Retraction

So, I'm going to take a step backward and retract something I said in my last post.  To quote myself, 

Peter's story is about faith too but, taken out of context, it is easy to interpret this passage as one of self-discovery--of finding out what you're made of by doing something risky.  According to that interpretation, I should follow Peter's example and start jumping out of the boats in my life.  I don't think that's it. 

I take that back.  It is about that but it's not only about that.  I'll continue with that thought next time.

One more thing before I go.  In my first post about this, I talked about how Peter recognized Jesus by His voice.  This is consistent with the Good Shepherd Discourse.  About the Good Shepherd, Jesus said, "the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.  But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers" John 10: 4-5.  I thought I should expand on that and talk a little bit about how, in our noisy world, we can learn to recognize Jesus' voice.  Then I realized I already had.  About five years ago, I wrote an article for my mom's newsletter on this very topic.  If you're interested in reading it, click here.  Otherwise, I'll catch you back here again soon.  Take good care.

A Sure Thing

So, where were we?  After hearing His voice, Peter recognized His Lord, told him what to say and stepped out of the boat.  

I mentioned last time that this was Peter's idea, not Jesus'.  I wonder why.  If stepping out of the boat was such a great idea, why didn't Jesus initiate it?  Perhaps, it was because, for the most part, weak human beings need boats--boats like covenantal marriages, traditional families, the Catholic Church.  When God wanted to save Noah and his family from the great flood, He commanded him to build a boat.  Can I even imagine God calling Noah to come out of the ark and walk on the water?  What would that have accomplished?  Noah's faith had already been tested and he had proven it by doing what God commanded.

Peter's story is about faith too but, taken out of context, it is easy to interpret this passage as one of self-discovery--of finding out what you're made of by doing something risky.  According to that interpretation, I should follow Peter's example and start jumping out of the boats in my life.  I don't think that's it.  As I read it, Peter was betting on a sure thing.  He knew what would happen--knew the way that St. Cecilia and St. Thomas More knew what was coming when they said to their executioners, "I forgive you readily.  You send me to God."  That is faith built on trust.  And Peter knew that he could trust Jesus because Jesus had always proven Himself trustworthy.

I think that's enough for now.  If you're wondering why Frodo Seven has suddenly turned into a bible study, this is all an attempt to explain what I mean when I say "Stepping out of the Boat".  I am finding that it is a bit trickier than I expected.  Thank you for bearing with me.  See you here next time.

The Voice of Truth

Then he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.  When it was evening he was there alone.  Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.  During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea.  When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified.  "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear.  At once, Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."  Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  He said, "Come."  Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.   Matthew 14:22-29

My friend and fellow blogger, Chad Williams, posted a comment on my last post asking if the song I had heard was The Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns.  I actually don't know what song  I heard.  It was on the Christian radio station but probably wasn't The Voice of Truth because I am familiar with that song and would have remembered it.  After reading his comment though, I went on itunes, bought the Casting Crowns song and have been listening to it off and on all day today.  It clued me in to something very important that I had missed about this passage.  Stepping out of the boat was not the first or even most important thing that Peter did.  

When they saw Jesus walking on the water, the disciples did not reason to themselves, "Oh, of course--He told us He was the Son of God and God can do anything so that must be Him coming toward us."  Because of the wind, they were naturally very afraid and in their fear, they weren't thinking clearly.  Peter didn't trust his eyes, his mind or even his gut to tell him whether the figure he saw was his Lord.  How could he be sure?  He heard his voice.  Not only that, he gave Jesus the words he needed to hear in order to trust that it was Him.  "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  How did Peter know what kind of thing Jesus would say?  Because he had heard it before.  "He said to them, 'Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.'  At once they left their nets and followed Him." (Matthew 5:19-20)  

When Peter took his life-changing step out of a boat for the second time, he was not saying "carpe diem" and stepping into the great unknown.  He knew with certainty that he was stepping toward Jesus.  

