Reminder *this is a free write, with no proof reading or editing so just go with it* :)
I awakened an hour before my alarm clock (2am) and excitedly but surprisingly a little tired and headed into the kitchen to make my usual pre-marathon breakfast. The quietness of the middle of the night and darkness is a unique feeling and I opened the kitchen door to let in the pre-race whether. The air felt wonderful as I tasted the yummy oatmeal, raisins and banana, with a side of 2 egg whites a hot cup of coffee and some OJ. I only tried to let in postive "dare to believe" thoughts but noticed the negative ones trying to pop in at every chance..."youre not ready for this..." "you have no idea about the course"..."you're going to be alone the whole race" blah blah blah. I cut my meal short so as to knock out those anxiety producing bugs in my mind and took a wonderful hot shower, and then dawled myself up with lots of make-up...does wonders for a girl in training...it's trick I learned in a magazine and it works! Those of you know at work how much I rarely wear make-up but when it comes to working out it's a common feature (even those 3 am solo workouts at the gym...has nothing to do with "looking pretty" and all about how I feel about myself...well taken care of and feminine).
Once finally ready I tapped Erin on the shoulder to get going and she said, "jenny, my clock says 3:45) as we checked all the clocks in the house said a different time and I realized this meant I truly got less than 4 hours of sleep...haha! We laughed and slept for another hour (i woke up on my own JUST IN TIME before missing it all! haha!).
Erin hopped on the bus with me until it was time to go and then we were off. There wasn't a peep on the bus...usually there's alot of screaming, and laughing, and meeting new people. Maybe because there were people from all over the world there were few conversations. It was still dark out and it was hard to see during the ride to Marathona. I did notice alot of space and few country homes here and there and then we'd go through little towns with alot of cement buildings...nothing with inspiring beauty (to be honest).
They dumped us out in the freezing cold biting wind for two hours before the race started. I can understand though as they had to bus 10,000 people to the start. I was just hoping it'd be like Sacramento marathon where they let you stay on the warm buses until it's the start time. I had thoughts of not doing the marathon because of how cold I was. I was miserable. The rest of our time here in Greece was sooo warm and wonderful. I knew the whether wouldn't be a problem as soon as they'd let us start running. Anyway, there was a flame and a tombstone all about the history of the marathon...and for that I was very glad to see.
At one point before the race started I realized I didn't have any pins to attach my bib (race number) to my shirt. I went over to a bunch of guys and they didn't speak english but they all started talking and laughing and more comments and more laughter and it felt terrible, until I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned around to see this young asian guy with a smile say, "here, take mine I only need 2 pins" and I wanted to hug him! He was so gentle and kind! And I was really thankful.
Starting time, I lined up with other like numbers as I saw the signs. Though, when the gun went off it seemed like I had joined a walking race because everyone walked through the start and I was so confused! So, I jumped in behind some guy who must have had similar confusion as me and we started in dodging all the people, up and down on the tall brick curb and then ran on the dirt to go around those who wouldn't let us pass and then through the people...this went on for the whole first 10k! Along with this frustrating experience (couldn't get into a pace for the first 6 or 7 miles...ugh!) I had sharp sharp chest pain and I interpreted it as an intercostal cramp because it really worsened with my breathing...which just made it really uncomfortable.
There were few girls scattered here and there but mostly men. I lost the guy I was tagging along behind and would try and excuse myself through the crowds of men to safely pass by and some of them stuck there elbows out so I couldn't pass. I was tempted to feel upset as I remembered the "goody" bag from the expo with porn, and gear all for men but I put those feelings aside and pressed on. I thought of Katherine switzer http://www.katherineswitzer.com/boston.html and was thankful to her that I even get to run a marathon!! I exchanged an unpleasant experience for gratitude. In fact, I've seen how the men here in Greece treat their women and it makes me feel sad. A quick side note--Erin and I were in the grocery store and there was a tired looking lady with a full cart behind us. A man walked up to me and said something in Greek and I just looked at him blankly but could tell he wasn't being friendly. So, when he saw that I wasn't getting it he pushed his cart right up behind me and cut in front of this lady. Then, when the lady said something he started yelling at her and it escalated between the two to screaming and the entire store was watching. Erin translated later saying that he just cut in front of her. There's no chivalrey (sp?) here. Often times I've been walking towards an exit and a guy will come and push over us to go first. Feels awful.
