When Krista first told me about Pastor Isaac and his growing family in Haiti, we were enjoying the company of family and friends at our family's lake house in Litchfield, IL. It was Memorial Day weekend and by this time we had already decided to train and complete an olympic distance triathlon together, at the end of the summer. We thought that by doing the tri together we would keep eachother accountable and motivated but to be honest, so far it wasn't very effective... until this weekend. Krista told the inspiring story of Pastor Isaac and his family. She told how he found the first 2 orphans (as described in previous blogs) how the numbers in his house are growing, their living conditions and most importantly, their enduring joy and continual gratitude toward Christ and those who've blessed them. Krista went on to describe how humbling this was to hear his story after her few weeks of training hadn't gotten off to a great start and neither had mine. I wasn't finding the right time to train, the right plan to train with and most of all I had a painful and lingering injury from my last race. My left hip had tightened up on me after my 1/2 marathon in April and I was going through some painful therapy to get it straightened out again. At this point I was banned from running and biking, so to start off my training I had to spend some unwanted time on the eliptical. Besides therapy, I weight lifted, swam and did the eliptical for a majority of my training. I cannot describe how bitter I was about this race. The training wasn't enjoyable, the therapy was painful and I was full of doubt. Krista's story of Pastor Isaac really halted my "pity party" and refocused our goals.... to Christ. She came up with the idea to compete in order to raise money and before we knew it we were neck deep in planning, organizing and even more chaos than what we were initially going to take on. This time we had a deeper purpose than personal satisfaction. We kept eachother up to date with trainings, motivational/spiritual talks and worked together endless hours to make sure we were giving this all we had. This is when strange things started happening: my hip (despite therapy) wasn't getting better, my feet started hurting, Krista's feet started hurting (plantar fascitis), people we depended on didn't come through how we thought, legal obstacles appeared, driving anywhere resulted in getting lost and I started to feel spiritually disconnected. We wondered if we were doing the right thing or how it was ever going to be successful.
After my summer school session had ended I went home for a 2 week break. This was 4 weeks before the triathlon and I was going to start running and biking, no matter what the therapist said. I finally decided on a training plan and was going to stick to it no matter what. I started incorporating ice baths into training to prevent my hip from flaring up or any other physical problems. It was in these ice baths, not my training, that God taught endurance and humility. During these 2 weeks I learned a term "joyful suffering". It was a term that perfectly described the entire training and all it's obstacles as well as organizing the 32 Mile Match Up. It all took a toll but I felt so blessed that we were called to this race and to the cause, Pastor Isaac. I remembered him throughout my trainings and prayer times and was continually humbled by his story. How could I complain? How could I think for a minute that I have it rough? If Pastor Isaac and his wife could take care of 24 orphans and live off of 1 meal a day (sometimes less) I could train through pain and sit joyfully in an bath full of water and ice. I decided I wasn't going to be discouraged about my hip or bad training sessions anymore. I was going to rejoice that I could train and be thankful and humbled to be God's servant.
After those 2 weeks trainings started going great. I continued with the ice baths and I haven't had problems with my hip or anything else since. People suddenly started pledging like crazy and after one phone call we decided that no matter what, we were both done being discouraged. We went all out. We printed up flyers and put them everywhere and gave them to everyone. We got the family together, dressed up like triathletes and spent a night out in our home town passing out flyers and talking about the race. We were asked about our faith many times and let me just say that the Holy Spirit is faithful.
The week before the race I felt closer to Christ than I had ever been and he revealed to me promises for the race and verses to get us through. The one Krista and I clinged to most was Philipians 2:13:
"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."
This was not ever our idea, this was never our race and we are not the one's who are training or organizing for anything. This was God. He called us here and invited us to this place of "joyful suffering" and taught us true endurance. I went into this race feeling so confident and had no fear of plans being thwarted by the enemy because by this point it was so obvious that this was God's plan.
