Did I forget to mention that our group is HILARIOUS? So, at camp we have different teams for spirit points. They are simply broken up by color. Churches will typically come with lots of clothes and things to go along with their color for spirit. Our kids? Oh no. They have to take that one step further. A couple of days before camp, most of them gathered at my house to come up with some special themes that they would dress like during camp. Monday night they had a black out night because we had made shirts that were black so they just said let's make all of our clothes, black. Ok, I get that. But then Tuesday night they decided to make that "Formal" night. Yeah, formal night. Like I'm going to a sweet 16 party or prom! So we had our kids decked out on Tuesday night. Everyone thought it was great! But then last night, we topped it. Our kids had decided to make it Cowboys and Indians night! Yeah. So we had a whole lot of cowboys and cowgirls and one Indian (Maureen). The rest of camp was basically saying, "why didn't we think of that?" Our kids are awesome!
Last night was a very challenging, but needed message. Our speaker spoke that if we are saturating ourselves with God and His Word and in communication with Him in prayer, then we won't need any gimicks or motivation to go and tell people about Jesus. Telling people about Jesus will just start coming out of us because we've been filled up with Him, and now it is overflowing. Our students were really challenged with this as was I, and plan on coming back and challenging the rest of our church with this. What a great night! I hope you'll tune in with us at 10am and 7pm today at www.liftstudentministries.com to watch us live!
Ron Foster
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wa-Wa-Wednesday!
Last night the service was amazing! I got some texts from some of our church members telling me they were watching online! That's pretty cool! The topic was RUN using Jonah as an example. We looked at it from a different perspective than normal, not focusing on the great fish, but rather on Jonah himself and how he was running from God, but could never outrun God. We had two from our group that prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior and stop running from God!
When the service was over, we went to do some serious roller skating. All I gotta say is that a 32 year old youth pastor, a 31 year old intern, and a (we don't know the age and we're not asking) southern belle outlasted ALL of our teenagers out on the rink! I mean, seriously, come on. How are these teenagers gonna let us show them up like that?
It's been a great Wednesday so far. Service and our group times were good. We've had kind of a lazy afternoon, hitting up some swimming and then relaxation with the rain and thunderstorms on us. I can't wait to see what God wants to do tonight! It's gonna be great! Make sure to watch us online at www.liftstudentministries.com at 7pm tonight!
Ron Foster
When the service was over, we went to do some serious roller skating. All I gotta say is that a 32 year old youth pastor, a 31 year old intern, and a (we don't know the age and we're not asking) southern belle outlasted ALL of our teenagers out on the rink! I mean, seriously, come on. How are these teenagers gonna let us show them up like that?
It's been a great Wednesday so far. Service and our group times were good. We've had kind of a lazy afternoon, hitting up some swimming and then relaxation with the rain and thunderstorms on us. I can't wait to see what God wants to do tonight! It's gonna be great! Make sure to watch us online at www.liftstudentministries.com at 7pm tonight!
Ron Foster
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Oh Tuesday!
So far we've had an adventure filled day! Let's see, we got up bright and early to head to breakfast followed immediately by what we call "Morning Fun" time. For this, the camp gathers in the auditorium to scream and shout for their teams, and win points for their teams by doing stupid, funny games. What's great about that is that I get to run the games! We had students squirting alka-seltzer tablets that were taped to each other's foreheads, scream to see who could get the loudest decibals, peel a banana with their feet and then eat the banana, eat a blowpop as fast as they can and blow a bubble, blow up a balloon until it pops with their nose, and some fun racing games around the auditorium!
Devon was our balloon guy and almost had it blown up, but then he dropped it and lost the lead. Kenneth ended up eating the banana.
Our speaker, Aaron Cavin is doing a great job. You know, it's funny. Aaron and I were in college together, and I never thought he was really going to make it in ministry, but he has been doing an incredible job, and God is using him so much to make an impact on our students!
