Jesus Boost!

This past weekend was the commemoration of the massive floods that raged through Cedar Rapids last year. The city had several events planned, including a flood run, Floodstock celebration, and the Healing the Heartland festival/concerts.

I ran the 7 mile Flood Run and it was awesome! I will say that I wasn't so sure it would be awesome at the start. When I saw it was raining (thus no IPOD tunes or Garmin for me), I was a bit disappointed. More importantly, I thought it was sad it was rainy and gloomy on the very day we were to run through the neighborhoods that were flooded one year ago.

My ultimate goal was to set a PR, but I also wanted to just enjoy the run and take notice of these neighborhoods. I must admit, it was very emotional. The affected neighborhoods are just bare and still look like war zones. The few people there were so kind and upbeat. They were yelling, "Welcome to our neighborhood, thanks for running..." As I looked at them and clapped back, my eyes welled up with tears. I helped a friend's friend do post-flood clean up last year and you can't imagine how horrible an ordeal like this is. My heart goes out to all those who were affected and I hope they know that it WILL get better (I have to believe that!). (By the way, I did set a PR and felt great the whole race!)

So, later that night, Carrie, Kim, and I went to a free concert with a few of my favorite Christian bands, BarlowGirl & Newsboys. We caught the tail end of BarlowGirl and saw ALL of Newsboys. It was AWESOME!!! We went up to the front, near the stage, for the Newsboys. We were jumping, clapping, screaming, and singing along with the whole crowd. I turned around several times to see an amazing crowd of people there, just worshipping God. What a life affirming thing to witness!

This brings me to the title of this blog entry, "Jesus Boost!" I've always been a Christian and loved worshipping the Lord, but that concert brought me back to high school and college. When I was in high school/college, there were so many opportunities to worship like that. We went to church camp and the Caravan trip and had these awesome experiences. In college, we had worship 5 times a week in addition to so many other opportunities.

I think, as an adult, I've forgotten or lost a bit of that. We have jobs, bills to pay, and just LIFE to take care of. This concert brought it back to me in a huge way. Don't misunderstand me, it's not that I love Jesus less now as an adult. But, I think my "fire" for worshipping was dimming a bit. I want to feel like I did at that concert, ALL the time! For any of you needing your spark lit, check out Life 101.9 FM. I switched to this station a year or so ago and absolutely love it. I just FEEL better listening to that than anything else!