Can You Feel It?

At about mile two today, David Crowder's song "Can You Feel It?" came on my iPod. I wanted to scream, "Yes, I can feel it! In my knees, my hips, my calves!" And at that point, I still had 11 miles to go! Just as I was really feeling the pain and frustration, Rachel and I turned the corner on Neyland Drive and who was there but Andrew, Mom, and Dad. They were one of the first groups of people to be cheering for us runners. God knew just when I needed them. I couldn't have imagined I would need it so early, but for some reason that second mile was getting to me. I actually got teary eyed when I saw them (which I guess is not all that surprising)! They will never know how much their encouragement at that moment helped me get through the race.

I saw Jesus in so many people while I was running. There were several groups of people cheering for us on Kingston Pike and throughout Sequoyah Hills. Their shouts of encouragement and their thoughtful posters were so meaningful. They were strangers, and they were sincerely interested in our seeing our success. For those of you who think running the race is not for you, I encourage you to get out on the course and motivate the runners. I can now attest to how powerful a role they play in the race.

I had been warned (thanks Dave!) about the hill coming out of Sequoyah Hills, and yes I agree it was the most difficult. Sherry, EB, and Jamie were there rooting for us just at the foot of the hill. I guess Sherry knew from experience that was the best spot she could be!

One of the highlights of my day though was as I was running up the hill toward Children's Hospital in the last two miles, and I saw Mama Ese, Papaw Johnny and MaryAnn. My 85 year old great-grandmother held hands and ran a few paces with me. Priceless! I will never forget that experience! I almost missed Papaw because he was taking pictures, but then I heard his shouts, "Hey Babe, you can do it!" His voice was unmistakable. Thank you all for your support. I could never express how it feels to know so many people care so much about me.

Rachel and I agreed we couldn't have done this on our own. I truly enjoyed our training together and count her as a dear friend. So I know much of this post was about how difficult and painful the race was, but actually it was easier than I imagined it would be. I am so glad I can say I finished it. I may have missed church this morning, but I had quite a worship service with my God throughout the run. I believe he used each of these encouragers to share his generous Spirit with me today.

Blogging Withdrawals...

Apparently, after you start a blog, you can't stop thinking of things to post about.  I'm sure this will slow down soon, but I just found the video of the drama from Sunday with Matt and Amy.  Mom, I told you I called it for my blog!  I hope this speaks through a computer screen as effectively as it did at church.  Only the fourth time I saw it was I able to get through it without sobbing.  I never knew live drama could be so moving.  The actors, though it is hard to call them that because they were so believable, didn't seem like the people I know so well.  I didn't even think about the fact that it was my brother up there.  And how about Matt's Jesus Beard?  I think it is a keeper though I think Amy is the only other person who agrees!

Ragamuffin

Hopefully you have already checked out the link to Ragamuffin Soul's blog, but if you haven't I wanted to make sure you saw this post.  The image is arresting, moving...Just read it for yourself.

Also, I have been hoping he would post the video that opened the service at Buckhead on Good Friday.  It is a visual representation of Isaiah 53.  My favorite part is when the girls has "carried our sorrows" written in her hands.  Well done.

Beta Club Trip

This is one of the best groups of 21 teenagers I could possibly be responsible for.  Even so, I am completely worn out from our trip to Nashville from Monday through Wednesday.  We go every year for State Convention to elect state officers and to compete in academic competitions.  We had three students place in the competitions.  Some of you blog readers might know Allison Henry who won first place in the Creative Writing Competition for the second consecutive year.  Her story was beautifully done!  

We always stay at the Opryland Hotel, and while I've always thought the atriums are gorgeous, the rooms have always left a bit to be desired.  This year, however, their rooms (at least on the 4th floor in the Delta section) have been updated with a more modern style and wonderfully comfortable beds.  I highly recommend a stay here for a quick weekend getaway.  Just remember to bring your comfortable shoes; I always forget how much walking you do here (not to mention the walk to Opry Mills)!  

