I'm Bad

this morning i got up and ran my 5 miles before work. there was a time when i might have wondered if i would ever run 5 miles again in my life, and now i ran it before work. this is so unlike me. i guess elk and a crazy comment by a cousin can make you do weird things. i ran the 5 miles at a pace just over 9:33 min/mile, not too bad. in the morning i need to run 3 miles to get back on track.

i remember back in vet school Robert would have a hard time getting me to run 3 miles with him, and an even harder time getting me to finish. i think because then i was on a vegan diet and didn't have the energy. luckily i quit that, pretty quick.

here is a quote for the day, from one of the songs on my playlist on emily's ipod: "you say the sky's the limit, but to me that's really true..."

can anyone guess who sings that song, i'll give a hint at the end (i guess i have already). to me that quote is talking about the people who say the sky is the limit because it is the right thing to say, not because they believe it. i believe it. i hope everyone reading this believes that what people may tell you is impossible may not be. with God all things are possible. this is not saying that God will allow you to do anything, but i believe God will help us accomplish many things in life that many others will tell you are impossible. so do not listen to the negativity of people, listen to the optimism of God. I can't tell you how many patients are alive today because i refused to listen to people tell me there was no chance for the patient to survive. they were right in one aspect, if i didn't try, there was no chance for the patient. however, because the owner and i were willing to try we were able to save their pet. now i am not saying i save them all, i probably don't even save 1/2 of the really critical patients, but to the ones i do save, i know the owner is extremely appreciative (and i like to think the pet is too). so, the next time someone tells you that you can't do something that you believe you can do, tell them you can do it because....(wait for it...wait for it..) "I'm Bad!"

Way Off Track

tonight i was at work late again, and no shannan it was not because i was harvesting crops. i did that after it was already too late to run. so i did not run tonight. i am a little leery about running at night now since a guy tried to hit me the other night. it was about dusk and he was in a black truck and kept edging closer and closer until i had to jump off the road and into the ditch, no cars were coming the other direction either. but i think i can run tomorrow and friday mornings and get the long run in on sat. evening. if anyone is reading this at about 5:30am thurs. morning (cst) feel free to call and wake me up.

i have been having a hard time this week trying to get everything in. i knew i would have an occasional week like this, so i don't feel that bad. but if i can get all of my running in that will be one more hurdle i have overcome.

i am still waiting on Todd to answer some questions i sent him on facebook about running, he keeps promising me i will get an answer soon ;) I am also not sure what to do next weekend when zeke and i are going camping. we will leave sat and get back mon. good enough to miss my long run of that week. i guess i could just stay on schedule for the days i have missed and then it would probably all even out. i am sure i will be ok, it's only a marathon.

tonight i will talk on a topic i don't think i have discussed before, worry. "God offers you just that: the possibility of a worry-free life. Not just less worry, but no worry." studies have shown this about the things we worry about:
40% never happen
30% are about unchangeable deeds of the past
12% focus on opinions of others that can't be controlled
10% center on personal health (which worsens when we worry)
8% concern real problems we can influence

so 92% of our worries can't possibly change a thing! "not only is worry irrelevant, doing nothing; worry is irreverent, distrusting God." "Rather than take away tomorrow's trouble, worry voids today's strength." these quotes and stats are taken from Come Thirsty by Max Lucado. when i read this chapter i came up with the thought that worry doesn't increase life, it decreases it. because you worry trying to figure out what you are going to do about this or that and you put life on hold. this does come back to a previous topic, fear. and we all know what happens when you live in fear, you aren't really living, you are merely existing. we all know that if you wrap yourself into something that is bad, you live a bad life. trust in The Lord. He is your strength and fortress. no matter what he allows to happen to you, it is the best for you. this leads me to my all time favorite verse, "The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall i fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall i be afraid." Psalm 27.1 if you like that at all read the rest of Psalms 27, then you will definitely be able to get one of those stickers for your car and flaunt it truthfully "No Fear." (i have a couple of the shirts too if anyone would like to borrow one to show off your new found confidence) :)

