Outer Rice Loop.

This was supposed to get posted yesterday but I never got around to finishing it up. 

Fall weather has finally arrived in Houston which means that walking around outside at 3 in the afternoon isn't too unbearable. With the cooling of the weather I also decided to venture out running again but this time around Rice. I was worried about how long I would last since I haven't ran in more than a month but I managed to do 6 miles. I was surprised that I wasn't feeling tired but decided to stop because I was getting a blister on my foot and I'm still trying to take it easy with my bad knees.

Back in college I would always go running whenever I felt stressed because it allowed me to clear my head and I've had quite a bit on my mind this week so being able to run this morning was refreshing. The YES group at HCA has a group of people that run each Saturday morning around Rice and I haven't been going because of the weather. I told myself last night that I'd see how I was feeling this morning before deciding if I'd go running. Anyway, I woke up this morning and decided to go but I wasn't able to make it in time to meet up with YES runners so I ran on my own. Plus, I didn't want to risk embarrassing myself if I couldn't make it around the loop. It was interesting because each time I thought about slowing down I ran into people that I knew and it helped to keep me going. Even though there were many people running on the trail it was when I ran into people I knew that I became encouraged. Part of it was because I didn't want them to think I was lazy but at the same time it was nice to see a familiar face and exchange words of encouragement. This got me thinking about how thankful I am to have brothers and sisters running this race with me. Sometimes I do feel that I am on this journey alone, especially being here in a foreign environment with people I am not yet familiar with, and even though I'm surrounded by people of this world they are unable to encourage me. Yet, right when I feel that I am ready to stop, the Lord places people and events in my life to show me that I'm not alone.

Hello sweaty me

I'll end this post with a verse that struck me from Isaiah 49, the chapter we studied this past Friday at Bible study: 

"I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways will be raised up."

Our God is all powerful and He is the sovereign one. He is able to make the highest mountains in our lives into flat roads and He is able to bring our lives into a higher way when we feel low. Knowing this, we should shout for joy and rejoice all our days because we do not live this life alone but we have Christ as our great comforter through all afflictions.