Lent Day 32

This is the day the Lord has made.  That was today right?  Yep.  God made all the days, those wonderful Saturdays with friends and family and the dreary Tuesdays.  God even made April 9^th each year.  This day marks a couple of personal anniversaries for me; some good and some bad.  Today I chose to remember the positive ones.  Most importantly, God is good all the time.

Knowing that today was going to be a fun-filled time with family and friends, I decided to go running this morning before we got started with our day.  Christy told me about a new application to download on my Blackberry.  It uses GPS to track my instant speed, average speed, fastest speed, elevation climb, detailed map, calories burned, time spent running, time stopped, and even how far I went.  Wow, and this is free technology.  I wonder what the paid for upgrade program does?  Who cares, only in America can we get so much for so little.  There was one feature that did not work; it was supposed to upload my run to Facebook and my email so that everyone can see how I was doing.  Yeah, because you readers are really keeping track of my progress like that.  “Awe come on Ben, you slowed down in turn three . . . better pick it up next time.”   Ok, I’ll tell you, 5.0K in 30:33 minutes.   

I used the technology because I am American and we need these things to measure our progress.  I guess that’s why we get on the scales each morning to see how we are doing, but only if they are going in the right direction.  Trust me; we never get on the scale when we are gaining weight.  We don’t want to be reminded of our negative side.  We only want to be shown our progress toward success.  I suppose it’s ok as long as we use these things as tools and not as end goals. 

I found myself getting really tired on the run this morning.  I was sweating profusely and pushing myself harder than ever before.  I kept thinking about pushing myself for a phenomenal 5K running time.  I was going to run it faster and set a new record.  Unlike any other time running before, I was focused on the 5K and certain checkpoints along the way.  I was a little over half way back when I remembered this is not about diet and exercise or any stupid 5K.  Besides, in America, we measure in miles.  So what am I focusing on some kilometer measurement for?  Oh yeah, I am building my relationship with God.  I use this 30 minutes each day of exercise to listen to God.  Every time I thank God for the blessings in my life, and sometimes I even ask God for help.  It was on that last half that I remembered I needed to ask God for some help if I was going to push myself this hard.  When I invited God along with me, the stride got a lot easier.  I remembered my commitment and He gave me the strength. 

I sure am glad I did my run this morning.  The Grass family had an eventful day with baseball, Lee Festival, bounce houses, shopping, eating out, and even a cool car show.