Something the Casting Crowns song does not mention is that stepping out of the boat was not Jesus' idea.  It was Peter's.  It was his response to recognizing his Lord.  Whether because he knew he would be physically safer by Jesus' side or because he wanted to be with Jesus as quickly as possible, stepping out of the boat was the most rational thing for Peter to do given what he knew to be true about his Master.  He knew he could trust Jesus with his life much more than he could trust a small boat or even his fellow disciples.

So, lesson to me--before I step out of any nice, safe, secure boats, I will first make sure that the voice I'm hearing belongs to Jesus.  I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend etc. and have to be responsible.  Sometimes though, the best decision is the one that looks like lunacy from the world's perspective.  At those watershed moments, perhaps the wisest thing to do is to close my eyes and say to the Lord, "Call me to come to You--I will follow Your voice."

More tomorrow.

(Oh--and thanks, Chad, for reminding me about that incredible song!)

The Final Gift

So, in my last post of 2009, I mentioned that I had been working on one more birthday gift for FS.  I was looking for a theme, a unifying idea that would tie the year's posts together.  I like working with themes because they put a kind of fence around my brainstorming.  Without them, my mind goes in fifty different directions at once and I can drive myself--and everyone around me--crazy.

My initial idea was something having to do with the word "heart".  I dismissed it as being too cliché and easily misunderstood because, although I try to put my heart into everything I do, I get into a lot of trouble when I let it lead.  So--no trite "Living with Heart" for Frodo Seven.

I resigned myself to my favorite slogan "Bring It".  It was the theme for my parents' 40th anniversary bash last summer (which I still haven't posted about--stay tuned) and it, along with the "X" sign is Kreitzer family code for "In Everything You Do--Dig Deep--Give it All--Now".  The problem with "Bring It" though is that is firmly associated with P90X which I have never actually done completely.

Then, a day or two ago, I heard a song on the radio and inspiration struck.  It always amazed me in graduate school that I would think and think and think about an "original" topic for a paper and get nowhere.  Then, on a run or in the shower, BAM!  It would hit me.  Out of the blue.  And I would say to myself "Hey, that's good!  How did you do that?"  And I'd have no idea.  Maybe you know what I'm talking about.  That is how this happened.  

So, as you have probably guessed from the header, the theme for Frodo Seven 2010 is "Stepping out of the Boat".  To get you started on why I chose it, read Matthew 14:22-33.

See you back here mañana!

A Few More Race Photos for the Die Hards

Getting Ready to Bring It!

Grace is Tara's god-daughter so I took her with me to the airport Friday afternoon.  After picking up her aunt, we headed to the Gallería area to collect Tara's race packet at a place called "Fit Foods".  They call themselves a take out restaurant that serves all things healthy, organic and likely to help you live forever.  Check out the refrigerator behind G and Tara--they look like astronaut meals to me--guaranteed to keep you trim even if you happen to be Stuart Little.

Sunday 6:55 AM

T minus five minutes

And they're off

I like this photo because it shows Chris performing his duties as pacer and entertainer.  He apparently told Tara the entire story of his life beginning with his illustrious career as a t-baller, including things I've never even heard.  I guess I'll have to run a marathon.

The other reason I like this photo is because...well, check out the runner in front.

Here--a compassionate fellow runner goes a few paces with Tara to give her a "you go girl" pep talk after which Tara and Chris ran on ahead.  One of the things I love about marathons is seeing the way people pull together.  It reminds me of the scene in An Officer and a Gentleman where Mayo goes back to help his classmate get over the wall.  To me, that is the kind of behavior that distinguishes the real winners and I saw a lot of it yesterday.  

Look at that smile.  She's about to finish.

One of the interesting things about this race was that the marathoners passed the slower half marathoners as they finished.  The man in the coat behind Tara to the left was a half-marathoner.  As I waited at the finish, I could distinguish the marathoners because of their confident strides and strong finishes.  All those extra miles they'd put in showed.

Post Race Silliness

I think the point of this photo is that Tara wants Craig Biggio to be her 

Sherpa next time around.  