We hit lunch, then had a team for volleyball. They fought a good fight, but fell in defeat in the end. It was all good though, because there was makeshirft waterslide on campus. We got muddy and wet. It was great! Maureen, Hailey, Eric, Devon, Will and I sure were a mess when leaving that place! In the mean time, the rest of the group made use of the movie room eating popcorn and having fun. We're now relaxing a little bit before dinner, then service, and some roller skating tonight! Make sure to watch us online at www.liftstudentministries.com at 7pm tonight! We're having a great time! Talk to you later!
Ron Foster
Devon was our balloon guy and almost had it blown up, but then he dropped it and lost the lead. Kenneth ended up eating the banana.
Our speaker, Aaron Cavin is doing a great job. You know, it's funny. Aaron and I were in college together, and I never thought he was really going to make it in ministry, but he has been doing an incredible job, and God is using him so much to make an impact on our students!
We hit lunch, then had a team for volleyball. They fought a good fight, but fell in defeat in the end. It was all good though, because there was makeshirft waterslide on campus. We got muddy and wet. It was great! Maureen, Hailey, Eric, Devon, Will and I sure were a mess when leaving that place! In the mean time, the rest of the group made use of the movie room eating popcorn and having fun. We're now relaxing a little bit before dinner, then service, and some roller skating tonight! Make sure to watch us online at www.liftstudentministries.com at 7pm tonight! We're having a great time! Talk to you later!
Ron Foster
Boy oh Boy!
Our high school students met at the church this morning to leave for camp. We set out on a nice little road trip to go just north of Philadelphia to LIFT camp at Philadelphia Biblical University. We had a great trip up here, and finally made it!
These guys had a great time exploring the campus figuring out what they wanted to do during the day. After dinner, we headed to the evening service. It was great to see our teens enjoying the presence of God through singing and through the message.
We ended up doing a little bit of bowling this evening for the late night activity. Now that we're back, I'm falling asleep as I type this. So with that being said, I bid you all a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow!
Ron Foster
These guys had a great time exploring the campus figuring out what they wanted to do during the day. After dinner, we headed to the evening service. It was great to see our teens enjoying the presence of God through singing and through the message.
We ended up doing a little bit of bowling this evening for the late night activity. Now that we're back, I'm falling asleep as I type this. So with that being said, I bid you all a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow!
Ron Foster
Saturday, July 11, 2009
And Away We Go!
We got up Friday morning did the breakfast thing, the getting ready thing, the clean up cabin thing, and pack the vans thing. I always tell our leaders we bring with us that spending one week of camp with our students is worth one year's worth of relationship building. Our leaders were awesome. We brought Matt Toeneboehn and Maureen Cook. Everywhere the students went, they went. After the long journey home, our leaders were definitely exhausted, but also very fulfilled. They had just as much fun as the students did, and they got an opportunity to lead and share. I'll just share that they came through with flying colors. If you see them around church, make sure to let them know it too!
So camp is over now. We're home. We've all come back a little different then the way we went. The fun has just begun, and I can't wait to see how the group will continue the friendships and the decisions they made in the days ahead. Thank you parents for trusting us with your kids. I hope you were able to get some rest while they were away as well! Make sure to check back in to this blog from time to time as we do more then just the camp blog here. Have a great day guys!
Ron Foster
So camp is over now. We're home. We've all come back a little different then the way we went. The fun has just begun, and I can't wait to see how the group will continue the friendships and the decisions they made in the days ahead. Thank you parents for trusting us with your kids. I hope you were able to get some rest while they were away as well! Make sure to check back in to this blog from time to time as we do more then just the camp blog here. Have a great day guys!
Ron Foster
The Big Day!
Thursday is the last full day of camp. Everyone knows this, so we try to get the most out of our day. The day started out in it's typical way: Wake up, Breakfast, Shower, Morning Service, Small Group Time. In our morning service, we talked about Superman being the Man of Steel that can deflect bullets from his chest. We related that to how it's not so easy for us to deflect words from hurting us and our words hurting others. We had some good discussion as a youth group on this.
