FOR MY MOM

My mom sent me an email the other day about how I haven't been posting on my blog. Yes, it's been pretty bleak here because I've spent most of my online time on Facebook. It's been neat to see how many other blogging friends of mine are on Facebook and it's been a neat way to keep in touch. But since my mother is not on Facebook (yet!) I decided to give her a post here on my blog. Let me update any of you who still read my blog on what I've been doing lately and what I've been thinking about.

My husband and I took on the ING Georgia Half Marathon on March 29th. We weren't originally going to do a half-marathon until this coming October but a friend convinced us to do this one. We were both very pleased with our experiences and our times. My husband blew his projected time out of the water by running a 2:01. That's more than 10 minutes faster than what he thought he could do. I ran a 2:23 which is great for me considering I thought I could do a 2:30. I didn't have any of the typical problems runners often have when running a long distance (i.e. bathroom issues, throwing up) so I was very pleased. It was funny to see how many people were lined up at the porta potty early into the race. We're set to run the Peachtree on July 4th and my husband's qualified for one of the groups in the front. That's good considering there are over 50,000 runners doing the race. Hopefully I'll be in the front half of the group as well even though I didn't run nearly as fast in our qualifying race.

I came across a wonderful musician several months ago while I was listening to NPR. Her name is Simone Dinnerstein and she was being interviewed about her new recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations. I was interested enough to purchase the whole album on iTunes and I've been listening to her playing almost every time I turn on my iPod. If you want to watch an interview with her, you can go to this link. Bach's music is so ordered and clean. Whenever I get overwhelmed with whatever is going on in my life, I put on this recording and it suddenly brings peace and serenity to my mind.

I've been reading through Leviticus and Numbers lately and having a hard time understanding everything written there. Gee, that's a surprise. Who else has ever started reading through the Bible and gotten stuck in Leviticus? I was thinking and meditating on those books this morning while I was ironing. It's amazing how clearly I can think while ironing. While I didn't receive any grand revelations about the meaning of these books and all the laws and sacrifices, I was able to step back and think about the overall issues God addresses in the books. God says in Leviticus, "Be holy for I am holy." He had chosen Israel for Himself and His desire was for them to be separate and distinct. All of the laws and sacrifices are an illustration of how holy God really is. He can not allow any sin in His presence. Those same laws and sacrifices are also an illustration of how sinful we are compared to God's holiness. God's desire for His creation in the beginning was for them to stay pure and set apart. Because of Adam's sin we have been polluted along with the creation around us (see Romans 5 and 8). Starting with Israel being set apart and going through Christ's sacrifice on the cross for sin, we can see God's desire to ultimately destroy sin and do away with it. I was encouraged by thinking about this and reflecting on passages in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, where we see the ultimate end of sin, death and Satan - they are all thrown into the lake of fire in the final judgment. (Revelation 21) I know these are intense subjects to think about, but having this broader perspective while reading Leviticus and Numbers will be helpful to me I think. Plus, the most amazing thing is this - "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Romans 10:4 And, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

I hope you all are well. If you're on Facebook and you haven't already friended me, I'd love to connect! Blessings!