A weekend I will remember for a long time.

To be honest, I didn't really commit to reading any scripture this weekend... well... because I just had a marathon of a weekend.

But I'm about to argue that it is okay.

I had a weekend of blessing.  It started out with our Confirmation class Lock-In.  Myself and two other adult leaders stayed at the church overnight with 10, sugar-happy, hormonally charged teenagers... it's a beautiful thing. 

They love to be together.  They love to learn and grow together.  They learn in confirmation to accept one another and acknowledge what the body of Christ is called to look like.  They yearn to see what their calling is to be in this world and through the Church.

I found myself affirming them through my knowledge of scripture I already knew and learning more and more about what those scriptures mean through my experience leading the confirmation lock-in. 

"...If we are a hand, we cannot say to the foot, 'I don't need you'..." 1 Corinthians 12

At what point to we lose this unique understanding of who we are in Christ?  I feel like it gets clouded in our personal wants and needs, as well as our distrust/disinterest in the true body of Christ.  Or even of ourselves.  I saw a lot of youth not losing sight of this.

I was challenged by scripture I already knew at the lock-in.

Then, after the lock-in on Saturday, I traveled to Philadelphia to participate in my first 10-mile run called the Broad Street Run.

Click here to see a video of the madness of the Broad Street Run yourself!

This is the largest (not to be confused with the longest as my sister thought) 10-mile race in America.  Over 40,000 people participated in the run.  It was very entertaining and intimidating all in one.  I have been training hard for a couple months to build up endurance to participate in this race.  And I was running for a couple ministries who focus on loving prostitutes and victims of sex-trafficking.  These are issues, in my mind that demand our attention and compassion as Christians... I can't say I have always done so... but I put it in the front of my mind as my motivation to fight through 10 miles and to personally push myself because those people were worth it. 

It was a rush.  I was nervous about being able to finish strong because I got sick 2 weeks before.  I hadn't run very much in the last two weeks... but what should have been no surprise to me... I finished strong and in a faster time than I expected.  A couple thoughts...

Encouragement is not a waste of time... in fact, it is our calling to encourage our brothers and sisters.  People everywhere were encouraging their friends, family and... strangers!!  Churches were singing on their front stoop for runners, people had signs, were giving high-fives shouting, "We're so proud of you! You're doing great!  You got this!  Keep going."  I recalled scripture in Ephesians, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." and Hebrews and Thessalonians "Encourage one another...build up the body of Christ". 

Both my sister and I reflected on our need to hold back tears at points because of the overwhelming strength that came from... encouragement.  I kept asking myself the question, "Isn't this what the body of Christ looks like?"  It really left me wondering what would happen to the world if we stood on the sidelines for each other as we ran our races of life... which also brought me to a place of remembering some word from Paul in scripture as a charge to "run the race marked out for us...".

All in all, this blog is getting long.  But in all seriousness, I was challenged by the Word of God a lot this weekend... and why?  Because I knew it and I have been challenged by it before... but my life experiences this weekend were enhanced and shaped me deeper because of the Word.

I could say a lot more.  I would have shared this with you yesterday but I was running around like a crazy person, literally.  But I would challenge you to never limit what planting the Word in your heart will do. And I would also challenge you to push/challenge yourself to do something you never thought you would ever be able to do.  It will reveal things to you about yourself, Christ and so much more that you wouldn't be able to see if you were comfortable in life.

Do it.

Pam