Running

It feels so good to accomplish a goal I set before me. I'm grateful that I completed my training injury-free and really enjoying every minute. I ran a half marathon this past Sunday. Something that if you would've asked me in high school if I'd do, I would've laughed in your face. I developed a deep love of the "sport" about 5 years ago while at Samford and was an "on again- off again" runner for a few years. In the last year, I can actually say it's just part of my life. I can't wait to lace up and get in my car and drive to whatever trail I feel like that day. Running. You only get out what you put in. The sport of one. The opposing team is the voice in your head that says, "just walk." "you're tired." There's no one to blame but yourself if you set out to do 4 miles and only do 1.5. I praise God that I was able "to run with perseverance the race marked out for {me}." Running has helped me trust God. Pushing through the exhaustion and "hilly trials" he brings my way in life has been much like my journey in running. It's as if He carries me through every mile whispering "I'm the one enabling you to do this." I'm thankful for the ability to run and hope to do it for as many years as God (and my body) will allow me.

The video D.R. made of my race is too large to upload, but here's the link:
Danelle Half Marathon

Here's a pic from the race.

small sin, small God

My greatest struggle is I think I'm an ok person. I mean, I don't abuse alcohol, I don't cheat on my husband, I pay my taxes. But this is the essence of our carnality. We are blind to our own flaws; blind to our condition.

Blind to our sin.

I told my 5 senior girls that come to my Bible study on Wednesday that we have a problem with the way we view our sin. We don't wake up in the morning saying, "God, I know I'm naturally a hater of your word, a rebel to your law and I'm filled with the desire to be better than You. Help me see my sin in light of Your holiness."

I don't wake up saying that cause let's be honest, that's hard to admit. We like ourselves. Even if you're struggling with something about appearance or physical ability, at the core of you, you believe you are an ok person who deserves to be loved.

It is impossible to love God and love sin. An acute awareness of our natural sinful state is key to understanding who we are. God made us to be in fellowship with Him. We chose to break that fellowship in the garden. Now,in order to be in fellowship with God, we must enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life we were always meant to live. We must remember that we didn't live the perfect life- indeed we cannot! But Jesus did. He never sinned. He never once thought an impure thought about a woman. He never once got impatient waiting in line at the register. He never struggled with jealousy and treated people unfairly because of it. He was perfect. And because He was perfect- we can take a breathe and remember that we don't have to be.

So where do we go from there? Christ, our advocate, lived, died and rose to cover a multitude of sins so that we might gain access to God (Romans 5:1) Because, you see, without Christ, we cannot pray to God and know He hears us. (1 Jn 5:13-15) The Jews don't acknowledge Christ as Lord & Savior and therefore God does not hear their prayers. That's a sobering thing. We, who have trusted Christ as our advocate, can have confidence that our prayers our heard, and whatever is asked according to His will, He gives us! {side-note: it's probably not in God's will to give you a red Ferrari or a $1000 gift-card to your favorite store- you get the point}

So what is sin?

According to John Piper, "What makes sin sin is not first that it hurts people, but that it blasphemes God. This is the ultimate evil and the ultimate outrage in the universe.

The glory of God is not honored.
The holiness of God is not reverenced.
The greatness of God is not admired.
The power of God is not praised.
The truth of God is not sought.
The wisdom of God is not esteemed.
The beauty of God is not treasured.
The goodness of God is not savored.
The faithfulness of God is not trusted.
The promises of God are not relied upon.
The commandments of God are not obeyed.
The justice of God is not respected.
The wrath of God is not feared.
The grace of God is not cherished.
The presence of God is not prized.
The person of God is not loved."

How's that for a definition? It's only when we see our sin in light of God's holiness that we truly grasp how desperate our condition is. Year after year I have seen how God has made me more aware of my sinful heart and more aware of His perfect tract record which covers me. I become more and more thankful for God's grace in my life and the forgiveness of sin: past, present and future. He is a gracious God and I am not deserving of His mercy. I pray I can preach this back to myself for the rest of my life because ohhhh how easy it is to think we are "ok".

