My anniversary, dancing in the minefields

Today is my anniversary. Nine years ago today on March 23, 2002, Stephanie and I got married. Many of you know the story of how God brought us back together. I will save that story for a later time. I will say a few things though looking back over the 9 years. Those of you who have been married for decades probably just laughed at that saying "ha, he thinks he knows something after 9 years". Yes, it's only been 9, but there have been lessons learned, and I will continue to learn more.

Marriage is not primarily about us, it's about God.

It's about loving someone who doesn't deserve to be loved.

It's about forgiving someone who has sinned against you, and will continue to sin against you.

It is only as I realize that I am the one who doesn't deserve to be loved and have sinned not only against Stephanie, but against God that I am able to properly love and forgive her.

In the Bible, God talks about the church (the body of believers, not the building) being the "bride" of Christ. He is the bridegroom who has perfectly loved his bride, and will continue to do so. That love cost Him his life.

Yes, God cares deeply about our marriage, but there is more at stake than that.

Like I said, Marriage is not about us, it's about God. We love each other and thank God for our marriage but realize that after this life, there will only be a marriage between the real bridegroom (Jesus) and his bride.

While Marriage is not primarily about us, it is important to us.

We enjoy spending time together, living life together, celebrating successes together and comforting each other when we fail or suffer loss. We don't do this as much as we should, but are learning. We are looking forward to going camping together this weekend to celebrate our 9 years. Hopefully that will involve tennis, fishing, and a hike, the weather suggests that might not happen though.

I love this song from Andrew Peterson. Yes, there are minefields, but it's worth it. I look forward to the many years to come.

Stephanie, as the song says "I will walk with you in the shadow lands, till the shadow disappears"!

Taste 10k

Recently I competed in the Taste 10k in Athens. One of my resolutions was to complete a 10k race and this one looked great. It was close to the house, on a Saturday, and was early enough that I could still enjoy the day with the family. The weather was great, a little chilly at first, but an excellent day to run. Having never ran in a 10k, only 5k's, I really didn't know how to pace myself. I had ran at the gym and had been increasing my distances on the weekends, but those were just runs, not races.

This picture was the starting line. There were 279 runners that finished the race that day. 299 were registered, so 20 either didn't complete it or didn't show up. Too bad, they paid for the registration but didn't get the t-shirt or after race goodies.




This picture is around the 2 mile mark. I'm the third one back in the picture. Like I said earlier, I really didn't know how to pace myself so after a while I just found a comfortable, but challenging pace with those around me and maintained it. The first mile or two I ran pretty quick, because it was mostly level and downhill. I usually start toward the middle and work my way to the front. This was done the same way until after the 2-3 mile mark.




Finally, the finish line. I finished 43rd overall and 3rd in my age group with a time of 46:34. I was happy to see that finish line!


Here's some of the goodies that I was talking about. Good muffins, good coffee, and good fruit. I actually went over for a snack a little later and all the bananas were gone. I heard this conversation:

Runner girl: Do you have any bananas?
Volunteer at the table: No, we had some earlier, guess you should've ran faster.

I couldn't believe this girl had just ran 6.2 miles in a race and this dude said that. He got reprimanded by his assistant, also a female. :)



Here's my picture of the 30-34 age group. I have no idea where the other guy went to. The prize was a little wine glass. Just what I wanted ;)


I was extremely pleased with the results. I didn't plan on placing in my age group and I didn't plan on my time being that good either.

Next, a half-marathon in April?

This and That

Another round of this and that:

Self-injury



Although you can't understand a thing they're saying, it's still hilarious. I had to watch it twice!


The Kevin Bacon extended version, I love it!


You've probably already seen this, but if not, this is for you:


hmmm


And Finally, a little Chuck Norris:

Katelyn's cast

Well it was a restful Sunday afternoon in the Harrison house. We had a great morning at church and was getting ready to go to our Sunday evening small group bible study. That was when it happened.

We heard the crash around the stair and the crying of Katelyn. As a parent you know the difference between the fake, whiny crying and that "I'm really hurt" cry for help. I was in the kitchen and Stephanie was in the the office. We immediately dropped what we were doing and ran in her direction. When we got to the stairs we noticed Katelyn stretched out at the bottom of the stairs and Justin's metal ammo box (airsoft gun) lying nearby. She was also in her cowgirl boots. She was trying to get some ammo for one of Justin's guns (nerf) so she could shoot it. She made it most of the way down the stairs when she tripped and fell. Stephanie started saying "she broke her arm, she broke her arm". I wasn't sure if she did or not, but I knew that if she kept saying that she was going to scare her more. We sat her on the couch and put some ice on it. The crying didn't last too long, although she said it still hurt. That's when Stephanie asked me "What should we do?". I love the fact that I have very limited medical experience, but still have to make that call. :)

We decided to wrap it up and see how she did later, hoping it was only a slight sprain. The next day she said that it still hurt, but not as bad so we sent her to school with it wrapped. That evening (Monday) it was a lot better, but still sore. We thought we were on the mend, so much so that the next day we didn't wrap it. The school called us later that day (Tuesday) saying that Katelyn tripped and fell. Guess what, she landed on the same wrist. That night we discussed what to do. We were almost going to take her to the Doc, but then we saw her cocking one of Justin's guns like her wrist was not hurt at all. By the way, the whole time Justin's been telling us "she's faking it, she's faking it". We decided to send her the next day to school with it wrapped as well (Wednesday). That day the Recreation department (where she goes for afterschool) called and said that she fell again and landed on the same wrist. Good grief are we going to teach her how to walk, either that or put her in a bubble. At this point we decided that after falling down the stairs, having the ammo box fall on her wrist (we didn't see this, but that's what she said happened), and two falls over the next few days, we were going to take the hints from God and take her to the doctor, mainly just to confirm that it was only a sprain.

We went to the Orthopedic clinic that night to see the Dr and get some x-rays. She came in and asked Katelyn what happened. Then the doctor said "Well, I don't know which fall did it, but on one of them, you broke your arm". I was shocked. It wasn't a big break, more like a bend, or bulge, still though, it was a break. We think it might have been the ammo box that landed on her wrist, but who knows for sure.

She was able to pick out a pink splint. The Dr. wanted to give the injury a few days to let the swelling stop before putting the cast on. A few days later she was able to pick out the purple cast in the picture above. She was pretty excited about having everyone sign the cast, as you can see the signatures above.

We're thankful that it was still a minor injury and that it appears that it will grow back normal. The cast comes off next Wednesday, March 16th.

We're also thankful that she hasn't figured out that her cast can be used a weapon!

Clayton's Story

Some of you might have seen this before, but my guess is that many of you haven't.

This had a big impact on me a few years ago. I hope that it will on you as well.