So last week when I heard that everybody was having cows because the New York City Marathon might be cancelled, I majorly rolled my eyes and said, "Good grief."
I mean, People! NYC had just experienced one of the greatest natural disasters in History, yet the runners and powers-that-be still went all The Show Must Go On.
At the same time, others insisted that children in neighborhoods where houses lay in drenched splinters of wood be allowed to trick-or-treat anyway--in areas where there were no longer any sidewalks, even. Can't disappoint kids, you know--all those fragile psyches! Can't you just see the future lines forming outside of therapists offices because of this?
Tap, tap, tap.... Does anyone in this 21st century remember Real Life? How it can swoop in like ants or rain storms and spoil our picnics?
Compared to our ancestors, we've obviously had it way, way too easy. They knew stuff happens. Outdoor parties get rained upon. Money doesn't arrive, so sometimes plans must change. Big Events get cancelled for big--or not so big--reasons. Real Life happened and our grandparents moved on anyway.
And what I've seen? Sometimes God comes along with a better plan and woe unto us if we set our faces like flint and insist upon our old plan, instead, believing it to be better. Woe unto us if we never even sensed at all that He wanted us to go another way.
And wow... Did you hear how 1,300 NYC Marathon runners turned lemons into lemonade? They still ran, but over to some of Sandy's hardest hit neighborhoods, instead, so to deliver groceries, blankets and gift cards. Like the cavalry racing in at a retro movie's end, they rode-in bringing light and rescue and hope.
And people, not just those whose homes lay in heaps, but people the world over, watched in amazement. And thought, what an amazing idea. What a perfect way to overcome a huge Life Interruption.
The runners (even unknowingly) answered the question, "What would Jesus do?" And they did it.
They just did it.
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"The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." ... Proverbs 16:9
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." ... Matthew 7:12
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Read about this new marathon event here.
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Another good place to donate funds to help those who were affected by Hurricane Sandy? Hand of Hope, via Joyce Meyer Ministries. Took me only a minute to donate.
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5 comments:
Well said. It's been wonderful to see some well known Australian runners in New York helping out.
Yes, very well said!
They are ones who won the race. Well done. With no thought of a metal they ran the race and won first place.
I see a blogger I used to click from on your blog list is gone as of today. Sarah
Rodney--thank-you. Glad you saw some folks from your home country (and again, congrats about nine years blogging)!
Elizabeth--thanks to you, too! It's strange that my post, below, is missing lots of lines for you--although--I pasted a Bible verse at the top before I wrote the rest of the post, and the spacing went all bonkers. I had to try hard to make it look normal and perhaps that has something to do with it (it looks normal to me here). Computers...sigh... :)
Sarah--good way to look at it! Oh, and sometimes I remove blogs from my sidebar when I notice I haven't visited them in a long time or when they've not posted in ages. And too, as I find new blogs, I sometimes delete old ones which no longer minister to me so that my blogroll won't become miles long. :)
Thanks, Everyone! Debra
Yes!!! If we kept a list of all the blogs that once ministered to us..what a list!!! Yes!, Yours has been one of the very very few that never stopped moving me forward. I am as usual attracted to blogs also where we can learn more skills to live a more self sufficient life. So the list of some have fallen to the way side too. We have always tried to keep a low profile as far as buying and such goes anyway. Now I just try to go to the very few blogs of this type that really have what I need to learn. You could spend more time reading and learning than doing if you don't watch out!!! :) Life does not happen by just sitting but in getting out and interacting and doing. Example: Reading the Bible is very good.... but taking its lessons and then spreading the word...much better. :-) Sarah
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