Following this, we headed to the Rec Room for our annual Carpetball Tournament. If you don't know what carpetball is, catch me later because it's too complicated to explain here. I'll just say it's really easy to play, and really fun. Because it's so easy, practically the whole camp plays! It was pretty cool seeing the whole camp in our Rec Room at the same time!
After lunch we had our big group games. The girls' game was so funny. They had 4 soccer balls covered in shaving cream that they had to run with and try to get into these buckets. Then, the ball would get covered in shaving cream again! These girls were covered in shaving cream, it was awesome! The guys were playing some serious dodgeball up in the gym. It was funny to see some of their tactics of staying in the game, like hiding in the corner and making themselves seem like they weren't in the game. Good times.
After the big group games were over, the real game began. I challenged our girls bball team to a 1 on 3 game. If they won, I would take our whole group for some cold drinks. If I won, they would babysit for us! Without getting into much detail, it ended up with me driving our group to get some cold drinks. :(
The night's service was awesome as usual. We saw several students come forward for decisions at the end of the service. My favorite part came next where we could take our kids for some recap time of sharing. Our students shared with each other the decisions that they had made this week. There were some hugs, some tears, and some giggles. Right after this, we did this thing I simply call "Compliments" where the students can go around and share a compliment with one of the other people in the group. This ended up being one of the longest sessions of this that I've ever done. It wasn't because they had so much to say, but because some of them couldn't make up their minds who they wanted to compliment (Brooke and Charlie), some others couldn't stop laughing (Morgan and Erin), and others couldn't stop crying (Katie). All in all it was a great night though!
The rest of the night was a bonfire where as a camp they could share decisions with each other and some late night ice cream and dodgeball in the gym. Our kids eventually got to sleep, but it was indeed a great night of camp!
Ron Foster
Following this, we headed to the Rec Room for our annual Carpetball Tournament. If you don't know what carpetball is, catch me later because it's too complicated to explain here. I'll just say it's really easy to play, and really fun. Because it's so easy, practically the whole camp plays! It was pretty cool seeing the whole camp in our Rec Room at the same time!
After lunch we had our big group games. The girls' game was so funny. They had 4 soccer balls covered in shaving cream that they had to run with and try to get into these buckets. Then, the ball would get covered in shaving cream again! These girls were covered in shaving cream, it was awesome! The guys were playing some serious dodgeball up in the gym. It was funny to see some of their tactics of staying in the game, like hiding in the corner and making themselves seem like they weren't in the game. Good times.
After the big group games were over, the real game began. I challenged our girls bball team to a 1 on 3 game. If they won, I would take our whole group for some cold drinks. If I won, they would babysit for us! Without getting into much detail, it ended up with me driving our group to get some cold drinks. :(
The night's service was awesome as usual. We saw several students come forward for decisions at the end of the service. My favorite part came next where we could take our kids for some recap time of sharing. Our students shared with each other the decisions that they had made this week. There were some hugs, some tears, and some giggles. Right after this, we did this thing I simply call "Compliments" where the students can go around and share a compliment with one of the other people in the group. This ended up being one of the longest sessions of this that I've ever done. It wasn't because they had so much to say, but because some of them couldn't make up their minds who they wanted to compliment (Brooke and Charlie), some others couldn't stop laughing (Morgan and Erin), and others couldn't stop crying (Katie). All in all it was a great night though!
The rest of the night was a bonfire where as a camp they could share decisions with each other and some late night ice cream and dodgeball in the gym. Our kids eventually got to sleep, but it was indeed a great night of camp!
Ron Foster
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Oh what a night!
Worship led us into another great meeting with our speaker, Mike Haley. A thing about our speaker is that I've known him for about 15 years, so we have alot of shared experiences together. He keeps sharing some of those experiences with the camp and embarassing me, and our students are loving that!