Apropos

A champ poses with the Astros' championship flags

C and T

After we cheered Tara on at mile 7 or so, Chris turned to me and said, "I wish I had a sister like you."  I think that may be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.  (of course, if he did have a sister like that, I probably wouldn't like her much :)

One of the photos I did not include here is the one of me in my crazy cheering costume.  Every time we saw Tara, I had on a different wig or other item from the bottom of the dress-up box.  My thinking was that if she could focus for a second on how ridiculous I looked it would distract her from the pain.  Since you are presumably not in excruciating pain as you read this, I will save myself a little embarrassment and let you use your imagination--If you decide to run a marathon though, give me a call.  I'm becoming quite the good marathon duela.

I like this one a lot and, speaking of duelas, I

think she probably looked this perky after natural childbirth too.

Congrats again, T!

A Different Question for Tara

So, the reason I have waited so long to resume blogging after my holiday is that I had hoped to start the new year by announcing that my little sister had finally qualified for Boston--here in Houston--with me cheering her on and giving her a big hug at the end.  That's not exactly how things happened but maybe after you read the story of our morning, you will agree that its ending might be an even better new beginning for Frodo Seven than the one I'd planned.

When I woke up this morning at the ungodly hour of

(I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I got up that early--I'm glad to know I still have it in me), I thought the question of the day was "Will Tara make Boston?"  And that was certainly on all of our minds as Chris, Tara and I made the one hour drive to Sugarland and exited the warm car into a dark, 27 degree Texas morning.  After an opening sub-eight minute mile (too fast) followed by two more miles of continuing numbness in her legs, some knee and foot pain and the thought that maybe it wasn't a good idea to run her third marathon in the same pair of shoes, Tara knew that she wasn't feeling it and this wasn't her race.  When Chris started running with her at mile 13, she told him as much.  He had expected to have to do some hard coaching during the last 5K but wasn't quite sure what to do when faced with a crying Tara who wanted nothing more than to "lay down and die right here".  And really, why not stop?  At that point, she knew that Boston was off the table and she'd already answered the question "Can I finish a marathon?"--twice in DC and once in Philly.

At that moment, her question changed.  It was no longer "Will I make Boston?"  Now, it was, "Do I have what it takes to finish?--not any marathon but this marathon--today--in these conditions--freezing cold, boring course, passing the finish line not once, not twice, but three times before finally crossing it, with my brother-in-law running next to me, cheerfully insisting that I can still PR and my sister embarrassing me with her goofy get-ups and loud yelling?"  The answer to that question mattered and in under four hours, Tara crossed the finish line to complete a marathon for the fourth time.  Not only that, but she and Chris sped up at mile 25 to pass the woman who would've taken 2nd in the 30-39 age group so Tara is now the proud owner of a plaque for second place in her age group in a marathon--we're still waiting to hear where she placed overall.

After the race, a man who overheard her when she told Chris that she wanted to "lay down and die right here" came up and asked her if she still felt that way and she replied honestly---"yes".  He told her, "I tried to keep up with you guys but I just couldn't do it.  Good race".  Isn't it amazing that at a point when Tara thought she couldn't go one more step, she still "brought it" enough to outrun her competitors?  I'm sure that's humbling.

So, today was just one more stop on Tara's road to Boston--a day when the question was still not so much about her speed but about her commitment and guts.  Which, coincidentally relates to the theme I've chosen for Frodo Seven for 2010.  More on that later this week.

For now, Tara and the residents of Casa Doyle are planning a delicious dinner, margaritas and talk of her next try for Boston.

There they go!  And that's 17.

The race director congratulates Tara on her second place finish

How many people can cross "placed in a marathon" off their bucket list?

A stop for photos at our favorite Houston landmark

Tomorrow--more photos and race stories

& Wednesday--Stop by to begin a new year of Frodo Seven!

Coming Soon....

Frodo Seven

Version 2010

Stop by next week to pick up where we left off.  

The countdown is on....I can't wait!!