Truly, I shouldn't complain too much because all day today I felt like it was Monday, but tomorrow is Friday!!  Yeah!  Sunday at 7:00 I will be running the Knoxville half-marathon.  Stay tuned for pictures.

New Pictures

It was so cold during the Easter Egg hunt at Andrew's sister's house that the pictures didn't turn out very well, so I will post pictures from a couple of weeks ago.

It's just not Easter without family pictures in Mamaw and Papaw's front yard!

What'll ya have? What'll ya have?

We stopped at The Varsity, the world's largest drive-in, on our way to the Good Friday service at Buckhead Church.  Their famous call, "What'll ya have?"  always makes me nervous.  I feel like I have to spout off my order as fast as I possibly can!  I ate mostly yogurt and fruit all day so I could eat a cheeseburger and fries guilt-free!  Andrew ordered two double bacon cheeseburgers and a chili cheese dog and there were gone in a matter of seconds!

Buckhead Church is a really neat place.  When you walk in, you feel like you are in a convention center, not a church.  And I immediately noticed that it is a very young church.  I saw only about five people that looked like they were over 50.  I must say, I enjoy attending a church with a diverse congregation!

The service started with the song "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" and three men were painting on three large pieces of glass.  At the end of the service, they moved all the pieces together to create an image of Christ on the cross from a bird's eye view.  It was as if we were looking at him through God's perspective, and the screens behind the painting were tear drops falling.  It was a really powerful experience.   

For most of the hour long service, they displayed scripture on the screens that we read as music and sound effects played.  I was a little surprised that the congregation did not sing at all, but I realized that it forced me to focus on the cross and God's unfathomable love for us.  Sometimes I get so caught up in the musicality of a song that I forget to worship.  

From a more technical perspective, I was impressed by the flow of the service.  Not a single person spoke on stage as nearly everything happened on the screens (5 of them!) and the end of one song flowed immediately into the next.  One of the most wonderfully disturbing things was this image that we were left with.  Several thousand people sat in intense silence for several minutes looking at this before anyone stood up to leave.

McAffry Madness

I guess it's usually a bad sign when you laugh longer at your joke than anyone else, but maybe you will think it was funnier than Andrew did.  So I called him when I was on my way home from church tonight and told him I missed him, couldn't wait to be home, blah blah blah and then said, "Well, I'll see you in a few minutes."  Apparently I had forgotten he was going to Kenny's house to watch basketball because he was going to watch the next half and then come home.  So, I whined for a minute and Kenny said, "But it's March Madness!"  I responded with, "Well, it's about to be McAffry Madness!"  I got really tickled and Andrew said, "You're funny sometimes."  Was this one of those times?  I'm not sure he thought so....

I guess March Madness for me means time for Spring Cleaning because I couldn't care less about brackets, records and Jim Rome.  I love the feeling of cleaning things out and getting organized, but I hate the pile that you are always left with.  Though I always swear I will never do it again, I am having a garage sale in April with a bunch of friends to get rid of some of that stuff.   

In case you are wondering, I organize my shirts by sleeve length, then type of material (lightest to heaviest), then color!!  I have spent a surprising amount of time determining the best possible method!

This is the pile of stuff to get rid of.  Now Andrew's job is to go through the attic.  I am surprised at how much we have already accumulated over four years.

Another part of my spring cleaning to-do list was to work on my car.  Today I (and mostly my wonderful dad) washed and waxed my car.  The last time I waxed a car was about a week after my mom surprised me with my first car, a beautiful hunter green Jeep Grand Cherokee.  I had forgotten how much better it makes a car look.  (Thanks Rachel for the inspiration!)  If it wasn't dark outside, I would take a picture so you could see how shiny she is!  Lucky for Andrew, I think I'm going to be okay with driving the old Camry for another five years!

When Babies Fall From the Sky...

This is how my date with Audrey and Madelyn started!  

Audrey:  When babies fall from the sky, how do they protect their heads?

