The Ragtag Team of Awaken

"He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree....."
Thus is the backdrop for my ride to work as I plug along on the thruway in my giant suburban mom mobile. Anyone who knows me knows I have fairly eclectic musical tastes as it would not be unusual for this David Crowder Christian classic to be followed by some Guns N Roses or even some Ed Sheeran. I suppose at the end of the day it would make me having a bright future as an award winning DJ fairly unlikely.


As the song progresses I find my mind wandering to:  a cooler with ice, some cans of fit aid, kind bars, water, a spare set of clothes, God don't forget that. This goes the ever growing mental checklist for my first five mile mud run next Saturday. I must admit my heart pounds ever so slightly at the thought. I set out to be fit enough to do something like this for 19 months and here I am 9 days away. It is terrifying and exciting at the same time. Nineteen months of work, with six weeks off for an injury. Here it is.

I suppose outside of the obvious, what is unique about this event is that it is something that I actively recruited a team for and helped organize. I have organized lots of stuff before now, well....I do have five children, so just organizing a regular week for me I suppose takes a higher level of organizational skill than people with smaller families. Honestly, at times breakfast is a major production. Nonetheless, here I go with my assembled team for a physical even. At the moment we are a fairly unmatched team of five. I think I am the oldest at nearly 47, my son is the youngest at 20 and there are three others in between, one of whom is a Spartan racer of epic proportions taking on the Ultra Beast at Killington this weekend. (Good luck Juan!). So why are we together?  We represent Awaken Church. The nondenominational church home I attend. Something about this combination of people who came together under this spiritual umbrella has settled my over the top chronic anxiety  over running and this big race to occasional mild palpitations. Besides, having my Spartan racing pal there means he will be strong enough to pull me over the muddy wall if I can't do it myself. As these thoughts occur to me I hear the final line "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves me...". Thank you Mister Crowder for that very powerful reminder of such things.

With my mental list done and deep thoughts settled I finally pull into the parking structure of the hospital to hear the next track. Adele "Rolling in the Deep". Oh yes. We will be deep. Deep in mud and in that moment we will almost have it all.....  Let's Go Team Awaken!