Week One Down.

The Running Bit
I ran a mere fifteen miles last week for my first week of training.  Fifteen miles.  I'm sorry - WHAT?!

Even after being a runner for a solid year now (and one that stopped taking walking breaks - for the most part - a good six months ago), I still can't get over the fact that I absolutely love it!

I am in continual shock and awe that God would bless me with such a love of running.

But even more - I am so completely ecstatic to earn that finisher's medal.  Just so I can throw it down and give Him the glory for it.  I still come back from each and every run saying to the Lord,  "Yeah, that was all you.  Ain't no way I coulda done that."

The Work Bit
I am fast falling in love with my new job.  I've learned a lot even the first week, and I'm stoked to start diving into more.  I don't think we've quite reached "in our groove" status yet, as we're still in the training process.  But it's only a matter of time.  Oh yes.

I've got forty-one hours between both places of employment this week.  Twenty-six of those hours will be worked on Tuesday and Thursday this week.  But I'm excited.  The days I'm not working, I will finally get to experience the concept of "working from your rest", not "resting from your work".

Conceiving A Marathon

I believe it first occurred to me as a sixth grader the concept of the marathon.  I don't think I knew just how long a marathon was.  I don't believe I knew anyone who'd completed a whole marathon (or if I did, they were a mere acquaintance).  And because I didn't know either of these two things, neither did I have any concept of just how long training for a marathon might take.  The preparation, the research, even the simple (or not so simple) concept of running, literally, hours at a time.

One thing I did know about the marathon?  I would eventually have to run one.  Call it fate, call it a weird subconscious light bulb, call it a sick challenge, call it God (which, I now am), I knew I would run one someday.

And to an out-of-shape sixth grader with self-image issues, that is a daunting - nay completely inconceivable - thing.  Me?  The out-of-shape, can't-even-run-a-quarter-mile-without-running-out-of-breath girl, who detested the locker room more than anything else all throughout grade school?  The one who turned beat red at even minor physical exertion?  But the ultimate crux: The one who absolutely hated running? That one?

Yes.  THAT ONE.  Of course, at the time, I saw it as having to run it.  I was scared of it.  Because I wasn't ready for something that crazy.

Twelve years later, I've grown.  I've learned a lot - academically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, physically.  I've experienced a lot - some things I never in a million years thought I'd actually get to experience.  Then again, some things I never in a million years wanted myself to experience.  But I have to count all of them, good and bad, as joy.  As it is perhaps because of the less desirable situations that I really grew.

Twelve years later, I'm ready.  And it is quite conceivable that this is the perfect time to run a marathon.  So, figuratively speaking, I am conceiving today.  The first official training week begins today.  It's going to be a relatively short pregnancy: 18 weeks.  Four months of training for a full marathon.  And it's probably going to be the most grueling four months of my life to date.

But I've never been more ecstatic to experience a birth; my own, in still many more ways, really.

All I can say to that little sixth grade girl now is this: It's a good thing you only saw that first marathon.  You'd probably have flipped a lid if you saw how many more I'm now looking forward to after that one.

Light Me Up

Previously.
I've entered interviews with, more or less, some amount of trepidation.  The trepidation stemmed mostly from the overbearing question in my head of, "Wait.... do I really want to be taking this job if they offer it to me?"

As in - is this job really what I'm being called to do?  And for the most part, I can't say many of them were.  They've been "ready-go-kill-time" jobs.  Up until now.  And oh does God have strange and beautiful ways of making things work.

The Lead Up.
Upon meeting with Scott Rosen, the Senior Pastor of First Christian Church, to gain clarity and perspective from the "I am not invincible" situation (please note a couple posts previous), he also happened to ask if there was anything else going on in my life.

"Well," I admitted, "I need a job." (Please note: I do currently have a part-time job.  One that I love dearly.  But it simply doesn't have anything to do with the degrees I now hold.)

So would you know it? First Christian happened to be on the search for an assistant to the Worship and Communications Pastor.  Scott encouraged me to submit a resume.  I did that afternoon.  Now, I'll be the first to admit: I only had a marginal clue of what I might be getting myself into.  What, exactly, could working for the Worship and Communications Pastor entail?  All I knew at the moment was that I love praise and worship.  And - lucky coincidence - my vocational training happens to be in communications.  So what could they possibly end up asking of me?  I wasn't really worried about it.  At all.

Interview Day Came.
The day was a balmy 55 degrees - and so gloriously sunny! And I still wasn't worried about the interview.  At all.  And generally I fret a little about what outfit I'll wear to the interview.  Yeah, none of that on this particular day.  My one lingering question was what they'd possibly be requiring of me for this job.  But, linger as it may, it didn't eat at me as other potential positions have.

I was happy to drive with my windows cracked on the way over to the church.  We sat in the cafe and broke the ice a little with some discussion of marathon running - (always a pleasant discussion!) - and then the questions began.

And with each passing question I became more and more excited about wanting the job.  Every single thing he asked me resonated so freely and wonderfully.  Would I be good with using InDesign?  Can I edit?  Can I write copy and organize articles in such a way that would be best for the audience we're trying to reach?  Do I have any knowledge of PHP and DIV tags? Do I know WordPress?  What was one of my most favorite things I've done professionally in the past?  (Designing graphics for a previous employer. ) Which is good - because that will also be required.

Yes.  And yes.  And yes.  And yes.  And more yes.
Absolutely everything we discussed cried amazement to me.  Could I really be this lucky?  Could I finally be looking at a job that would allow me to use my training from both degrees I hold, and - most importantly - be working for The One Person I've always had an ingrained desire to work for?

God, You light me up.
That evening, a good friend took just one look at me and commented, "You are glowing!"  I didn't quite realize I was until she said it.  Which made me glow all the more.  And the very next evening - I received a phone call from a familiar number I'd called just a day previously to double-check on an interview time.

So guess who's got a new job?  But more importantly, guess who's never been happier in her life?  I'm thinking about the ten best days in my life.  I'm thinking yesterday, when I got the call, is officially on that list.