Stormy Winds

Praise the LORD from the earth, you...stormy winds that do his bidding.
Psalm 148:7-8

Boy it sure has been windy this week. Monday I at noon, with a strong wind coming from the south, I headed into the wind for a 4 mile run. I ran into Joe about a mile and a half out, and I opted to forsake the miles for the companionship. So, I only ran about 3 miles.

Tuesday the wind was strong from the north, so at noon I ran north from downtown around Owen Park, a little less than 3 miles and finished with the wind at my back. By evening the wind had died down some. I met the RunnersWorld group at the river and ran 5 miles with my daughter, Becky and had a great time.

Today the wind was very strong from the south - 25 mph with gusts over 30. I ran south down Boston and passed Joe, who was returning downtown. This time I kept going and did 3.9 miles at about an 8 minute pace. It was hard to maintain that pace, especially at the end, but I felt good afterwards.

At AWANA tonight, the kids dressed up as missionaries. The one in the leftmost picture was crying when I first saw him tonight. When I asked why, he said, "I don't know who I am!" He knew he was supposed to be a missionary to Japan, but he didn't know the names of any missionaries to Japan. So, I told him that he could be Mark Penner. Mark and Mary Esther Penner are missionaries to deaf people in Japan.

The boy in the picture on the right is dressed as a missionary to Camaroon, Africa.

In the picture to the left with the two girls, the one on the right is dressed up as Lottie Moon, a famous Baptist missionary.

The girl in the picture on the right is dressed as Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China. There was a movie made about her life. I think it is titled "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness." One of the things that Gladys is known for is eliminating the practice of foot-binding among the Chinese.


This last picture is of a blind boy. He is dressed as Nate Saint, a missionary pilot that was killed by the Auca Indians in the 1950s.

In the picture he is typing into his Braille machine. He is actually interviewing me about my marriage - how I met my wife, and things like that. One of the questions was "how do you and your wife show love to each other?" I made him laugh by saying we kiss each other. I don't know what was so funny about the answer, but he thought it was hilarious.