Have you ever gone over a speed bump? A dip? I've noticed that there are different sizes of bumps and dips. There are those ones they have in neihborhoods, those huge ones that are meant to slow you down so you don't run over kids and dogs and stuff.
So lately I've been trying to get on a training schedule for this run. Because I don't just want to run, I want to kick butt. I want to do this for Gods glory. You know chariots of fire stylee. But every time I start gaining some momentum, BAM, speedbump. And they're getting gnarly.
First, I started getting some swelling under a tooth that ended up after a month of pain, gettng a tooth pulled.
Now I can barely walk because my back is so tweeked. Also, my running shoes are way past their prime. Maybe that has something to do with my back being messed up. That and lifting 1000's of pounds of rock and dirt for this side job I have. Which, by the way, is a total financial blessing. And I can't even do that right now.
Ok, I'm not trying to just complain. I know God is in control. It has been my experience that He doesn't ever make things easy for us. He will totally bless us in phenominal ways, but He always makes it so I have t completely rely on Him. And I'm thankful for that. I need that. I just want to get to the point that I learn to completely lean on Him without the reminders.
Anyhoo, I'm asking for prayer...prayer for healing, trust, strength...and whatever you think of. We are a team. I need your prayers and support. This run is an awesome metaphor of how we all need each others community. God put us all together for a reason...not to just run. No way! Let's start encouraging each other to greatness way beyond this run, and what we could imagine in our little human minds.
What do y'all need? What are your prayer requests? Let's unite for Gods glory.
How do I tie this tangent message in with my original thought?
With God anything is possible. Let's put on holy suspension and fly over those speedbumps. Just watch out for His timing and don't hit a dog.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Benefit Concert & Birthday Bash
Sunday, March 14, 2010
1:00pm - 6:00pm
Northwood Community Park ("Castle Park")
4531 Bryan Avenue
Irvine, CA
Joy, Josiah, Jamie, and Dave all are having birthdays!!!
Please no gifts!! But rather a $20 donation for Help The Children (check out www.helpthechildren.org) Your $20 includes a wristband which will get you a t-shirt, food, birthday cake, and live music. We will have baked goods and crafts for sale where all proceeds and donations go toward Help The Children.
Help The Children has a warehouse, packed with pallets of medical supplies, food, drinks, and tents, waiting to be shipped to Haiti and now Chile. Finances are keeping the pallets in the warehouse because of shipping prices. $4,000 will ship $350,000 worth of supplies. Our goal is to raise enough money to ship as many pallets as possible.
We are a team of 12 runners that have committed to running an 180- mile relay race from Santa Barbara to Dana Point on April 23-24, 2010. (Check out www.ragnarrelay.com for more details). We decided to not only run this race for fun, but for a cause. Our dream is to raise money for Haiti and now Chile, and this party/benefit concert is one of the ways we plan on doing just that! For more information on our team, check out our blog at: http://www.twelvedisciplerunners.blogspot.com/
We can’t do this alone and the people in these disaster areas need us. Please come out to celebrate and get together with us. Feel free to pass on this invite to anyone and everyone you know that would like to come and be a part of the fun with us. There is a huge park, soccer fields and various grass areas to play around in.
If you know anyone who would like to sell crafts/goods at the benefit concert that day, please
email cortney3@gmail.com
Thanks and we’d love to have you!
1:00pm - 6:00pm
Northwood Community Park ("Castle Park")
4531 Bryan Avenue
Irvine, CA
Joy, Josiah, Jamie, and Dave all are having birthdays!!!
Please no gifts!! But rather a $20 donation for Help The Children (check out www.helpthechildren.org) Your $20 includes a wristband which will get you a t-shirt, food, birthday cake, and live music. We will have baked goods and crafts for sale where all proceeds and donations go toward Help The Children.
Help The Children has a warehouse, packed with pallets of medical supplies, food, drinks, and tents, waiting to be shipped to Haiti and now Chile. Finances are keeping the pallets in the warehouse because of shipping prices. $4,000 will ship $350,000 worth of supplies. Our goal is to raise enough money to ship as many pallets as possible.