While running, I realized there were hardly any markers for how many kilometers we had done or had left to do let alone miles. I know up to about 12k in miles and then im lost after that. So, at one point I asked a guy next to me and he said something with an irritated tone and looked away. Erin and I have had lots to say about all this, which I'll finish these thoughts at the bottom of this post. But for now, I'll continue in my race experience.
There were three times I remember smiling in this race. That's rare for me, as usually I think I smile the entire time until that last few miles, which is when I usually get a little tear and marathonly emotional...tears of joy! The first smile was when I heard these young girls (three to be exact) running and talking behind me, about 20 years old or younger. After listening in on their entertaining conversations, "I do hot yoga and my body temperature is permanently lower now" or "I just joined a hot spin class..." I turned around and said, "are you guys from Minnesota?" They happily answered, "YEAH! How'd you know???" So, it was fun talking to them for a bit, then I took off. The second time I smiled was when there was this OLD YaYa (grama...at least 85-90 years old) short and like a cute little ball screaming in Greek, waving her arms, and cheering us on!! How so darn cute can you get???!!! I ran accross and held out my arm and we gave each other a high five and she yelled even louder, "OPA!!!" (Ya, like in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding)! And everyone in the race, and her grand daughter started cracking up laughing! It was a highlight for me, I had so much love in my heart for this lady...being discouraged by the "all men focus" of this race, it was a sweet comfort to be encouraged by an elderly woman! I hope I can see her again in heaven and give her a big hug!
The third time I smiled was when the kids lined up with their arms out to give us "five" and that too was a sweet comfort...i love love love children, they bring so much joy, and energy, and love, and just everything good! There was even a childrens marching band that was precious!
The course was grueling! I guess what made it so freakin' difficult was the longggg endless gradual inclines which seemed to be the case in all but two of the steep hill climbs and a gradual descent in the end. My traps and upper back are so sore today and ive never had that from a marathon before. The hills in SF marathon were wayyyy easier than these long gradual ones. Plus ,there wasn't any inspiring beauty which im spoildly used to. There was a lot of desert terrain with mountains in the background (occasionally) and the towns were just with squared cement buildings...im very much mentally inspired by nature and the beautiful scenes. But it was fun to think of the soldier who ran this course with excitement, though now I can see why he died! Sheesh! The map didn't do justice to the level of difficulty of this race.
The men just pee'd right in front of us. I heard a few women talking about how they didn't want to drink any fluids because they had to pee. Well, I thought about just squatting and peeing to make a statement and let them know that women pee too, but i refrained. Along the whole route there were two outhouses. The first one I waited, and waited, and waited...and after what seemed like an eternity a man come out. To be honest, I wanted a baseball bat to bonk him on the head! The second outhouse didn't come until the very end, and there werent any trees or anything along the way to stop and pee...so that wasn't too fun.
I remember falling into rhythm with two older guys who had a pretty quick pace and it's amazing how little effort it takes to match your footsteps with someone who is going in the same direction and same pace. Otherwise, it's very disorganized and stressful to try and follow...kind of like real life, we do better in pairs I believe. I went far following right in this man's footsteps but then by 30k my left hamstring (which bothered me pretty much the whole time) started really hurting so I walked, and then I started crying...I hate crying! But, I manaaged to start running again through tears of strong physical pain and at 37k (Im guessing) and immediately after asking God for strength a man fell into my pace right behind me. His feet were loud, but his cadence helpful to me and we ran together for quite a ways. He eventually moved right in front and started picking up the pace and we must have been running 7min/mile pace as we were hauling. Mostly everyone was walking at this point. One guy yelled from the side, "it's all downhill from here" and a girl yelled back, "YEAH RIGHT! That's what they've been saying since the start!" So, I finally stopped due to severe hamstring pain, and the disappointment was truly overwhelming because I have yet to feel so strong in the end of a marathon. I had no idea of how close I was to the finish line either...as I walked the pain became worse and I almost started screaming, but all I could do was cry and dream of morphine! A man told me there was an ambulance down the way, and while that was tempting I knew my mind wouldn't let me quit as for the rest of my life I would have regrets, can you imagine?
I saw the 40k sign and looked in a building to see the time 1:08 (that's like 24 miles at 4:08 minutes) and so I tried to run, but absolutely couldn't and I told myself to let my hamstring dictate at this point. So, I walked and cried and cried and cried...so freakin embarrassing. My head was down until I finally had enough of it, and I started praying for all the people passing me by for a successful race, and for many blessings for all of their lives. That was wonderful! It took my focus off my pain. I walked for 3.5k total and my finishing time was 4:48...horrible but the ending was strong let me tell you what happened...