Following the service, we had our 2nd annual talent show. I have to say, this is one of my favorite parts of camp now. These kids were so funny to watch! They'll do anything because at their age, they still don't care what other people think! We had Erin Crowley say a few of her corny jokes, Charlie Barton did a card trick in front of everyone. Katie Kinsey did this whole stretching and bending thing where she put her legs behind her feet, and Dan Giles gave this whole V for Vendetta Speech. Katie ended up winning the whole Talent Show!
So we finally got everyone up to their beds and sleeping, and now it's time for a little rest and relaxation for the leaders. So I bid you goodnight until the morning and wish you a good night!
Ron Foster
Following the service, we had our 2nd annual talent show. I have to say, this is one of my favorite parts of camp now. These kids were so funny to watch! They'll do anything because at their age, they still don't care what other people think! We had Erin Crowley say a few of her corny jokes, Charlie Barton did a card trick in front of everyone. Katie Kinsey did this whole stretching and bending thing where she put her legs behind her feet, and Dan Giles gave this whole V for Vendetta Speech. Katie ended up winning the whole Talent Show!
So we finally got everyone up to their beds and sleeping, and now it's time for a little rest and relaxation for the leaders. So I bid you goodnight until the morning and wish you a good night!
Ron Foster
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday!
Wednesday is a simple, yet tiring day. That's because it's Water Park Day! Before we hit the water park, however, I have to tell you that our morning service was incredible! Everyone was really, really, into the worship. That led to our speaker having an altar call before he even started speaking, and 5 students went forward to accept Jesus as their Savior! What an awesome God we serve! We talked about making good choices, and what to do when we've found ourself stuck in a web of bad choices that we can't seem to get out of. Obviously, the hero was Spiderman!
After our group discussion, we got on some buses, and headed to Camelbeach Water Park in Tannersville, PA where our students wore themselves out on water slides, surf simulators, and wave pools! We just got back, ate some pizza for dinner, and are now in the worship service that is so incredible with the Scott Kemper Band leading worship! I can't wait to see what God will do tonight! Talk to you guys soon with more updates!
Ron Foster
After our group discussion, we got on some buses, and headed to Camelbeach Water Park in Tannersville, PA where our students wore themselves out on water slides, surf simulators, and wave pools! We just got back, ate some pizza for dinner, and are now in the worship service that is so incredible with the Scott Kemper Band leading worship! I can't wait to see what God will do tonight! Talk to you guys soon with more updates!
Ron Foster
Catching Up! (Tuesday recap)
Ok, so I missed updating Tuesday for everyone, so I'll do two updates.
Tuesday was such a busy, long day! After breakfast, the students headed into the auditorium for our morning service. The morning services are a little different in that we do just a few songs, and our speaker introduces a topic that we discuss later in our church group. The topic focused on overcoming fears, especially the fear of telling others about Christ. We had a great discussion as a group together.
After group, we headed up to the gym for the basketball tournament. Chase Hite jumped on a team that won their first round game, but lost shortly afterward. He did great. He was all over the place. The talk of the camp, however, was our girls team consisting of Morgan Merkert, Erin Crowley, and Katie Kinsey. They all dressed up really funny and put their hair in pony tail buns. They then did a very intimidating warm up with some crazy passes to each other. They lived up to the hype too! They crushed through every game like they were playing 1st Graders. It was an amazing thing to watch! The whole camp started cheering for our girls! It was incredible! They won the girls tourney!
After lunch we had some big group games out in the fields and up in the gym. I'll say this. All of our boys came back from their game covered in shaving cream! Awesome! We spent the rest of the day all over the camp with free time where our kids went out on canoes and kayaks, swam in the pool, and I had the longest and most challenging game of teatherball with our guy counselor, Matt Toeneboehn! Matt won :(
The service was another home run, where our students worshipped with all of their hearts, and listened to a powerful message that spoke to thier identity in Christ, and how we can get closer to Him. Our students really connected with leading several of them to make commitment to make Jesus 1st in their lives!