We are a team of 12 runners that have committed to running an 180- mile relay race from Santa Barbara to Dana Point on April 23-24, 2010. (Check out www.ragnarrelay.com for more details). We decided to not only run this race for fun, but for a cause. Our dream is to raise money for Haiti and now Chile, and this party/benefit concert is one of the ways we plan on doing just that! For more information on our team, check out our blog at: http://www.twelvedisciplerunners.blogspot.com/
We can’t do this alone and the people in these disaster areas need us. Please come out to celebrate and get together with us. Feel free to pass on this invite to anyone and everyone you know that would like to come and be a part of the fun with us. There is a huge park, soccer fields and various grass areas to play around in.
If you know anyone who would like to sell crafts/goods at the benefit concert that day, please
email cortney3@gmail.com
Thanks and we’d love to have you!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
the 12
Running Legs…Running Hearts…
"When you are running towards Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear. As long as you are running you are safe. But running is exhausting-if, that is, we are running from sin or guilt, or out of fear. (Or if we haven't run in a while) However, if we train ourselves to run toward our refuge, toward Love, we are free- just as we are called to be." -Francis Chan, "Crazy Love"
Dear friends and family, friends of friends, and friends of family,
We write to you with a dream. We are a team of 12 people that have committed to run a 180-mile relay race from Santa Barbara to Dana Point on April 23-24, 2010. It is called the Ragnar Relay (check out www.ragnarrelay.com for further details). Envision 12 people, 2 vans, 180 miles of PCH beauty, no sleep, lots of running, incredible memories, and lots of JOY.
Running is one of those things in this world almost everyone can do. We don’t need much. Land and legs and a pulse. After that, the rest is internal. The rest is heart. Think of how our body follows our mind. We’re such psychosomatic human beings. Everything we do and don’t do with our body affects our soul and vice versa. We don’t run for vanity. We don’t run to look good. We run because it does something to our soul. It frees it. It refines it. Our bodies do something in pain. They do something crazy when we push it to a limit…and then push it harder. It creates strength of mind, a discipline, and a courage, that only those who have experienced it can fully understand.
It then permeates throughout our entire life. The discipline in processing through physical pain produces a heart that can process through mental pain; getting up early in the mornings, maintaining a routine to face the hurt and the sweat. Our spirit has 100 times the strength and staying power of our muscle. We don’t run simply because we like how it makes us feel. If that were the case, we wouldn’t ever become very good runners. If that were the case, we’d only be running on one engine: flesh…and flesh alone.
Flesh and spirit. There is serious friction between them. They can beat each other up if we aren’t careful. Or, one can lead the other. One is definitely stronger. The question is…which one do we follow? This goes far beyond our physical limits. We aren’t talking about miles on land anymore; we’re talking about miles on our heart. We aren’t talking about the sweat of our faces anymore; we’re talking about the sweat of our souls…
In light of this crazy feat, we decided we not only want to run this relay, but we'd like to become a team that is "sponsored." As a community of believers, we thought what a great and unique way to "run for a cause." We immediately thought of Haiti. We will be running this race in less than 3 months, and in that time, we will fundraise as much money as possible to donate to a Haiti relief fund. We are in the throes of brainstorming various ideas to raise money: from putting on a local concert, barbeques, bake sales, selling “Haiti” t-shirts, and anything else we can think of. Furthermore, we are asking for your help. We need some serious prayer for our runners and for the unity of our team. Each runner will be running 3 different legs, anywhere from 3-9 miles per leg. It is taking some good training on behalf of each one of us to make this successful.
There are still lots of moving pieces as far as how to raise money; not to mention, communicating with a team of twelve who already have so much on their plate, but desperately desire to run this race and run it well. We want to be the platform for which others can give through our efforts. Lots of people want to help, but don’t know how. We want to be the body we were created to be that allows the help to reach where it’s needed.
We are running this race for the people of Haiti, led simply by the love of Jesus.