"Band-aids": the danger of behavior modification

Monday morning started out like this...

I walk in the closet and pick out a black top, black sweater and mustard skirt. I choose a skirt that I know is no more than an inch above my knee cap and a top that requires I wear a camisole underneath but is nonetheless modest. (I'm gonna wear a cardigan over it anyways).

I get to school/work and immediately am informed that I need to go take a look at "Jenni's" skirt and "Susie's" top. They are out of dress code. The most dreaded of my job tasks. Dress-code police. On the way to check out these "violators", I see two other girls wearing workout/yoga pants and trying desperately to dodge my eye contact. I feel convicted to do the right thing and ask them to call a parent so they can change. I go confront the other girls and they do the same. This all happens in the first 20 minutes of my Monday workday. The morning bell hasn't even rung yet. Not five minutes later, my boss comes into my office in a fury and says we need to have a "come to Jesus" talk with the high school girls because this is getting out of hand. (from his position this involves high-strung parents calling him and threatening to pull their child out of Calvary for being too "rigid" or making the child miss class by sitting in the office until dress-code approp. clothes arrive.) So he is stressed; I'm stressed. We work a plan to have the girls (all 78 of them) meet in the media center for a dress-code discussion....which my boss wants me to lead. I feel like I'm going to vomit. How am I going to deliver a grace-filled speech on modesty and keeping the rules to a bunch of teenage girls? Heavy task.

9:55 break time-meeting time. Mr. Kincaid (my boss) starts it off and then hands it over to me. I'm so nervous. Nervous, because I don't want the girls to know how much I struggle with the same issue. Nervous because I care way too much about what these young women think of me. I know that this is a great opportunity to share some gospel truth and Godly-women behavior with them. So I start to relax a bit and trust that God will deliver my words to their heart.

A conversation I recently had with my husband kept playing in my head. "It's not enough to change your behavior. You must pray for a heart change." This regarding my struggle with counting calories and wanting to be thin to be happy. I knew this was the message I wanted to share with these girls.

Yes, it's important to obey the school rules. We need to respect authority and the God-appointed leaders. Yes, we want to prepare them for the professional world and holding a job one day. But most importantly, I want these girls to know how loved they are by God; to feel secure in that love and therefore dress in a way that says "I am valued by the ultimate lover, Christ. He sees me as beautiful and without imperfection because He lives in me and shines through me." It's not enough to cover your belly and cleavage. It's not enough to wear loose-fitting pants. It's not enough to spend less time in front of the mirror in the morning. None of that matters IF you forget that God loves you and created you to showcase His glory. It's all for show. All for selfish gain. It's plain legalism and works-based thinking. I know that just because a lot of our girls dress modest, it doesn't mean they know Christ. For them, I pray God opened their ears and eyes to His truth. His truth is the only thing that will set these girls free. Not free from sin- free to sin and KNOW that they are accepted and loved and forgiven. And then to press on to know Him more and be refined into the women He created them to be in the first place.

As I'm typing this now, I pray that God would stir in these girls heart real, honest feelings of love and acceptance in Christ. In His finished work on the cross for them and the pure, white resurrected Savior that covers all their imperfections now till eternity. I pray that out of that realization, they would be spurred on to dress to honor Him. I also pray this for my own heart every morning.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14

Blog Shout-out: ROOST

Top of the Tuesday to ya, friends!

I was utterly delighted to find ROOST blog online today. My first ever college roommate, Caitlin (then Fuller) now Van Horn is the founder of Roost. She is a freelance food and photo journalist out of Birmingham, AL. Caitlin was always a colorful, dreamer. Her side of the dorm room was adorned with paintings she'd done, pictures of her travels to Africa, and notes and pictures from her love, Jordan, who was in Israel the year we were roomies. She is so full of life and has such a refreshing respect and appreciation for food. Reading her blog is like curling up with a warm cup of tea, a soft blanket & your favorite book.


