Mercy Me

Mercy Me...


As a family, we recently watched, the movie, "I Can Only Imagine".  It's really amazing and I highly recommend it. All five of us enjoyed it which doesn't happen too often so you probably should watch it.  It's the real life story of how singer songwriter, Bart Millard, came to be one of the most amazing, talented and popular Christian musicians of all time.  Bart is the founder of the band, Mercy Me.

The band's name came directly from Bart's Grandma which I love!  When he informed her he was starting a band,  his grandma simply replied, "Mercy Me!" And the rest is, as they say, history. Bart is a survivor.  He has endured a lot of hardships.  I could share more, but I don't want to ruin the movie.  The point is, he kept on.  Bart persevered and didn't let life get him down and he later wrote the song, "I Can Only Imagine" which went on to go double platinum and is arguably the best Christian music song of all time! All because he persevered and pushed on.  And persevere is what I am going to need to do come Sunday.  The marathon training went magnificently well for me.  I have felt strong through it all. I never hit the wall, I had minimal aches and pains and I followed my plan perfectly. Now just a few days before the race, I am experiencing my back pain again.  It is frustrating.  Very frustrating.  I do realize in the big scheme of things, this marathon isn't that important.  There are starving people in the world and people suffering from medical conditions and wars raging on in countries across the globe.  And this, well, it's just a race.  However, I've trained really hard for it so I am disappointed to be dealing with this again and so close to race day;  I just want to feel strong come race day...

So anyhow, the good news with all of this is I've been praying a lot more than usual.  Yes, I have been praying repeatedly, " Lord have Mercy on Me. I don't deserve it, but I really need it.  It's marathon week and my sore ankle feels better. Praise you, Lord, but I woke to a sore back for the first time since March so I am concerned and scared that my body won't hold up to 26.2. Please help me to get to the finish line, upright.  Amen".  I will likely find myself praying this same prayer Sunday morning in a porta-john in Detroit.  Remember PortaJohns Rock!





Here's my only hope...It holds up until Sunday about noon!

And I totally feel this way! I ain't got time for this!

I beat myself up about this and feel maybe this is the best option available even if it is experimental...

 Oh and I do understand this very well...

I plan to kick that voice inside my head's ass Sunday!

And Yes Mird, Marisa, Courtney and I are:

So to summarize, we are less than 3 days from marathon day!  I am having a mini, back pain related crisis and experiencing nightmares that find me lost inside a skyscraper during the race carrying a heavy backpack.  I was so mad about the race being set up so poorly that I was yelling at the volunteers!  Totally not my character, I never yell at volunteers, but it was my crazy dream two nights ago. Meanwhile, Mird is as cool as a cucumber and busy gathering running advice from our mom who I'm pretty sure has never run a day in her life which makes me laugh and is also somewhat concerning (JK) mom always gives good advice! It's marathon week and things are heating up and getting interesting!  

One thing is for sure though, we're not quitters. Besides, God's got our backs! 

PS my bib # is 840 and Mird's is 5298 if you want to figure out how to track us!

Vern and Mird Out