How God uses people

I read an article at esler.org today. It is a story of a blind two year old baby girl. She was blinded by her beggar parents so that she could bring in more money for the family. Shortly after they gouged out her eyes, they dumped her when the authorities learned of what the parents had done.

Mr. Esler’s point in his post is to show that God can use people to show His love to others.

God gave a perfect example of our relationship with Him. That example is the family. But sin has caused this example to break down. Our earthly fathers are not perfect. Therefore, we sometimes have a hard time understanding the role of our Heavenly Father. But God can, and does, use people to show His love to those who do not see this perfect example in their own families.

Parents, one of the goals you should have is to model God for your family. How are you doing?

Baby has arrived!

My brother’s wife gave birth to a baby boy today. David Jeremiah Peach was born today (4-18-07) at 4:42pm. Weight 6 lbs. 15 oz., length 20 1/2″. Skinny and long.

Apparently all went well. We got a message containing the information provided here shortly after the baby was born. Since then, we have heard nothing. We presume that all is going well. As soon as I get pictures, I will post something here.

Congratulations to Paul and Melanie.

New shoes coming soon

I ordered some new shoes this week. I got confirmation today that they should be delivered to their destination on Monday. They will go to North Carolina to a friend’s house. Our friends are coming to visit on Saturday, so they are brining the shoes in with them. I am over 420 miles on my current shoes. They say that you can expect 300-500 miles out of shoes. I think I am getting to the end of life for these shoes. My legs have been aching and my knees particularly the last 2 weeks. I hope it is just the shoes.

My knees were bothering me enough this morning that I thought about leaving from exercise class early (I did not). I have been wearing my running shoes the last few weeks to class because they are more cushioned. I may go back to my $10 Wal-Mart shoes for class.

I hope the new shoes fit. I am very concerned about the fact that I have not had a chance to try on the shoes. I am just going on a wing and a prayer. Fortunately, I bought from Road Runner Sports. I will get a chance to run in them for a week. Then if they don’t feel right, I can send them back with my friend and he can send them in for exchange to a better size. I don’t know when the next chance to get shoes brought in after that will be.

We will just have to wait and see how they fit. They will not be too small. I made sure of that.

Steve’s post-race “Thank You”

I took the following text from www.steverunner.com. Steve was giving a “thank you” to those of us who followed him and cheered him through the marathon yesterday. Take some time to run over to Steve’s site and read the rest of the quote. It is currently at the front page of the site.

“Thank you”

At 2:10 PM on Monday April 16th 2007, as I approached mile twenty-two of the Boston Marathon course, I was feeling horrible: both physically and emotionally. I had worked so hard for this moment, and I was failing. The digital clock on my wrist displayed the bitter truth: I was losing my chance for a personal record, I was falling apart and powerless to do anything about it.

All of the positive energy that had been rolling around in my head had been blown away as I came to the top of the hills, as the cold Nor’Easter wind and rain pelted my weakening body. What had been a solid 9:30 pace, had become a frustrating 11:00 pace by mile 19.

I was exhausted, dehydrated, and in mind numbing agony. The positive thoughts that I had been chanting to myself had succumbed to feelings of utter failure.

I had dreamt of this race, and this course, for many nights over the past year, with a steadfast determination to conquer my previous course record, and now my dreams were being shattered.

When I came to mile 22, and saw John Ellis, he gave me words of encouragement. He instructed me to focus on my running form, lean forward a bit, and let my legs (which were not in pain) carry my body. He reminded me that this was the moment I had worked so hard for, and then told me something that gave me more inspiration than any of the positive thoughts which had carried me to this point.

“There are hundreds of fellow runners, all over the world, cheering for you and following you on the Internet right now…”

As I turned back to the race, it took a few minutes for that last bit to sink in.

“Hundreds following me?”

“ME?”