in their own way, so that they are filled with joy, and all the various tasks all get done
- Parents are brave. We only had to deal with the kids BEFORE all the candy!

At church we had a Pumpkin Patch Party, to share Jesus' love with the neighborhood kids and the kids from the summer Vacation Bible School program. Seventy-four kids can be really draining, even with the dozens of highschool/university aged counsellors around. And this was before any of the candy treats were consumed. I got tired watching them run around!

I found my place in the chaos of things that needed to be done. Grocery run to Loblaws with the list of things we still needed, then second run to get the things forgotten from the list. I dunno why, but I really enjoy grocery shopping, walking up and down all the aisles, looking at stuff. It was great! Got back from that, and headed into the kitchen. Yes, me in the kitchen =) Scary thought? Not really, I was the dishwasher for a bulk of the night. Was really good, good time to think, away from the chaos of outside the kitchen, far from all the kids and aunties, just me, the soap suds, and the pots, pans, plates, chopsticks, knives, bowls, and anything else that needed cleaning. Oh, and my really pruney hands =)

Panic attack didn't happen until someone had the brains to count heads... and realised that we had 74 kids instead of the original estimate of 30-40. Two critical problems: we only made 60 loot bags, and we likely didn't have enough food for dinner. A bit of a scramble (as well as other hiccups that happened throughout the evening), but in the end, God provided, once more =) The kids looked like they had a lot of fun, the counsellors and helpers were dead tired, and the Pumpkin Patch Party was a huge success =D

Conclusion: In ALL things, trust God. Proverbs 3:5-6