"Marathon" Weekend!!

1 Corinthians 9:25-27
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

It was a great weekend. We drove to the Akron area on Friday afternoon to our good friends' house---the Mitchells. We haven't been with them since June when we went to that great waterpark in Wisconsin. So El and Lucas had a blast together. She thought playing at their house was like playing at Toys R Us! ;) hehe. She asked me on the way home if WE could have a "bouncy thing" in our basement!! We also got to see our great friend Robin and her girls, one of whom is only 2 weeks old...how sweet and precious that little babe is.

Soooo, RD and Christy ran the Akron marathon this morning. Josh ran the half. They all kicked butt on what RD said was one of the toughest courses he's run on (and today was his 14th marathon!!) Although I didn't get to the finish line in time to see RD finish at 3 hours, 26 min. (lugging 2 girls around an unfamilar town during a baby's naptime is not an easy feat)...I DID arrive in time to see my sweet Christy finish. And let me tell you about this finish.

She was running in support of World Vision, along with about 40 other people from their church, all doing various parts of the race. Because she was one of the only individuals to actually do the entire 26.2 miles, they all waited around at the finish line for her. When she rounded the corner she was in a dead out sprint. And all of us there waiting for her went crazy. It was an emotional moment for almost every single person cheering for Christy because it was her first marathon and the training for a marathon is NOT EASY. (I've experienced it vicariously through RD 14 times now!) She did the training. She ran the race---and it was not an easy course. She set a goal---never to walk once, sub 5 hours. And she finished. And at the finish line were 30 of her closest friends, family, and own kids screaming their lungs out for her, celebrating the work she did and the success she just experienced by crossing the finish line. She was balling as she crossed the line cause she felt like it was a snipet of what Heaven will be like. Crossing the finish line---knowing the race is over and so excited for the celebration awaiting her.

So today as RD was running, he remembered back to his first marathon--before we had kids. The first corner he rounded where I was waiting to cheer him on was so cool. As soon as I saw his stride from afar I began jumping up and down, waving my arms and screaming my head off for him. (me? really?) I was SO EXCITED to see him at that moment, let alone the 4 other times throughout that course and certainly when he crossed that finish line.

This weekend was a good reminder of how impt. it is to have people to cheer us on. Not to pat us on the back and give us strokes to burst our ego. But to have people in our corner pushing us through a difficult race sometimes. And MAN oh MAN the finish line that awaits us...gosh will it be incredible.