While planning and training for this race, we recognize that in no way can we do this alone. We can’t do it alone in prayer, in effort, or in finances. One of the greatest truths about embarking on something like this is that the adventure will stretch much further than to just those running the race. Anyone who has participated in something bigger than themselves has experienced this truth. Those who decide to give, volunteer at the race, come up with new fundraising ideas, attend the events we plan, or have other resources to help us along this journey are just as important as our runners. Our team is nothing without all of you.
Our current goal is registering our team. The deadline for us to be registered and paid in full is 2/28/2010. The cost for the entire team is $1,320, which is a cost of $110 per runner. Initially, each one of us was going to pay our own way. But once we got down to the details of each runner, only few currently have the opportunity of working full time. Therefore, it makes paying our way rather difficult. And if we don’t pay, we don’t run! We have a few teens, some missionaries (with two young children), some full time students, and some full time workers. Since finances are incredibly short for most of us, we decided to not only ask for help for our charity, but also ask for help to get us signed up by the deadline.If any part of this dream tugs on you and you would like to “Sponsor a Runner,” please respond to the contact information at the bottom of this letter at your earliest convenience.
As of now, we have 10 runners. The remaining two won’t be hard to find as we still have a few months. We don’t need a completed team to register, but we do have to pay in full. Our current 10 runners are each named below. Once you contact us, we will be able to share with you who hasn’t been sponsored and you can choose your runner. If all the runners have been sponsored at that time, but you would like to give financially to our charity, that would be amazing as well!
We realize this is a much different way to give of your finances. To be honest, it is quite humiliating to ask for something like this. One would think, “$110 isn’t that much, why ask for the help?” At some point, I’m sure each one of us has thought the same thing. But as we all sat down and chatted, we realized we were trying to forge way on our efforts alone, looking for the money in our bank accounts that just isn’t there. As that reality set in, we decided to put the steering wheel back into the hands of the One who brought each of us to this team, with this dream on our horizon. Which brings us to you. When a body of people unite together with a common vision and they each believe in that vision, miracles can happen. We are praying for that miracle.
God always makes a way out of no way.
We have running shoes to buy, T-shirts to make, and events to put on. These things all cost money and we truly believe that God will raise His people up and invite people in to this adventure along with us. We are praying for our team of runners, for those that decide to give financially, and for those who decide to come alongside us on this journey, however that may look. We have been privileged with the opportunity to work hand in hand with Roger Presgrove, the CEO of the organization Help The Children. He currently has over 100 pallets of medical supplies, food, drinks and tents waiting to be shipped to Haiti. Finances are keeping the pallets in the warehouse because of shipping prices. 4,000 dollars will ship over 350,000 dollars of supplies. We want our team of runners to be able to not only raise enough money for that specific shipment, but to be able to send off as many pallets as possible. We desire to put together pallets of medicine and supplies for a birthing program that is being put into existence in Haiti right now. Over 10,000 babies are due this month in the earthquake zone of Haiti. Haiti has one of the highest mortality rates on earth.
The organization Bumi Sehat is a group of doctors and midwives that are building a place where these women can give birth with the right supplies to create healthy outcomes. Here is their blog if you want to read up on their process: http://bumisehathaiti.blogspot.com/ Our ultimate goal is to not just send them a check, but to rather use Help The Children to organize and collect their specific needs and get them over to them. If you feel called to help out please contact Jennifer or Cortney for more info. Please feel free to check out www.Helpthechildren.org
Our prayer is that you receive this letter for what it is: a call for help and support to carry out this adventure, coming from a group of people who desire to be submissive to our role as Christ followers, as students of his gospel and compelled by his love within it. We want to be the “different” team out on the course. We want to be the team that provokes our supporters and spectators to look to us and see that we are being led by Someone not of this world. We want to be the team that will shake our community with an army of faith. We want to be the team that will boldly follow Jesus wherever he leads us. In the midst of our to-dos, our training, and this incredible venture that lies ahead, our prayer is that we never lose sight of our “nothingness” before him, for if we do, we lose sight of HIM...and he is our freedom. As Francis Chan says “…However, if we train ourselves to run toward our refuge, toward Love, we are free- just as we are called to be."