So, I came around the last corner, still walking and saw this guy going slow on his "cervelo" bike. I said, "nice bike" and he proceeded to tell me how he won all these races around the world but that he lives here in Greece and that he was helping his brother run his first marathon. I said, "yeah, this marathon was exceedingly difficult for me," and said, "Oh, my brother says it was so easy." I thought, "OH NO HE DINT!" So, I wished the biker guy good luck and started running past his brother, who then started racing me so as if to say, "no way!" so we started a full on SPRINT exactly as we came into the first old olympic stadium with all the people lined up screaming. Then, I saw Erin and Stratos and their new Texan friends all screaming for me...haha! Then, one of their new friends yelled, "NO WAY! SHE'S GOING TO KICK HIS ASS!" and I did!!! I dogged him so bad it's not even funny! Then, my legs had a huge kick and I sprinted with so much unknown gas in my tank for 100 meters to the finish!! I heard a BUNCH of people along the sprint saying, "NO WAY!" and it was a strong finish, a great ending to the race that almost made me want to quit forever! It was a wonderful race in mental strength, in pushing through when every cell in my body wanted to quit, in enduring pain that I've never experienced before. I've got shin splints, a tweaked right ankle, a sore right knee, and a pretty bad hamstring pull...but today I feel extremely mobile! In fact, after the marathon, we all went to an AMAZING soccer game last night! I LOVE IT HERE!! Oh ya, Erin said she never saw so many people crying at the finish line and bus loads of people pouring out at the end of those who opted out and couldn't finish. wow!
To finish my thoughts on the women thing...
So, I can see why women get hardened here. Erin said that many girls are ok with being, "the other girl" and it's so common. We talked and talked and it's so easy to feel like dirty toilet paper when really understanding how most men think of us. Women play a part in the problem too by feeding mens appetites for food and sex. I could then see why women go overboard in being feminists. Though, either extreme is truly not where I want to go with my life. What truly brought me comfort is knowing what God thinks of me, not the mere fickleness, shallowness and hollowed view of women by men. Jesus FIRST revealed His identity to a Samaritan woman, the lowliest of society, basically considered to be as valuable as trash...He loved her and cared for her and knew everything about her. I have so many thoughts on this issue but to wrap up this endlessly long blog I'll just say a few more thoughts. I hate when women demand to be treated with respect or extra special because they are "women" and yet I get very angry at the men who treat women so badly.
Knowing who I am in Christ gives me the freedom and confidence to know that I am valued by the most high being who made those very men who for whatever reasons are incapable of loving women in a way that is right (and visa versa). This allows me the freedom from demanding that I be respected, and the self respect to not be a doormat. It makes me want to love God more and love people more. I like this answer to a very complicated and complex problem. Let me just add that my sister Erin has found a diamond Greek man who somehow knows deeply how to love and care for a woman in a way that lets Erin know he loves her for her and not her for what she can give him! I can see it radiantly and it's the sweetest and purest thing when a man and a woman deeply and sincerely love each other with God as their first and strongest bond.
Lastly, I'm reading a wonderful book called, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan (one of my favorites) and today Erin and I sat in a coffee shop and read it together. Here's some things I really liked,
"One greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." -Tim Kizziar
"God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love. In our culture, even if a pastor doesn't actually love people, he can still be considered successful as long as he is a gifted speaker, makes his congregation laugh, or prays for 'all those poor, suffering people in the world' every Sunday." --Francis Chan
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1Corinthians 13: 4-8 (The Bible)
Uh, I need to read this every day to remind me and to move forward in becoming a more loving person. It's my desire, and it's truly one of the only things that matter in this life...this is how God loves us, unconditionally. Therefore, I can love others unconditionally, even men who have such hideously low views of women, and are downright rude. Again, not all men are like this but it was very much a part of my experience on this trip.
I have so many fun pictures of last night's soccer game. Can't wait to post them all!
Love you all, and wish I could live here!
