Anniversaries and gym breaks

This week marks two milestones for me. One is my wedding anniversary. The other is one year of serving with Son-Rise here in Marshfield. Both events have their highlights, both have had their rough spots, but both are reason to celebrate.

Besides the commitment and dedication it takes to get to each anniversary milestone, they are also important because within those years are what I’d call “defining moments”. There are decisions that are made and occasions in those twelve months that take you down particular and specific roads. Roads you may never retrace again. They become part of your make-up. They make you who you are. They are “defining moments”.

I remember visiting with a young man several years ago who had experienced a terrible tragedy in his life. He was driving his car home, following his brother who was on a motorcycle, when his brother lost control of the bike and wrecked in front of him. He was unable to avoid his brother and ran him over, killing him.

When I visited with this man, several years removed from this tragedy, he himself was the wreck. His life was shattered. He still lived at home with his parents – unable to hold a job. He was addicted to alcohol. A misplaced feeling of guilt was holding him hostage. For him, that one awful experience had become his defining moment.

As I talked with him, I was able to share that God wanted to offer him a new defining moment. God wanted to offer him a moment in time that he could point to where everything about him changed. God wanted to meet him at a place of belief and surrender – in the waters of baptism – and redefine who he was and why he was living. Unfortunately, he wasn’t ready to see that, and our paths in life eventually separated. I still think of him occasionally and wonder if he is the same man.

While not all of us have experienced the heartache and personal trials of this man, we can all point to places in our lives that have scarred us. Sometimes, as if we need help, others point to those places for us and remind us. Still, God offers all of us a new defining moment.

If that idea appeals to you, I’d love to hear from you and help you define yourself by a moment you spend with God. It will be a moment that will keep you celebrating a lifetime of anniversaries in your friendship with Him.

I'm taking a bit of a break from the treadmill/5k prep this week. Last week, trying to decrease time and increase speed and distance - I think I gave myself a nice bit of patellar tendenitus. PAIN! So, I'm taking it easy on the leg this week. Icing, NSAIDing, resting, etc. Already feels much better, but just going to watch the food extra close and keep up the upper-body work.

I'm not giving up!