On Call Again and Another Personal Best

here i am on call for the 5th night out of 8 nights. i did get to run this morning, 3 miles. guess what. my last 3 miler i finished in just under 28 minutes, which was my fastest to that point. this one i finished in just under 27 minutes! it would have been a little faster too but i had to wait on a truck to pass bye. i did not get to shoot my bow today. i was going to at lunch then some co-workers wanted to go to lunch. then i was going after work and the range was closed, then i thought i would come home and shoot and a horrible thunderstorm started. which was o.k. because i immediately got a call and had to see 2 emergencies in a row and just got home at about 11pm. i do have to run 5 miles tomorrow to stay on track. hopefully it will not rain me out.

"Enemy-occupied territory- that is what the world is." C.S. Lewis. this is one of the unique truths in the the Christian life. everyone who is not a Christian is against is, and many do not even know it. the ones that do not know it may be the worst enemies. because they are nice and teach us to be tolerant of others' non-Christian beliefs. Jesus was not tolerant of others beliefs, those beliefs are the beliefs that get people into hell, no matter how nice they are. so, we have to always remember, every non-Christian in the world is against us, AND that we have to love them. "for if we make friends of our enemies, are we not destroying them?" so many times we want to follow along with the world and its popular views, and one of those views is that nice people go to heaven. but that is not true. those who are saved by God through Jesus go to heaven, no one else. i challenge everyone reading this to pray for the lost this week, in general, and pick one individual out and pray for them all week long. also pray for compassion and understanding of the lost. pray too for the end of tolerance by Christians, the lost are depending on each one of us!

Too Busy?

To add to yesterday, i did get to shoot my bow 36 times at 30 yards, again, i would like to shoot at further distances but i will take it for now. however, the hunting trip is getting close and i need to be shooting longer distances from here on out to help me get better at the shorter distances.

today Zeke and i went to union city, tn to go to a hunting store there that i have heard a lot about. then we went to walmart, then to hulme's sporting goods in paris. then we went to Zeke's dad's house to shoot some skeet. finally i got home and i just had time to shoot my bow 3 rounds (34 shots because i shot the end off of an arrow on the first round). so, i did not get to run today. i was a little bummed out. that means i will have to try and run 3 days in a row, tues, wed, and thurs. 3,5,3 miles respectively. i think i will be able to do it just fine. 3 miles doesn't bother me near what it use to. hopefully the 5 miles in the middle will not put too much of a strain on me. then i will have a break before i have to run 8 miles on saturday.

i have been trying to eat better lately but being on call doesn't help.

here are a few quotes from one of my favorite books, Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge: "Choose the path of humility; don't be a self-promoter, a glad-hander, a poser. Climb down the ladder; ... treat your secretary like she's more important than you; look to be the servant of all." "The world of posers is shaken by a real man. They'll do whatever it takes to get you back in line-threaten you, bribe you, seduce you, undermine you. They crucified Jesus. But it didn't work, did it? You must let your strength show up... Many of us have actually been afraid to let our strength show up because the world doesn't have a place for it. Fine. The world's screwed up. Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it." these two quotes are almost opposing. but not really. one is saying to be humble to God's people, basically love them all. but at the same time do not let the world judge what is right. you live how God would want you to live, do what God wants you to do. the people who oppose you will probably only get stronger against you. but all of those on the sidelines watching will hopefully see that just because the majority of worldly people says something is the way it should be, doesn't mean that is the right way. remember a quote from a few blogs ago, "even if 4 million people believe in a dumb idea, it is still a dumb idea." so live to love and serve others while maintaining your Christian morals and values and stand up for what you believe is right, no matter how influential or powerful the people against you may be. (i think i sometimes have a way of being over dramatic).