After the service we had some crazy games up in the gym, followed by a basketball game that the whole camp watched: our girls vs the boys champs! Everyone, and I mean everyone was cheering for our girls! They were so happy! They did so good! At one point it was all tied up 6-6. Baskets went back and forth, with the guys finally taking the win with a score of 11-9. Everyone cheered our girls in defeat. It was like a movie! In fact, I got alot of it on video, so I'm sure you'll get to see some of it at some point!
What a great group of kids we have here at camp. I'm so pumped for them to be here! I'm so excited to see how God is moving in their hearts! Stay tuned for another update shortly!
Ron Foster
Tuesday was such a busy, long day! After breakfast, the students headed into the auditorium for our morning service. The morning services are a little different in that we do just a few songs, and our speaker introduces a topic that we discuss later in our church group. The topic focused on overcoming fears, especially the fear of telling others about Christ. We had a great discussion as a group together.
After group, we headed up to the gym for the basketball tournament. Chase Hite jumped on a team that won their first round game, but lost shortly afterward. He did great. He was all over the place. The talk of the camp, however, was our girls team consisting of Morgan Merkert, Erin Crowley, and Katie Kinsey. They all dressed up really funny and put their hair in pony tail buns. They then did a very intimidating warm up with some crazy passes to each other. They lived up to the hype too! They crushed through every game like they were playing 1st Graders. It was an amazing thing to watch! The whole camp started cheering for our girls! It was incredible! They won the girls tourney!
After lunch we had some big group games out in the fields and up in the gym. I'll say this. All of our boys came back from their game covered in shaving cream! Awesome! We spent the rest of the day all over the camp with free time where our kids went out on canoes and kayaks, swam in the pool, and I had the longest and most challenging game of teatherball with our guy counselor, Matt Toeneboehn! Matt won :(
The service was another home run, where our students worshipped with all of their hearts, and listened to a powerful message that spoke to thier identity in Christ, and how we can get closer to Him. Our students really connected with leading several of them to make commitment to make Jesus 1st in their lives!
After the service we had some crazy games up in the gym, followed by a basketball game that the whole camp watched: our girls vs the boys champs! Everyone, and I mean everyone was cheering for our girls! They were so happy! They did so good! At one point it was all tied up 6-6. Baskets went back and forth, with the guys finally taking the win with a score of 11-9. Everyone cheered our girls in defeat. It was like a movie! In fact, I got alot of it on video, so I'm sure you'll get to see some of it at some point!
What a great group of kids we have here at camp. I'm so pumped for them to be here! I'm so excited to see how God is moving in their hearts! Stay tuned for another update shortly!
Ron Foster
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Game On!
July 7th, 2010.
So we left the church around 8:30am on Monday morning with 13 students and 3 leaders. It seemed like a long trip especially with the "I have to go to the bathroom" comments tagged with the "Is it time to eat yet?" questions. We pulled into the camp @ Rock Mountain Bible Camp just 30 minutes north of Scranton, PA, and it was on!
Our students went on a scavenger hunt after getting settled into their cabins to get acclimated with the camp setting where they saw the lake, the pool, the rec room, the all important dining room, and soccer field. It was great to see our guys and girls walking around and doing stuff together in their free time leading up to dinner.
I think our kids were blown away with the service. We started off with some screaming for our team (DC Comics), followed by some incredibly loud and awesome worship from Scott Kemper and his band, mixed with video and lighting that was off the charts! Our students were up front with a big crowd of the majority of the camp jumping up and down singing along. They sang and jumped so much that the floor was bouncing up and down! I'm not gonna lie, it smelled like some serious body odor when they went back to their seats!
Our speaker, Mike Haley introduced the camp to the greatest Hero of all time, Jesus. He shared how he prayed a prayer when he was 5 because other people were doing the same thing. It wasn't until he was 14 that he understood what accepting what Jesus did meant, and gave his heart to Christ. Our students really connected with this part of the message, as we had some great conversations in the cabins later about this very point.