If you haven’t visited Roost before, I strongly encourage you to do so. It is such a serene place with the touch and feeling of another century. Caitlin's recipes are always refreshingly pure, easy and wholesome, and the light in her photos is incredible. Enjoy!

My husband as a teenager and "Newspaper Ministry"

We had a very busy week. One of those weeks when my planned out meals don't get cooked and I pass my husband like a ship in the night. Not my favorite kind of week. It was homecoming week at the school I work for and I was in charge of the alumni reception. I'm not an "event-planner" kind of person. I take no joy in that sort of thing unfortunately. But...it is part of my job and so I do it with as much joy as I can pray for. :) My sweet husband came to the homecoming game Saturday night with me and helped me set up the reception. The Girls Varsity basketball team was running drills and the Varsity cheerleaders were practicing on the sidelines. After a while, D.R. & I noticed a group of guys that had gathered on the cheerleader side of the gymnasium and were watching the girls practice...with all the wide-eyed wonderlust that teenage boys have. My husband shook his head and said, "bad situation right there". (note: these boys were from the rival team that were visiting our gym- not that our school's boys wouldn't have done the same thing)
Later on, in between the girls and guys games, on our drive to grab Subway, we talked more about that situation. He said how when he was in high school, he had to be up at 5:30 for before-school football practices or sometimes for physicals and the cheerleaders were often there practicing too at that time. On the days when they had physicals, they were allowed out of class the entire day (whaaaa???) and waited around in the gym for their turn. Inevitably, there were girls in gym clothes stretching and such and D.R. got sick of all the temptation before him. So him and his friend Josh Elrod decided to bring newspapers with them on these "sit-around-and-wait" days. They would read them whenever a group of girls would enter the gym as a way to avoid temptation with their eyes. They called it the newspaper ministry. After a while, other guys caught on to what was happening and brought their own newspapers. I thought that was such a great way to fight sin. I'm glad the Lord convicted my husband's heart even in high school to "train his mind for godliness" and "think on pure things". In what ways are you fighting the sins of everyday life? This example may seem like a small thing but it has/had lasting effects on these men.

I'm committed!

Registration Confirmation for:

The Locomotive Half Marathon and the Locomotive Thunder 5K
Dear Danelle,

Congratulations! You are now registered for The Locomotive Half Marathon and the Locomotive Thunder 5K. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.locomotiveraceseries.com

View your complete registration details »
Thank you for registering for the Locomotive Half Marathon and the Locomotive Thunder 5K! Stay tuned to www.locomotiveraceseries.com for all the latest updates!


Registration Details
Confirmation #: 60703412-011112053634
Date & Time: 02/19/12
Location: Town Center Mall (Map)
Purchased at: 01/11/12
Category: Locomotive Half Marathon
Name: Danelle McNew

I did it! I registered! No turning back(no refunds)! Less than 6 weeks to train! So excited! I need a cold-weather running shirt and a new playlist. I can't wait to say I've run 13.1 miles. Holy cow, that's a long way! Here's hoping my training goes well and feels good!

What are your new year's goals???

one part of our trip: sweat bands, ice baths & the ER

I know, it's a crazy title. Let me start off by saying D.R. & I had the most wonderful 2 weeks together traveling through 3 states and seeing both sets of family. We began our trip in Nashville- one of my all-time favorite cities. My family went to Nashville most every summer when I was in elem-middle school. We love the music-influence of the city, the beautiful country-side, the quaint shops and the amazing local dining. I remember drinking my first strawberry-limeade slush at SONIC (we didn't have sonic in FL growing up) and then going to a Chick-fil-a parking lot where Jars of Clay was playing free for the locals. Awesome stuff.
Ok back to my story. This post is only going to tell one snippet of our travel experience- the rest being oh so much more cheery.