Sarah: They don't come from the sky.  They come from their mom's tummy just like Emma is in your mom's tummy.

A:  But don't they wear helmets?

S:  They don't need helmets.

A: Who were the first people on the earth?  Wait, that was Adam and Eve.  So, who were the second people on earth?

S:  Their sons Cain and Abel.

A:  So who made the entire world?

S:  You know who made the world.

A:  God did!  But he didn't make the roads or the houses did he?

S:  No, men made those.  But what God made was better right?

That was about the extent of the big questions for the day.  Once we picked Madelyn up from day care, Audrey was much more concerned about walking down the red carpet (my exercise mat), taking plane rides to California (on my bed) and making cupcakes!  It goes against everything inside of me, but I tried to let them make a mess.  You can judge from the pictures how well I did with that!  These two beautiful girls were perfect today.  They always made sure they did things equally and they usually wanted the other one to go first.

Of course, I had to take them outside for a photo op.  You can't have a date with Aunt Sarah without one!

We made it!

This is Rachel and me after finishing the run.  Only two weeks until the half-marathon!

After two failed attempts to bike Cades Cove, I was a little nervous about running it today.  But, we made it!  All 11 miles!  In case you weren't aware of the two biking trips, I will fill you in.  Both times I was with the church youth group.  The first ride, I fell off and sprained my ankle.  I don't know how or why I fell off...it just happened.  The second time, I was taking the gravel road for the shortcut (maybe the first sign that I wasn't in great shape!) and everything started going black.  Long story short, I passed out and threw my wonderfully nutritious french fries and apple pie from McDonald's in reverse.  (In case you are wondering, I found that phrase by doing a Google search for "euphemism for throw up.")  Some Good Samaritans quickly came to my rescue.  They pulled over, put me in the driver's seat of their car, blasted the air conditioning on me, and gave me one of their children's juice boxes.  I will never forget the kindness they showed to a stranger that day.  I think today I found the best method for me to travel Cades Cove.  I have sworn off the biking, but I truly enjoyed running it.  

I highly recommend getting out of your car and traveling the loop by foot early in the morning while the dew is still fresh on the ground.  If I were a poet or a songwriter, I would be writing something beautiful, lyrical and poetic right now.  I really experienced the majesty of God's creation today.  I counted 71 deer that we saw throughout the run.  I guess that tells you a little about how my mind works... I bet the poet or songwriter wouldn't be counting them!  After seeing hundreds of daffodils in bloom, I began to understand Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as Cloud" for the first time. 

I love Spring Break!  I hope the weather will stay this beautiful all week!

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin

So, I guess I should start this thing by explaining my blog title.  "The Handwriting on the Wall" is inspired by a Beth Moore study I am doing with an amazing group of girls.  We have studied the first half of Daniel already, and I can't wait to see what the second half has in store.  God has used this study to speak to me.  I have felt his presence in the last few weeks like never before.  

Anyway, the story behind the title is this: King Belshazzar and the guests at his banquet were using the holy, anointed goblets from the temple in Jerusalem to toast their gods.  Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote the words "mene, mene, tekel, parsin" on the wall.  Obviously everyone was frightened, but through God, Daniel was able to interpret the message.  An extremely simplified translation is "I am, I know, I act."  What a powerfully simple and comforting message from God (though as you can see from the painting it likely wasn't very comforting to Belshazzar and his guests!).  There are so many ways to discuss the significance of this scripture: the necessity to speak truth even in the most difficult of circumstances, the awareness we must have of using holy vessels (ourselves) for unholy things, the power we have to show Satan "the handwriting on the wall" by the way we live our lives for God.  Ultimately, this bit of scripture has changed my perspective on the way I conduct myself in this so called "Babylon."  If all you remember about Daniel is that he once was in a lion's den (which was all I knew until six weeks ago), I encourage to check out this often forgotten prophet.  It's amazing how a culture from so long ago so specifically relates to the world in which we find ourselves today.     

***Apologies to Beth Moore for condensing a week's worth of homework into one paragraph!