Jenny :)
I awakened an hour before my alarm clock (2am) and excitedly but surprisingly a little tired and headed into the kitchen to make my usual pre-marathon breakfast. The quietness of the middle of the night and darkness is a unique feeling and I opened the kitchen door to let in the pre-race whether. The air felt wonderful as I tasted the yummy oatmeal, raisins and banana, with a side of 2 egg whites a hot cup of coffee and some OJ. I only tried to let in postive "dare to believe" thoughts but noticed the negative ones trying to pop in at every chance..."youre not ready for this..." "you have no idea about the course"..."you're going to be alone the whole race" blah blah blah. I cut my meal short so as to knock out those anxiety producing bugs in my mind and took a wonderful hot shower, and then dawled myself up with lots of make-up...does wonders for a girl in training...it's trick I learned in a magazine and it works! Those of you know at work how much I rarely wear make-up but when it comes to working out it's a common feature (even those 3 am solo workouts at the gym...has nothing to do with "looking pretty" and all about how I feel about myself...well taken care of and feminine).
Once finally ready I tapped Erin on the shoulder to get going and she said, "jenny, my clock says 3:45) as we checked all the clocks in the house said a different time and I realized this meant I truly got less than 4 hours of sleep...haha! We laughed and slept for another hour (i woke up on my own JUST IN TIME before missing it all! haha!).
Erin hopped on the bus with me until it was time to go and then we were off. There wasn't a peep on the bus...usually there's alot of screaming, and laughing, and meeting new people. Maybe because there were people from all over the world there were few conversations. It was still dark out and it was hard to see during the ride to Marathona. I did notice alot of space and few country homes here and there and then we'd go through little towns with alot of cement buildings...nothing with inspiring beauty (to be honest).
They dumped us out in the freezing cold biting wind for two hours before the race started. I can understand though as they had to bus 10,000 people to the start. I was just hoping it'd be like Sacramento marathon where they let you stay on the warm buses until it's the start time. I had thoughts of not doing the marathon because of how cold I was. I was miserable. The rest of our time here in Greece was sooo warm and wonderful. I knew the whether wouldn't be a problem as soon as they'd let us start running. Anyway, there was a flame and a tombstone all about the history of the marathon...and for that I was very glad to see.
At one point before the race started I realized I didn't have any pins to attach my bib (race number) to my shirt. I went over to a bunch of guys and they didn't speak english but they all started talking and laughing and more comments and more laughter and it felt terrible, until I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned around to see this young asian guy with a smile say, "here, take mine I only need 2 pins" and I wanted to hug him! He was so gentle and kind! And I was really thankful.
Starting time, I lined up with other like numbers as I saw the signs. Though, when the gun went off it seemed like I had joined a walking race because everyone walked through the start and I was so confused! So, I jumped in behind some guy who must have had similar confusion as me and we started in dodging all the people, up and down on the tall brick curb and then ran on the dirt to go around those who wouldn't let us pass and then through the people...this went on for the whole first 10k! Along with this frustrating experience (couldn't get into a pace for the first 6 or 7 miles...ugh!) I had sharp sharp chest pain and I interpreted it as an intercostal cramp because it really worsened with my breathing...which just made it really uncomfortable.
There were few girls scattered here and there but mostly men. I lost the guy I was tagging along behind and would try and excuse myself through the crowds of men to safely pass by and some of them stuck there elbows out so I couldn't pass. I was tempted to feel upset as I remembered the "goody" bag from the expo with porn, and gear all for men but I put those feelings aside and pressed on. I thought of Katherine switzer http://www.katherineswitzer.com/boston.html and was thankful to her that I even get to run a marathon!! I exchanged an unpleasant experience for gratitude. In fact, I've seen how the men here in Greece treat their women and it makes me feel sad. A quick side note--Erin and I were in the grocery store and there was a tired looking lady with a full cart behind us. A man walked up to me and said something in Greek and I just looked at him blankly but could tell he wasn't being friendly. So, when he saw that I wasn't getting it he pushed his cart right up behind me and cut in front of this lady. Then, when the lady said something he started yelling at her and it escalated between the two to screaming and the entire store was watching. Erin translated later saying that he just cut in front of her. There's no chivalrey (sp?) here. Often times I've been walking towards an exit and a guy will come and push over us to go first. Feels awful.
While running, I realized there were hardly any markers for how many kilometers we had done or had left to do let alone miles. I know up to about 12k in miles and then im lost after that. So, at one point I asked a guy next to me and he said something with an irritated tone and looked away. Erin and I have had lots to say about all this, which I'll finish these thoughts at the bottom of this post. But for now, I'll continue in my race experience.