We had a great 3 days in Nashville, visiting college friends, hearing great music at awesome venues, eating artsy-fartsy food (me=love, D.R.="where's the meat?" :)), walking and walking some more in downtown Franklin & Nashville, Going to the Opryland Hotel and looking at lights! Fab. Well our last full day of the trip, I woke up with a sore throat which is always how I know a fever is coming. But I ate some breakfast, drank some O.J. and I started feeling better. We met one of our college friends & beloved bridesmaid of mine, Laura Durchsprung, for lunch at Puckett's in downtown Franklin. Great lunch- Caesar salad, fried chicken and veggies. I still felt at 90%. Well I hadn't run in 3 days and mentally I was clawing at the chalkboard if you know what I mean. I had to get outside and pound the pavement someway somehow. Laura recommended a nearby park. I had packed running clothes so I was ready. D.R. graciously read in the car while I ran my 3+ miles around the park. It was 61 degrees but I bundled up b/c of the slight "ick" feeling I still had. Sports bra, long sleeve tee, pull-over, leggings, nike shorts, head sweat band and mittens. I was toasty. I usually shed layers when I run in the cold but I decided that it was good for me to stay bundled and just bear the pouring sweat in all my crevices. I finished, I rang out my sweat band (cause my head sweats more than the rest of me). I felt great. Yes, calories burned and people prayed for!! I walked back to the car, we drove back to downtown Franklin where I wanted to get a to-go order of churros from SOL (a food-network seen restaurant with great Mexican dessert) With churros in tow, we headed back to our hotel in downtown Nashville. I began to get a little chilled due to the sweat in my cotton attire (note to self: invest in wickless running shirt)and by the time I got back to the DoubleTree I had blue lips and was violently shaking. D.R. kinda chuckling at me which is what he does at first when he is nervous or concerned. I immediately got into the hot shower and let the water try to warm me up. It didn't. I couldn't stop shaking/convulsing. D.R. got in, held me and I still didn't stop. I sat down in the tub and let the water warm cover me from the spout. Still not working. I couldn't even breathe evenly. I got out- ran to the bed and got bundled in the covers (which is what D.R. suggested). He ran out to CVS to buy a thermometer. Eventually I calmed down and the shivering subsided. I still felt terrible- cold/hot spells and achy all over. D.R. returned and took my temp- 104. He wanted a more "accurate reading" so he took it anally. (oh to be married to a health-care professional) temp=104. He looked at me in fear and said, "you need to get in the shower and be iced." "what?!!? no!!! I can't, D.R., I'm freezing!!?!" He said he knew but he was afraid I had over heated my organs by bundling up so much during my run and they could be "cooking". Ok- not cool. I reluctantly got out of bed and heading into the bathroom. I can't explain the pain of having ice-cold water poured on you, ice-cold dipped towels wrapped under your arms & in-between your legs for 10 minutes. I was crying the whole time meanwhile believing that my husband was only doing this because he was concerned for my health. He took my temp rectally after 4 minutes- still 104. He continued the torture. Took my temp again- 104. This really scared him. "We're going to the ER." 10 minutes later I'm being wheeled out of the hotel on a stretcher. A little embarrassing. My first time in an ambulance. The young paramedic looks just as nervous as I am. We get to the hospital, they take my temp which is down to 100 by this point and take my blood pressure. They decide to take a blood sample to see if my white count is elevated- something about D.R. thought my liver could be affected from the internal heat. (I think I got that right) 2 hours later- turns out I just have a virus and shouldn't have run if I wasn't feeling 100% well. duh, Danelle! I feel immediately humbled. D.R. is completely embarrassed and ashamed for the ice-bath thing but I reassure him that he was only doing what he thought was necessary. I told him that I'm glad he's willing to hurt me to help me. :) That night marked the very loving, tender tone for the rest of our trip. God used it greatly in both our hearts. For me, I realized that exercise is definitely an idol that I depend on too much for how I feel and act. It was so hard to not exercise for a full week after that. Mental hell. But I learned to respect my husband more and love my idols less. I still love to get out there and run but I don't feel guilty if I skip 2 days now. I'm so thankful for that lesson that God so brutally taught me. He gets our attention and persistently draws us back to Himself and for that I am so grateful. I guess He just wanted me to "chill out"- literally. :)