To sponsor a runner and/or give financially to our charity, please contact: Cortney Micheal at cortney3@gmail.com or Jennifer Miller at jennm427@hotmail.com Should you receive this letter and know of anyone who would be interested in being a part of this, please feel free to forward it to anyone you like.
With Love,The Twelve.
"When you are running towards Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear. As long as you are running you are safe. But running is exhausting-if, that is, we are running from sin or guilt, or out of fear. (Or if we haven't run in a while) However, if we train ourselves to run toward our refuge, toward Love, we are free- just as we are called to be." -Francis Chan, "Crazy Love"
Dear friends and family, friends of friends, and friends of family,
We write to you with a dream. We are a team of 12 people that have committed to run a 180-mile relay race from Santa Barbara to Dana Point on April 23-24, 2010. It is called the Ragnar Relay (check out www.ragnarrelay.com for further details). Envision 12 people, 2 vans, 180 miles of PCH beauty, no sleep, lots of running, incredible memories, and lots of JOY.
Running is one of those things in this world almost everyone can do. We don’t need much. Land and legs and a pulse. After that, the rest is internal. The rest is heart. Think of how our body follows our mind. We’re such psychosomatic human beings. Everything we do and don’t do with our body affects our soul and vice versa. We don’t run for vanity. We don’t run to look good. We run because it does something to our soul. It frees it. It refines it. Our bodies do something in pain. They do something crazy when we push it to a limit…and then push it harder. It creates strength of mind, a discipline, and a courage, that only those who have experienced it can fully understand.
It then permeates throughout our entire life. The discipline in processing through physical pain produces a heart that can process through mental pain; getting up early in the mornings, maintaining a routine to face the hurt and the sweat. Our spirit has 100 times the strength and staying power of our muscle. We don’t run simply because we like how it makes us feel. If that were the case, we wouldn’t ever become very good runners. If that were the case, we’d only be running on one engine: flesh…and flesh alone.
Flesh and spirit. There is serious friction between them. They can beat each other up if we aren’t careful. Or, one can lead the other. One is definitely stronger. The question is…which one do we follow? This goes far beyond our physical limits. We aren’t talking about miles on land anymore; we’re talking about miles on our heart. We aren’t talking about the sweat of our faces anymore; we’re talking about the sweat of our souls…
In light of this crazy feat, we decided we not only want to run this relay, but we'd like to become a team that is "sponsored." As a community of believers, we thought what a great and unique way to "run for a cause." We immediately thought of Haiti. We will be running this race in less than 3 months, and in that time, we will fundraise as much money as possible to donate to a Haiti relief fund. We are in the throes of brainstorming various ideas to raise money: from putting on a local concert, barbeques, bake sales, selling “Haiti” t-shirts, and anything else we can think of. Furthermore, we are asking for your help. We need some serious prayer for our runners and for the unity of our team. Each runner will be running 3 different legs, anywhere from 3-9 miles per leg. It is taking some good training on behalf of each one of us to make this successful.
There are still lots of moving pieces as far as how to raise money; not to mention, communicating with a team of twelve who already have so much on their plate, but desperately desire to run this race and run it well. We want to be the platform for which others can give through our efforts. Lots of people want to help, but don’t know how. We want to be the body we were created to be that allows the help to reach where it’s needed.
We are running this race for the people of Haiti, led simply by the love of Jesus.
While planning and training for this race, we recognize that in no way can we do this alone. We can’t do it alone in prayer, in effort, or in finances. One of the greatest truths about embarking on something like this is that the adventure will stretch much further than to just those running the race. Anyone who has participated in something bigger than themselves has experienced this truth. Those who decide to give, volunteer at the race, come up with new fundraising ideas, attend the events we plan, or have other resources to help us along this journey are just as important as our runners. Our team is nothing without all of you.