Another Personal Best!

yesterday i ran for the longest distance/time that i ever have to this point. i ran for 7 miles and here is a break down of the times:
1 mile: 9 min 11 sec
1.5miles: 13min 33 sec (4:22)
2 miles: 18 min 26 sec (4:52)
2.5 miles: 23 min 10 sec (4:44)
3 miles: 27 min 54 sec (4:43)
3.5 miles: 32 min 39 sec (4:44)
4 miles: 37 min 37 sec (4:58)
4.5 miles: 42 min 22 sec(4:45)
5 miles: 47 min 6 sec(4:44)
5.5 miles: 52 min 04 sec(4:57)
6 miles: 56 min 42 sec(4:38)
7 miles: 66 min 54 sec(10:11)

so my pace for the entire run was right at 9:30/mile. i do not think that is too bad. you can see my last mile was by far the slowest at 10min 11 sec, that was one minute slower that the first mile. i was hoping to do the 7 miles in 63 minutes or so, i was not too far off that pace. actually, at 3.5 miles i was at a 9:20 pace. the second half kind of kicked my tail (except from 5.5 to 6 miles which was one of my fastest paces for a half mile, weird).

of course when i got in last night i was too tired to blog, or anything else. luckily i did not get any calls for emergencies during my run, or after. i do have to meet a lady at the clinic at 12:30pm today to look at her dog's eye. hopefully i can get through church without any calls.

thought of the day: this is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."

i think i like this quote because it is so graphic. i can just picture the guy with the dirty face, giving all he's got, and just hoping he will be the victor, wanting to get in there and help him. then i think i want this guy to be me, i want to be him, in something i care so much about that i give all i have fighting for it.

Late and Tired

Alright, it has been a long week, it is late and i am tired. this will be rather short. i did get up to run my 3 miles this morning. the first 1.5 miles took just under 14.5 minutes. however, the second 1.5 miles took just over 13.5 minutes. so, i finished my fastest 3 miles to date in just under 28 minutes, which is about 9 minutes and 20 seconds per mile, 12 sec/mile improvement over my second fastest time.

the last 2 times i have ran, 4 miles and 3 miles, i have had to fight the urge to go # 2 the whole run, think that may be slowing me down a bit. i hope i can figure something out before i start the much longer runs. shouldn't be a big deal, where i run has a lot of crop fields so i can sneak off the road if i need to. i just would rather not be interrupted during a run.

i am still hoping i can get my 7 miler in tomorrow while being on call.

quote of the night is a quote from an atheist and how they sometimes view Christians. again this is a quote that i can't remember the sayer or the exact quotation but here goes. "If all of europe was covered in broken glass and i truly believed the gospel story, i would crawl across europe on my hands and knees to tell the story of Jesus to the last person in the world." the story goes on to say that the Christians this man knew did not have that fire, so he really couldn't believe in our God. nuff said, ponder that one.

Lazy Day

Last night i was on call and had a couple of late night calls so i did not get to do my run this morning. i came home this afternoon and stretched and was about to go outside and run. when i looked outside it was pouring rain. so i have decided that if i can run in the morning i can still get my 7 miler in on sat evening. however, i am on call saturday and sunday so i may have to take my phone with me and do the best i can. as soon as i am done writing this i am going to go downstairs and do my crunch/push-up routine.

if any of you are interested you should read the posts from yesterday. Shannan and Todd both made comments. i think the scripture Todd posted can be taken in more ways than one. i need to figure out which is best, so please leave any comments that you would like to add.

trying to get Jeff S. to start running with me some- he is resisting, so if any of you talk to him put the pressure on.

Tonight's quote comes from Robert McGee in The Search for Significance, "Therefore, the only way we can overcome the fear of rejection is to value the constant approval of God over the conditional approval of people." I think this is so important for people to understand. We have to come to the realization that God loves us no matter how sinful we are or how unimportant we feel, we are extremely important to God. He sent His ONLY Son to die for each one of us. if you were the only person in the world He would still have sent Jesus to die for you. Jesus would still die for you! that is how important you are! no matter who you upset, if you are truly serving God you are doing the right thing. try to serve God and love people and you can't go wrong.