The Smell of Pigs Does Not Leave.

I had to pick up my younger siblings from moving the pigs from the barn to an outdoor fenced area. I walked to the barn, and helped a smidgen. Now I smell like pigs. I was in a hurry to drop them off at home, and didn't have time change. So now I smell like pigs. I'm praying its only my sensitive sense of smell. There may be a reason there is no one sitting around me a Starbucks. I'm fairly certain that its only me  and I'm sure most of it is psychological, but still, one never knows. Why psychological? because I was worrying about smelling like pigs. Often when I worry about something like that, I believe that it has happened. I'm not paranoid by nature, but on occasion I seem to exhibit paranoia tendency's. I'm hoping that's the case in this instance.If not, my sincerest apologies,  fellow Starbucks patrons.

The Midwest has been at it again, Bi-polar weather is the norm for this area of the states, and it has been faithful this May. We went from heat, to freezing within a couple days.  Now we are back to heat. Of course the weather would drop to freezing the night after we plant the garden. Thankfully, the frost has not killed off our poor tomatoes and peppers (well, there were those three roma tomato plants that died from frost, but that happened before we planted the garden)
So we had a cold and yucky Memorial Day. I woke up Monday morning with my sinuses acting up (thanks to that lovely bipolar weather change) and not feeling very good. I'm still having sinus issues. I hate not feeling good. Plus, its messed with my running. I feel sick, therefore I do not run. Its probably just my laziness, but really, why torture myself with more achy-ness when I already don't feel good? I should be more conscientious with my running, I do have a race coming up, but, hopefully a few days off won't mess with my 5k. Besides, I doubt my running abilities could get much worse than they already are.

I'm afraid that this is going to be a frightfully ADD blog post today. That's what happens when you only write every now and then and have a lot to say. I had been planning on what to write. But I never did get around to it. So it will be stuffed into one post. Think of it as a buffet of non-important ramblings. Some may find it interesting. Some may find it ridiculous. Some have already quit reading. But no matter, even if my dad is the only one who ends up reading this, Its my blog. I can do whatever I want.

For my youth group, I'm going through the lives of missionaries. I'm hoping to inspire my group to live for God in every way, whether its easy or hard. Conventional or unconventional. As I have been researching, I find myself being inspired by the lives of these people. There selfless way of live is something that I admire. So far I've covered Hudson Taylor. Tonight, I'll be doing Amy Carmichael. Her story is amazing. I highly recommend you read about her. I can imagine the kind of person she was. From things I've read, she sounded like one stubborn lady. Mischievous as well as loving. I believe that she had a great sense of humor. But her heart was a great one. Its good to have roll models and be inspired by people. Its good to see the lives of others and be impacted by them. To be inspired to deepen your relationship with God. I wish I could have met and chatted with Amy Carmichael. She died nearly 50 years before I was born. She wrote 35 books about her life as a missionary in India. I downloaded one onto my kindle app on my tablet. I look forward to reading her stories.

The next missionary I plan on going over is Brother Andrew. His story is amazingly radical. He smuggled Bibles into communist countries and the stories of how he did them are miraculous. God protected him in so many instances from imprisonment. I think that the boys in my youth group will really enjoy his stories. My hope is that my youth kids will be impacted by his life, his courage and his faith. Seeing as the vast majority of my youth group is boys, I think that Brother Andrew's life story will be an exciting one to them. Who doesn't like exciting stories of Smugglers, secrecy, and people escaping with their lives? (I know I do, hence my large viewing history of crime dramas and shows on my Netflix account) I'm excited about re-reading and studying him. I highly suggest the book "God's Smuggler" its a first person book about Brother Andrew (I have no idea what his last name actually is, he is just referred to as 'Brother Andrew') he tells about his early life, his conversion, and his life as a smuggler. Its an excellent and gripping book.

In ending, I encourage you all to read about missionaries, especially if you feel like you are at a hard place in your relationship with God. When I see what God has done in the lives of these missionaries, how he has protected them and brought them through difficult situations, it makes me realize how easy it is for him to move in my life. To help me in hard times. Plus, the stories are extremely interesting, which is always an added perk!

I Still Have a Pulse

Yes, I am alive. I have a pulse. I have been so busy on my normal blogging days that I haven't had a chance to update anything. That and other spare times I may have had is no longer spare, I'm back into my regular running schedule now, so I've been busy (ran my fastest 5k to date yesterday:) )
But, I don't wish to continue on a boring saga of my busy life. So I'll try and make this a usual post.

I am at Starbucks (oh, how many blog posts have I begun that way) and I'm trying to install some software onto my computer so I can make my iphone work as a remote mouse for my powerpoint presentations for youth group. I am on attempt 5 now.Its getting pretty frustrating. Its the same program I've been using since January, but it decided to quit working on me, so I had to go through and delete everything and reinstall etc. Its a good thing my message is all typed up and ready to go or I'd be sunk because of all this extra work. Sometimes I can figure out all this techy stuff, but lets face it: I'm not a tech-savvy person. I run strictly on trial and error. Right now I'm running more on the side of error. Its pretty frustrating.

On another note (and total topic change) , I have really been enjoying getting back into a running routine--let me rephrase that-- I'm really enjoying the FACT that I am back into a running schedule. The running I don't always enjoy. Especially the routes I ran a couple weeks ago. I've come to the conclusion that constant rolling hills hate me. They hate my legs. They hate my lungs. I'd be more than willing to be on a good relationship with them, but they do make themselves so hard to like. Its a bummer too, because Its such a pretty route, but for now anyway, I kill myself on it. I ran 4 miles on that route and felt like I was about to die. Especially because I realized that it took me 25 minutes longer to run 4 miles than it did for me to run the 5k i did yesterday.I am slow enough as it is, so coming to that little revelation was pretty depressing. Needless to say, I will be avoiding the rolling hills at least for a while.Besides, there are pot holes the size of craters on that road that I feel sure want to eat me. I figure its safer to choose ulterior routes, even if they aren't as scenic. But hey, at least I'm running again:)