Our current goal is registering our team. The deadline for us to be registered and paid in full is 2/28/2010. The cost for the entire team is $1,320, which is a cost of $110 per runner. Initially, each one of us was going to pay our own way. But once we got down to the details of each runner, only few currently have the opportunity of working full time. Therefore, it makes paying our way rather difficult. And if we don’t pay, we don’t run! We have a few teens, some missionaries (with two young children), some full time students, and some full time workers. Since finances are incredibly short for most of us, we decided to not only ask for help for our charity, but also ask for help to get us signed up by the deadline.If any part of this dream tugs on you and you would like to “Sponsor a Runner,” please respond to the contact information at the bottom of this letter at your earliest convenience.
As of now, we have 10 runners. The remaining two won’t be hard to find as we still have a few months. We don’t need a completed team to register, but we do have to pay in full. Our current 10 runners are each named below. Once you contact us, we will be able to share with you who hasn’t been sponsored and you can choose your runner. If all the runners have been sponsored at that time, but you would like to give financially to our charity, that would be amazing as well!
We realize this is a much different way to give of your finances. To be honest, it is quite humiliating to ask for something like this. One would think, “$110 isn’t that much, why ask for the help?” At some point, I’m sure each one of us has thought the same thing. But as we all sat down and chatted, we realized we were trying to forge way on our efforts alone, looking for the money in our bank accounts that just isn’t there. As that reality set in, we decided to put the steering wheel back into the hands of the One who brought each of us to this team, with this dream on our horizon. Which brings us to you. When a body of people unite together with a common vision and they each believe in that vision, miracles can happen. We are praying for that miracle.
God always makes a way out of no way.
We have running shoes to buy, T-shirts to make, and events to put on. These things all cost money and we truly believe that God will raise His people up and invite people in to this adventure along with us. We are praying for our team of runners, for those that decide to give financially, and for those who decide to come alongside us on this journey, however that may look. We have been privileged with the opportunity to work hand in hand with Roger Presgrove, the CEO of the organization Help The Children. He currently has over 100 pallets of medical supplies, food, drinks and tents waiting to be shipped to Haiti. Finances are keeping the pallets in the warehouse because of shipping prices. 4,000 dollars will ship over 350,000 dollars of supplies. We want our team of runners to be able to not only raise enough money for that specific shipment, but to be able to send off as many pallets as possible. We desire to put together pallets of medicine and supplies for a birthing program that is being put into existence in Haiti right now. Over 10,000 babies are due this month in the earthquake zone of Haiti. Haiti has one of the highest mortality rates on earth.
The organization Bumi Sehat is a group of doctors and midwives that are building a place where these women can give birth with the right supplies to create healthy outcomes. Here is their blog if you want to read up on their process: http://bumisehathaiti.blogspot.com/ Our ultimate goal is to not just send them a check, but to rather use Help The Children to organize and collect their specific needs and get them over to them. If you feel called to help out please contact Jennifer or Cortney for more info. Please feel free to check out www.Helpthechildren.org
Our prayer is that you receive this letter for what it is: a call for help and support to carry out this adventure, coming from a group of people who desire to be submissive to our role as Christ followers, as students of his gospel and compelled by his love within it. We want to be the “different” team out on the course. We want to be the team that provokes our supporters and spectators to look to us and see that we are being led by Someone not of this world. We want to be the team that will shake our community with an army of faith. We want to be the team that will boldly follow Jesus wherever he leads us. In the midst of our to-dos, our training, and this incredible venture that lies ahead, our prayer is that we never lose sight of our “nothingness” before him, for if we do, we lose sight of HIM...and he is our freedom. As Francis Chan says “…However, if we train ourselves to run toward our refuge, toward Love, we are free- just as we are called to be."
To sponsor a runner and/or give financially to our charity, please contact: Cortney Micheal at cortney3@gmail.com or Jennifer Miller at jennm427@hotmail.com Should you receive this letter and know of anyone who would be interested in being a part of this, please feel free to forward it to anyone you like.
With Love,The Twelve.
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