There were three times I remember smiling in this race. That's rare for me, as usually I think I smile the entire time until that last few miles, which is when I usually get a little tear and marathonly emotional...tears of joy! The first smile was when I heard these young girls (three to be exact) running and talking behind me, about 20 years old or younger. After listening in on their entertaining conversations, "I do hot yoga and my body temperature is permanently lower now" or "I just joined a hot spin class..." I turned around and said, "are you guys from Minnesota?" They happily answered, "YEAH! How'd you know???" So, it was fun talking to them for a bit, then I took off. The second time I smiled was when there was this OLD YaYa (grama...at least 85-90 years old) short and like a cute little ball screaming in Greek, waving her arms, and cheering us on!! How so darn cute can you get???!!! I ran accross and held out my arm and we gave each other a high five and she yelled even louder, "OPA!!!" (Ya, like in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding)! And everyone in the race, and her grand daughter started cracking up laughing! It was a highlight for me, I had so much love in my heart for this lady...being discouraged by the "all men focus" of this race, it was a sweet comfort to be encouraged by an elderly woman! I hope I can see her again in heaven and give her a big hug!
The third time I smiled was when the kids lined up with their arms out to give us "five" and that too was a sweet comfort...i love love love children, they bring so much joy, and energy, and love, and just everything good! There was even a childrens marching band that was precious!
The course was grueling! I guess what made it so freakin' difficult was the longggg endless gradual inclines which seemed to be the case in all but two of the steep hill climbs and a gradual descent in the end. My traps and upper back are so sore today and ive never had that from a marathon before. The hills in SF marathon were wayyyy easier than these long gradual ones. Plus ,there wasn't any inspiring beauty which im spoildly used to. There was a lot of desert terrain with mountains in the background (occasionally) and the towns were just with squared cement buildings...im very much mentally inspired by nature and the beautiful scenes. But it was fun to think of the soldier who ran this course with excitement, though now I can see why he died! Sheesh! The map didn't do justice to the level of difficulty of this race.
The men just pee'd right in front of us. I heard a few women talking about how they didn't want to drink any fluids because they had to pee. Well, I thought about just squatting and peeing to make a statement and let them know that women pee too, but i refrained. Along the whole route there were two outhouses. The first one I waited, and waited, and waited...and after what seemed like an eternity a man come out. To be honest, I wanted a baseball bat to bonk him on the head! The second outhouse didn't come until the very end, and there werent any trees or anything along the way to stop and pee...so that wasn't too fun.
I remember falling into rhythm with two older guys who had a pretty quick pace and it's amazing how little effort it takes to match your footsteps with someone who is going in the same direction and same pace. Otherwise, it's very disorganized and stressful to try and follow...kind of like real life, we do better in pairs I believe. I went far following right in this man's footsteps but then by 30k my left hamstring (which bothered me pretty much the whole time) started really hurting so I walked, and then I started crying...I hate crying! But, I manaaged to start running again through tears of strong physical pain and at 37k (Im guessing) and immediately after asking God for strength a man fell into my pace right behind me. His feet were loud, but his cadence helpful to me and we ran together for quite a ways. He eventually moved right in front and started picking up the pace and we must have been running 7min/mile pace as we were hauling. Mostly everyone was walking at this point. One guy yelled from the side, "it's all downhill from here" and a girl yelled back, "YEAH RIGHT! That's what they've been saying since the start!" So, I finally stopped due to severe hamstring pain, and the disappointment was truly overwhelming because I have yet to feel so strong in the end of a marathon. I had no idea of how close I was to the finish line either...as I walked the pain became worse and I almost started screaming, but all I could do was cry and dream of morphine! A man told me there was an ambulance down the way, and while that was tempting I knew my mind wouldn't let me quit as for the rest of my life I would have regrets, can you imagine?
I saw the 40k sign and looked in a building to see the time 1:08 (that's like 24 miles at 4:08 minutes) and so I tried to run, but absolutely couldn't and I told myself to let my hamstring dictate at this point. So, I walked and cried and cried and cried...so freakin embarrassing. My head was down until I finally had enough of it, and I started praying for all the people passing me by for a successful race, and for many blessings for all of their lives. That was wonderful! It took my focus off my pain. I walked for 3.5k total and my finishing time was 4:48...horrible but the ending was strong let me tell you what happened...
