You Never Know....

And the countdown begins...33 days until I cross that finish line. So exciting, yet I still have so much work ahead of me. Today's run was the usual 3.2 mile jog around the University of Florida campus. Starting at Southwest Recreational Center, winding around beutiful Lake Alice while catching a glimpse of the sunset, and ending past the cancer research center. A path of filled with diverse settings, yet always the expected. A routine run, filled with the oh so ever apparent smells that linger by the lake, the students flocking around the bat house as the sun begins to set, and the occasional runner passing me by on the sidewalk. A route that has become so routine to my training that it is now predictable, and I always know what to expect around the corner.
It's funny how life can be that way. You become set in routines, jobs, chores, relationships in order to build a level of comfort around yourself. You begin to predict the next step and act in the confidence that you know exactly what outcome will be with each decision that you make. Yet, there is an uncertainty in the routine that is so ever aparent. Life, although altered and defined by our own free will, has only one creator. Above all decisions we make and changes we create in our lives, there is only one ultimate confidence....God. Today my physical journey towards the finish line appeared routine and predicatable, but my life journey seemed a strange affair.
There is a few stories I would like to share with you that have developed throughout the past two days. They have taught me not to take the routine and mundane for granted. Daily I am surrounded by faces of the ill and stricken. Lives are placed within my hands, and to a stranger I am given the honor of being a glimpse of hope or salvation. Not in the same sense of the resurrected, but in an affirmming manner that I may hold the answer to some of life's riddles. Daily my patients see me as the face to their answers, and I now pray feverntly that not only am I a glimpse of medical hope to them, but that they see that hope comes from a Savior. The reason I am stating this is to clarify a point. Jobs become routine. They become tasks that need completed. Even as a Nurse Practitioner or Physician people can become chores that need to be finished by the end of the day. I pray that I always continue to see each and everyone of my patient's as individual people.
Which brings me to my next point. Just as I strive to care and nuture each of my patient's personalities individually, I want to encourage you to do the same in your life daily. Even with the people who are already on your comfort level (ex. spouse, kids, friends). Often times te ones closest to us are the ones that get over-looked the most. I am urging this upon you today because you never know what the next five minutes has in store for them when they walk out of your sight. Within the last 24 hours I have had two people that I have had close relationships with become life-threatening ill. One girl is a friend from college who is 26 years old and suffered a seizure and hemmorhage within in her. Another, is a close Doctor that I work with who is 39 years old and now has to seek medical treatment on the other side of the country for a condition that they are not sure has a cure. I ask that you take 5 minutes out of your day and please pray for these two individuals. Pray healing upon their bodies, and comfort to their families. Also, take some time and pray for yourself. That you don't let the routine sneak up on you, and that you use your free will to reach out past your comfort zone and into the hearts of those around you. There is something sublime awaiting those moments, take adantage of them.
So I leave you with this notion. Don't get bored with the routine. If your jog through life right now is surround with the same faces and places, don't be discouraged. A time will come when you run longer distances, and new sights will be seen. But for now, becareful not to pass up stopping to watch the sunrise as it sets over the lake, or taking a minute to watch the bats fly out of the cave. Sure you may have seen it a dozen times, but what if this is your last time?

So, I have decided to go against the odds and master a half marathon. Yes, I am running a 13.1 mile journey of blood, sweat, and tears. Well, hopefully not blood, but you understand where I am going with this. It is a task that will require a month of me enduring strenuous training that will definitely produce some tears and a whole lot of sweat. Where is this journey taking place you ask? Well, no other site than a magical land where every girl is a princess and dreams come true daily :) Disney World!!! The race will start at Epcot, travel through the Magic Kindom, and then end again at Epcot. This is by far the most physically testing feat I have dared to endeavor in my 23 years of life. Therefore, it is an event worth documenting.
This blog will serve as a testimony to my training. As an aside to my physical training, I will be striving this next month to train spiritually in my life. I desire to run after God with the same amount of passion and dedication that I have when running to the finish line of a race. Throughout my day to day training I will post reflections and updates on this site. It will include comical memoirs and heart warming devotions that structure my day to day activities. I hope you enojoy it and are able to grow along with me as I endure to have a healthier spiritual and physical lifestyle.