Happy 2012

Another year is rearing its head for us to ponder about. It always seems a bit silly to me, the new year frenzy. The resolutions, the crowded cardio equipment at the gym for 3 weeks or so until the resolutions wear off. The countdowns of the best of ... you name it for the previous year. I, personally, enjoy all the commercials for weight loss this and that... the quit smoking stuff, it is a bit much. Why does it take the "New Year" to inspire change for the better?

On the other hand... if it does take the New Year, then why not embrace it and make a change? This year, I have been thinking about what I'd like to do this year. I have some goals. Some personal goals that I've shared with God and that will suffice. I also have some prayers, which I've also shared with God, but don't mind sharing with any folks who happen upon here too.

I have been working really hard at rehabbing my hamstring for the last several months. I am making progress and have a real hope and a prayer of running within the next month. Praise God and my PT Josiah. This has been the longest I haven't run, other than pregnancies, my whole life. It's been brutal and also a learning tool. I listened to a sermon from Steve Fowler tonight on suffering, he was eloquent and my "not running" has been tough, but I don't liken it to the suffering he spoke of. I do, however, have a person in mind who has been suffering and if he could run again, oh boy, that would be a huge answer to prayer and God would be glorified.

That brings me to my number one New Year's goal and prayer. I have been praying for my good buddy John Stumbo to run again since October of 2008. This was when he became deathly ill. I prayed for him to live at that time, but quickly segued into praying for him to get better to run on our Hood to Coast team. Let's back up to September of that year, I decided to do a Hood to Coast team of staff members at Salem Alliance. John was the first to commit, I can still remember the day he came to my desk and said "I'm in. Let me know when to write the check." I put in for a team that October, literally the week he became sick was the deadline. The day I found out we got a team was a day we heard a bit of good news in his battle. I honestly, at that point, still held out hope that he'd get better and be running with us. Well, we ended up changing our name from "SAC religious" to Stumbo's Prayer Warriors. We handed out cool rubber bracelets with our team name on them to other teams, we told John's story, we prayed for John on each leg, it was cool. But John wasn't there. He did see our team off, in his very fragile state. He didn't get to run.

John continued to battle, I managed to get a team for 2 more years, we were still the "Stumbo's Prayer Warriors" we had "Run John Run" as our slogan for the second year. That was cool, we tagged teams with magnets that said they'd been prayed for. That is the pic on this blog, with John sending us off again. But he still couldn't run. This past year, we handed out magnets again and still prayed and still John wasn't running. I put in for a team this year and we were turned down. It's a lottery, we didn't get in. John still isn't running.

I mentioned my long haul hamstring injury. I've been going to my PT who is located on S River Road. I drive by Minto Brown to go there. One day I was uber early and felt compelled to drive into Minto and pray for John to run. I literally, drove around the parking lot and prayed aloud... begged God for John to run. I have been doing that on almost every visit to my PT, I go twice a week. I drive around Minto praying for John to run. I have this fervor.. this burning in my heart that John should run this year. I can't describe it, I thought that I should keep it to myself, but as it's morphed... I feel led to share it. To any who read this, please pray for John. I know that the running gene is a rare thing, few of us have it, but if you do, you know... John has suffered a bunch from his illness, but his inability to run, to do what God made him to do... has been among the greatest suffering that he's done. I am convinced of this.

And so, this 2012, I hope many people lose weight, quit smoking, go to the gym... etc. etc. etc... all of these resolutions will be great! I pray that my friend John Stumbo will have the amazing feeling of running with the wind in his face, the endorphins flowing through his veins, the most amazing feeling in the world in his heart... run like the wind John... this is my prayer.