So, I came around the last corner, still walking and saw this guy going slow on his "cervelo" bike. I said, "nice bike" and he proceeded to tell me how he won all these races around the world but that he lives here in Greece and that he was helping his brother run his first marathon. I said, "yeah, this marathon was exceedingly difficult for me," and said, "Oh, my brother says it was so easy." I thought, "OH NO HE DINT!" So, I wished the biker guy good luck and started running past his brother, who then started racing me so as if to say, "no way!" so we started a full on SPRINT exactly as we came into the first old olympic stadium with all the people lined up screaming. Then, I saw Erin and Stratos and their new Texan friends all screaming for me...haha! Then, one of their new friends yelled, "NO WAY! SHE'S GOING TO KICK HIS ASS!" and I did!!! I dogged him so bad it's not even funny! Then, my legs had a huge kick and I sprinted with so much unknown gas in my tank for 100 meters to the finish!! I heard a BUNCH of people along the sprint saying, "NO WAY!" and it was a strong finish, a great ending to the race that almost made me want to quit forever! It was a wonderful race in mental strength, in pushing through when every cell in my body wanted to quit, in enduring pain that I've never experienced before. I've got shin splints, a tweaked right ankle, a sore right knee, and a pretty bad hamstring pull...but today I feel extremely mobile! In fact, after the marathon, we all went to an AMAZING soccer game last night! I LOVE IT HERE!! Oh ya, Erin said she never saw so many people crying at the finish line and bus loads of people pouring out at the end of those who opted out and couldn't finish. wow!
To finish my thoughts on the women thing...
So, I can see why women get hardened here. Erin said that many girls are ok with being, "the other girl" and it's so common. We talked and talked and it's so easy to feel like dirty toilet paper when really understanding how most men think of us. Women play a part in the problem too by feeding mens appetites for food and sex. I could then see why women go overboard in being feminists. Though, either extreme is truly not where I want to go with my life. What truly brought me comfort is knowing what God thinks of me, not the mere fickleness, shallowness and hollowed view of women by men. Jesus FIRST revealed His identity to a Samaritan woman, the lowliest of society, basically considered to be as valuable as trash...He loved her and cared for her and knew everything about her. I have so many thoughts on this issue but to wrap up this endlessly long blog I'll just say a few more thoughts. I hate when women demand to be treated with respect or extra special because they are "women" and yet I get very angry at the men who treat women so badly.
Knowing who I am in Christ gives me the freedom and confidence to know that I am valued by the most high being who made those very men who for whatever reasons are incapable of loving women in a way that is right (and visa versa). This allows me the freedom from demanding that I be respected, and the self respect to not be a doormat. It makes me want to love God more and love people more. I like this answer to a very complicated and complex problem. Let me just add that my sister Erin has found a diamond Greek man who somehow knows deeply how to love and care for a woman in a way that lets Erin know he loves her for her and not her for what she can give him! I can see it radiantly and it's the sweetest and purest thing when a man and a woman deeply and sincerely love each other with God as their first and strongest bond.
Lastly, I'm reading a wonderful book called, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan (one of my favorites) and today Erin and I sat in a coffee shop and read it together. Here's some things I really liked,
"One greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." -Tim Kizziar
"God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love. In our culture, even if a pastor doesn't actually love people, he can still be considered successful as long as he is a gifted speaker, makes his congregation laugh, or prays for 'all those poor, suffering people in the world' every Sunday." --Francis Chan
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1Corinthians 13: 4-8 (The Bible)
Uh, I need to read this every day to remind me and to move forward in becoming a more loving person. It's my desire, and it's truly one of the only things that matter in this life...this is how God loves us, unconditionally. Therefore, I can love others unconditionally, even men who have such hideously low views of women, and are downright rude. Again, not all men are like this but it was very much a part of my experience on this trip.
I have so many fun pictures of last night's soccer game. Can't wait to post them all!
Love you all, and wish I could live here!
Jenny :)
1 comment:
I wish I could have been there to cheer you on... Although I was with you in thought and prayers all day Saturday. (I think Greece time is one day ahead, and I believe you were running on a Sunday...I hope I was right!) You are so brave and so strong...I know my body would have talked my mind into stopping. But not you, not Jenny B! And I loved the ending...I loved how Erin and Stratos and some Texans were screaming for you as you kicked ass! Now go relax and eat some Greek salad and fresh fish!
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