The game for the night was Capture the Flag in the dark, separating the teams with glow sticks. Then the rain came. The whole camp was so pumped up to play capture the flag in the rain! It was seriously one of the coolest, funniest things I've seen. I walked out to see glow sticks all over this open field, slipping and falling and all you could hear was rain and laughter! What a great time!
We closed the night with some in-cabin discussions and wrap ups from the day which was probably my favorite part of the day. We have some great guys and girls that we brought from our church.
My camp duties put me in bed around 2:30 am. Woke up at 6:00 am to get a 3 mile run in, had counselor meeting with all of our leaders, and ready to start the new day! Make sure to check in later for some updates of how the day is going! Thanks for stopping in!
Ron Foster
So we left the church around 8:30am on Monday morning with 13 students and 3 leaders. It seemed like a long trip especially with the "I have to go to the bathroom" comments tagged with the "Is it time to eat yet?" questions. We pulled into the camp @ Rock Mountain Bible Camp just 30 minutes north of Scranton, PA, and it was on!
Our students went on a scavenger hunt after getting settled into their cabins to get acclimated with the camp setting where they saw the lake, the pool, the rec room, the all important dining room, and soccer field. It was great to see our guys and girls walking around and doing stuff together in their free time leading up to dinner.
I think our kids were blown away with the service. We started off with some screaming for our team (DC Comics), followed by some incredibly loud and awesome worship from Scott Kemper and his band, mixed with video and lighting that was off the charts! Our students were up front with a big crowd of the majority of the camp jumping up and down singing along. They sang and jumped so much that the floor was bouncing up and down! I'm not gonna lie, it smelled like some serious body odor when they went back to their seats!
Our speaker, Mike Haley introduced the camp to the greatest Hero of all time, Jesus. He shared how he prayed a prayer when he was 5 because other people were doing the same thing. It wasn't until he was 14 that he understood what accepting what Jesus did meant, and gave his heart to Christ. Our students really connected with this part of the message, as we had some great conversations in the cabins later about this very point.
The game for the night was Capture the Flag in the dark, separating the teams with glow sticks. Then the rain came. The whole camp was so pumped up to play capture the flag in the rain! It was seriously one of the coolest, funniest things I've seen. I walked out to see glow sticks all over this open field, slipping and falling and all you could hear was rain and laughter! What a great time!
We closed the night with some in-cabin discussions and wrap ups from the day which was probably my favorite part of the day. We have some great guys and girls that we brought from our church.
My camp duties put me in bed around 2:30 am. Woke up at 6:00 am to get a 3 mile run in, had counselor meeting with all of our leaders, and ready to start the new day! Make sure to check in later for some updates of how the day is going! Thanks for stopping in!
Ron Foster
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
What A Run!
I know I just mentioned that I'll be updating this blog for Middle School Camp, but that doesn't start until next week, and I just had to write about my morning!
I've been running. Some people know this if they've been keeping up with me on facebo
ok. In my office, I have a running chart of goals I am trying to hit each week as to how many miles each week, broken down by days. I missed Monday just because I was being lazy. I planned on running Tuesday night, but it started to downpour. So I had it in my mind that I would try a 7 mile run this morning to start making up for missing the other days.
(applicable only if you live in or around Annapolis) I drove the route to make sure it was 7 miles: Start at Gemini and Forest Dr. (where I live) going up Forest. Turn right at Chinquapin Round Rd. Left at West Street. Cross over Solomon's Island continue up West Street toward the mall. Turn right at Bestgate Road. Right at Medical Parkway. Eventually curves around back to West Street and Solomon's Island Rd. Head back down West Street. Right on Chinquapin Round Road. Left on Forest Drive and end at Gemini Dr.
