Kenmore West and St. Joseph’s Prayer Run

NOTE BEFORE I GET INTO TODAY’S RUN: If I continue kind of taking you through step by step of each journey, we’d be here (me writing/you reading) all day. So I’m just going to share bits and pieces or highlights. However, if you ever want to know more, I love talking about these runs!

Before I start writing about today’s run, I wanted to just share the names of the students for which I prayed today as I ran near Kenmore West and St. Joseph’s High Schools. Please pray for them too as the school year begins.

KenWest Students: Annie, Jennie, Tim, Jaclyn, Jen, Nick, and Meghan
St. Joseph’s Students: Zach and Josh

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Today’s run gave me so many great examples of how often we take things for granted. Here are a few examples:

• The ways in which God keeps us safe and provides for us. – As I stood on a corner waiting to cross a street, I had a short conversation with a lady serving as a crossing guard. This lady, and other crossing guards I saw near many of the elementary schools I ran past this morning, probably get taken for granted everyday, but God uses them to keep children safe. I began to wonder what ways God keeps us safe or provides for us and maybe we don’t even know it. We take for granted God’s protection and provision.
• Rain– Just this last week alone in Texas 181 fires have burned 16,000 acres of land. People in East Africa are experiencing the worst drought in 60 years and this morning as I began my run, I found myself hoping it wouldn’t rain. We take rain for granted sometimes.
• Education – I happened to be near both high schools right as students were getting there for the day. As I ran past a set of students approaching Kenmore West, the only part I heard of their conversation were these two words, “School Sucks.” I immediately thought about Pastor Edriss who was visiting us at First Trinity recently and talking about the intense struggle to provide education for students in the Dominican and Haiti and how eager the student are to learn… about how tirelessly he is working to make it possible for students to get an education beyond 5th grade (or at all). We take for granted our education.
• God’s plan, timing, and guiding hand. – “Somehow” I managed not only to end up by each of the high schools exactly as they were beginning their days, but I passed by one of the First Trinity family’s home right AS they were pulling out of the driveway. This happened despite:
  – getting out of the house later than I wanted to
  – having to stop on the way to check my tire pressure because the light had come on
  – having to circle the block twice to find a parking spot
  – wasting time trying to decide whether or not to take my phone due to the possible rain
  – making a split second decision to NOT go by one of the student’s homes I was originally planning on AND
  – making a wrong turn and adding nearly a mile to my run
  I was reminded again of the verse in Proverbs 16 that says, “In his heart a man plans, his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” If God was faithful to get me where I needed to be when I needed to be just in this prayer run which in the grand scheme of things isn’t really a big deal, I hope I learn to trust his plan, his timing, and his guiding in the bigger things. We take for granted God’s guidance in our lives.
• Breath. – A couple weeks ago, God was teaching me a lot through the concept of breathing. In one of my posts, I talked about an aspect of faith in a way that mentioned it was “as simple as breathing.” My friend Adrian, who deals with many lung, breathing, and health issues politely pointed out that yes, we take for granted breathing, but he does not… because it is so difficult for him right now to do that very “simple” thing. Yes, many days I take for granted breathing. Today, I did not.
• Life itself. – While for the most part I’ve had no particular reasons for picking which schools I’ve run near on any particular day, today that was not the case. Exactly one year ago, the community of Kenmore West was shaken when one of their beloved teachers was hit by a car and killed… while out running. Today, as they remember Mr. Brian Dugan, a day likely filled with reminders of death, I got to spend time running around the neighborhood, asking God to breathe life into the community. Mr. Dugan left one evening to just simply go for a jog. We take life for granted.
  A few prayer runs ago, a friend left a comment on my blog post summary suggesting that maybe this could be one of the most important things God ever has me do. I pray that WHATEVER we’re doing, we would live EACH day and EVERY day doing the most important things. Let’s not take life for granted!