⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Yesterday Sophie, Cindy and I participated in an event at school to raise funds for Sami, a classmate of Sophie’s that is battling Ewing’s Sarcoma.  For Sophie and I, it was a chance to see how far along we were on our training for our 5K, while at the same time, supporting a friend who is in a life and death struggle.  The verse we are sharing today, Joshua 1:9, is Sami’s favorite Bible Verse, and is prominently featured on our runner t-shirts.

Simply put, today was an incredible day, a day for hope, a day for love, a day for all of us to celebrate a friend, for us to rejoice.  Perhaps no one put it better than the Psalmist, who wrote:

²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made;let us rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

Today, we were glad in our day.  Sophie finished the 5K just before I did, but my time wasn’t too bad for this guy: 44:32.  We weren’t able to run the whole time, but we ran quite a bit.  It was a great challenge for us, and I think we did great with it — but today wasn’t about running or walking, not about the t-shirts, not about the water.  It was about Carroll Magnet Middle School, it’s administrators, teachers, and students bonding together in a time of need and giving their all for their friend and classmate.

The Renaissance writer Thomas à Kempis wrote this with regards to the blessings of God:

Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive greater. Value the least gifts no less than the greatest and simple graces as especial favors. If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God.

Today, my friends, we valued the smallest blessings, and saw them multiply into far greater.  Praise be to God.  Now, please pray for our prayer requests and praises, and thank you!

Prayer Requests and Praises…

• Please pray for Sami — she is up against the fight of her life.  In addition to Ewing’s Sarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer, she lost her father over the summer to a different form of cancer.  She got sick not soon after he passed away, so Sami and her Mom have hardly been able to grieve for the loss of their Dad/Husband.  Please pray for God’s Grace and Glory to lift them up, and for Sami to have a great appointment to find the results of her scan later this month.
• Please pray for my friend Chris — he is home now, but earlier this week had to have a quadruple bypass heart surgery!  Everything seems to be going well, but please keep praying healing thoughts for him and prayers for peace for his wife and family.
• Please pray for Mfundokazi Temela’s business to grow.
• Please pray for Will and Amanda Hasley, who have travelled to South Africa to adopt a girl.  Please pray for safe travels and for God to bring their girl into their lives safely.
• Continue to pray for my friend Sheila’s friend Kitty.  She is walking more, still in a nursing home, but walking more, so that is improvement.  Thanks everyone for your prayers.
• Please continue to pray for Lori as she recovers from her stroke.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.  Now, please pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever and ever.