I traveled up to Wonder Lake to stay with Krista for the weekend of the race. We went to bed Friday night with uneasy stomachs but I had an overwhelming peace that calmed my nerves. We had some devotional/motivational prayer time before going to bed to put our heads and hearts in the right place for the race and to reaffirm who was really in control. Despite the fact that I was so excited the night before I slept very well. I felt like a child the night before Christmas morning! I couldn't wait to get my feet wet and see that beautiful Wisconsin landscape. We woke up at 4am and quickly got our things together and after running through a Dunkin Donuts drive thru we were on our way to Lake Geneva. Once the sun started to come up and the fog slowly cleared it was a breathtaking morning. After finally finding a spot in the transition area for our things we were headed to the beach where all the other athletes awaited the start. I couldn't stop looking at the Lake and all it's glory. The sun was coming up bright orange and the lake appeared like glass. Krista, on the other hand, was sick and I was rubbing her back while she hunched over preparing to throw up her breakfast, when we heard her start. She quickly dashed away and into the water still feeling uneasy. I started to prepare for my start and I just couldn't keep from smiling. "This was it, here it is, what I've been training for all this time, what I've been praying for for so long and I am so richly blessed." That moment and the rest of the race was truly an adventure with God. I heard my start and ran into the 70 degree water to begin my 39 mile adventure.
The water was freakishly clear and I had to close my eyes to keep from focusing on the bottom of the lake (which was so far away and so dark) and focus on swimming. Once I got over the elements of the Lake I had an excellent swim and enjoyed being in the water as the sun came up just over the trees. I transitioned to the bike and so far so good. The bike was so peaceful and serene in the early morning I, sometimes, forgot that I was racing. Despite the hills I felt strong on the ride and started to think I might pass my competitor even though she did start before me. I came to a point where some of the bikers were turning left and other were going straight so I followed the signs for the Olympic and went straight. Then about 7 miles later I found myself back at that same intersection and wasn't quite sure where to go next. I stopped and asked the volunteers standing there what I was supposed to do and they assured me that I was to take that same loop once more before turning left and heading back to transition. So I did. This time I was all alone on the route and wondered where the people near me had gone? Was I last? Was I first (yeah right)? Where exactly was the transition area from here? I finally finished the loop for a second time and turned left as directed. By this point my bike computer showed about 22 miles, so since the bike was 25 miles, I only had 3 more miles to go.... right? Nope. I realized quickly what I had done and became so angry that I almost went back to that volunteer and knocked him out! I knew that wouldn't help nor would it be a very Christian thing to do, considering why I was racing. I knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy the rest of the race unless I was able to laugh about this incident. I said a prayer, asking for grace, a light heart and extra energy to finish the race strong. My attitude quickly changed and I was able to smile. I kept following the signs and about 45 minutes and 9 miles later I was low on fuel. I entered the transition area having just covered 32 miles instead of 25, and very worried about energy for the run. I was happy to be off my bike and to start my run regardless of how well I would do. The run is my favorite part and when I started turning my legs over I couldn't help but smile. This was it. This was where I was supposed to be and I was filled with confidence and joy for the rest of the race. I allowed myself to walk up the "killer hill" and many other hills but was able to run at a steady pace for most of the race. The hills and extra mileage on the bike had used up all my quick energy stores so I felt not running up the hills was key to a strong finish. About an hour later, I crossed the finish line with my hands in the air and a smile on my face. What an adventure.
After my ice bath and 2 bottles of V8 my body felt almost fully refueled and I suffered nothing from the extra 7 miles. Krista and I counted up the numbers that night and we ended up raising over $1,700. We were overwhelmed and totally joyful. This experience was worth it 100 times over. Not only did Christ fulfill a physical need for pastor Isaac but he taught his disciples discipleship and what it truly meant to fully surrender to Christ. Thank you to everyone who supported us monetarily and prayerfully. You've done more than you realize. I pray that everyone gets the chance to joyfully suffer in order to walk with God. There is no other experience more fulfilling and enriching than to accept a divine invitation to an adventure where you can experience Christ and all his glory and joyfully suffer for his purpose.