I hadn't run further than 6 miles since well, in a long time. I started out the run by seeing 3 deer just off to my right. As I got closer to them, they didn't move. They just looked at me and watched me run! I was about 5 yards away from them! It w
as awesome! At about the 3.5 mile mark I got pretty fatigued, so I walked about 1/2 mile to the mile 4 marker, where I began running again. About the 5 mile mark, I began praying. "Lord, today is Yours. Please take my decisions. My thoughts. My actions. I want them to honor You!" This all stemmed from a series we are doing with the students called "24: Spending a Day With God". It's a 3 week series covering the morning hours, your during the day hours, and evening hours. Giving my day to God was a great start! I then thanked Jesus for getting me up so that I could pursue making running a habit, and then He reminded me that there was another habit I had yet to make happen today. You know what it is. So I asked Him to help me remember to open up His Word and not rush it, but soak in what He wants for me to know! I did open up His Word and am still thinking about the words that I read and how God wants to change me as a result.
You know, habits are hard to start and hard to break. Getting into the habit of running hasn't been easy and I wasn't able to do six and a half miles when I started. It's been a process. Just like opening up God's Word on a regular basis. There will be times when it all makes sense and it's awesome. But there will be times when your mind is somewhere else. In those times, pray that God will get your focus. He'll bless you for it. And the more you do it, the more you'll get out of it!
On a side note, some songs that kept me running as I was getting tired throughout the run:
Never Let Go - Matt Redman
Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill
Rain Down - Hillsong United & Delirious
I Am Free - Newsboys
Yours - Toby Mac
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
All Star - Smash Mouth
I'm a Believer - Smash Mouth
Have a great day!
Ron Foster
I've been running. Some people know this if they've been keeping up with me on facebo
ok. In my office, I have a running chart of goals I am trying to hit each week as to how many miles each week, broken down by days. I missed Monday just because I was being lazy. I planned on running Tuesday night, but it started to downpour. So I had it in my mind that I would try a 7 mile run this morning to start making up for missing the other days.(applicable only if you live in or around Annapolis) I drove the route to make sure it was 7 miles: Start at Gemini and Forest Dr. (where I live) going up Forest. Turn right at Chinquapin Round Rd. Left at West Street. Cross over Solomon's Island continue up West Street toward the mall. Turn right at Bestgate Road. Right at Medical Parkway. Eventually curves around back to West Street and Solomon's Island Rd. Head back down West Street. Right on Chinquapin Round Road. Left on Forest Drive and end at Gemini Dr.
I hadn't run further than 6 miles since well, in a long time. I started out the run by seeing 3 deer just off to my right. As I got closer to them, they didn't move. They just looked at me and watched me run! I was about 5 yards away from them! It w
as awesome! At about the 3.5 mile mark I got pretty fatigued, so I walked about 1/2 mile to the mile 4 marker, where I began running again. About the 5 mile mark, I began praying. "Lord, today is Yours. Please take my decisions. My thoughts. My actions. I want them to honor You!" This all stemmed from a series we are doing with the students called "24: Spending a Day With God". It's a 3 week series covering the morning hours, your during the day hours, and evening hours. Giving my day to God was a great start! I then thanked Jesus for getting me up so that I could pursue making running a habit, and then He reminded me that there was another habit I had yet to make happen today. You know what it is. So I asked Him to help me remember to open up His Word and not rush it, but soak in what He wants for me to know! I did open up His Word and am still thinking about the words that I read and how God wants to change me as a result.You know, habits are hard to start and hard to break. Getting into the habit of running hasn't been easy and I wasn't able to do six and a half miles when I started. It's been a process. Just like opening up God's Word on a regular basis. There will be times when it all makes sense and it's awesome. But there will be times when your mind is somewhere else. In those times, pray that God will get your focus. He'll bless you for it. And the more you do it, the more you'll get out of it!
On a side note, some songs that kept me running as I was getting tired throughout the run:
Never Let Go - Matt Redman
Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill
Rain Down - Hillsong United & Delirious
I Am Free - Newsboys
Yours - Toby Mac
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
All Star - Smash Mouth
I'm a Believer - Smash Mouth
Have a great day!
Ron Foster
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