DLmail 5/14/2009 tired, butt running

This is a keeper DLmail, only because it is rare that I write one nowadays. I am getting tired I suppose. I took a job as an assistant track coach at Chillicothe Jr. High. We began practices at the beginning of March and have only taken one weekday off since. It gives me something to look forward to in the afternoons from 3:00-4:30 (longer on meet days), but it has made my workdays noticeably harder. I am always behind, but I have really gotten to know a lot more kids a lot better. It has been worth it. The head coach even told me he is doubling my pay since the kids have had such great performances, improving each week throughout the entire season. So, 2 x $0 = argh. As the season has progressed, I have resorted to coaching from a sitting position, too tired. The kids have adapted well to their sad, tired coach. Sectionals this weekend, state the next and we are done.

Just like this track season is coming to an end, so is our season in DL. For us September to May people, it feels like it is time to take a break. Our struggle to field volunteers in May is second only in difficulty to December. We squeaked by last weekend with me, Tim and Marjean Moser. It was one of those Saturdays. It is never good to enter the room and hear "the mainstage guest speaker is late, she missed her plane, but we hope she will take the stage by 6:45." Now it is one thing to entertain a bunch of adults waiting in the auditorium. It is an entirely different story in DLand. We survived with some solid help from superteacher Kevin Elder, but it was maybe less than really fun. Although small group time was great. Obedience is an easy topic to get into with these kids.


This Saturday we will kind of limp through again with myself, Kevin and Zach. We'll lose Momica to a family commitment. We'll also welcome a bunch of 3rd graders for the evening. They will enter and we'll treat them to the snack shack and maybe some nerf kickball. They will then taste our plug-in time, worship, large group teaching and finally an abbreviated small group time before returning to the Treehouse to be dismissed. Plan on it being a busy evening. I will be pulling in to church either sunburned or soaked from the Sectional track meet in Morton on Saturday. If it goes late, I will certainly call to advise of my tardiness, but I really don't think that will happen. I really hope not. Really, really.


We continue studying Obedience (trusting those who lead you by doing what you are asked to do) this weekend with the Bible story The Lord calls Samuel, found in 1 Samuel 3:1-19. The memory verse is found in Hebrews 13:17 "Obey your leaders. Put yourselves under their authority. They keep watch over you. They know they are accountable to God for everything they do." The bottom line - obeying your leaders can help you know God. For your small group leader info, click here. For any mainstage messages you have missed, click here (except last weekends Mother's Day message, that message must be copyright laden because it isn't an option to listen to).


In all the hustle and bustle last Saturday, my camera never made an appearance, so this DLmail is two dull pictures, plus a thousand words. Sorry.


And then there is this. I added 20 lbs. to my frame since mid November 08. I went from running 30-40 miles weekly to coaching runners while sitting on my butt. But this week, with preparations for the August St. Jude run gearing up, I have felt a twinge of motivation to get back into running, working out and eating right...until... I had a meeting with a guy from Lancaster Co., PA yesterday afternoon. He left me with the most delicious 48 oz. box of handmade pretzels. I haven't eaten any yet, they just sit on my desk and stare at me. Then this morning John Stephens comes in to my office and hands me a huge cinnamon roll from The Confectionery in Morton. It stares at me and cruelly wafts fragrances my way, and I have a knife. Have I ever mentioned I am addicted to food? This is a hard day. My twinge is fading.