The Marathon

Sunday was the Porto Alegre Marathon. I usually don't go and check it out and I certainly don't run in it, but this marathon was different. It was special. Our teammates, Matt and Kevin, got a team together of 6 guys from the Chácara to run a relay part of the marathon. It was a 40K. Including Matt and Kevin the team had 8 guys that ran 5K each. If you don't quite get the "K" it means kilometers. 5K is just a little more than 3 miles and 40K is almost 25 miles. It may as well be 100 miles for me because I just don't run (unless I am being chased)!

These guys who ran have never really done this type of thing before. A few months ago Matt started training with them so that they would be ready to run the marathon in half-way decent shape. Well, they did great! In fact, in their category, out of 13 teams they came in 4th place! They all received medals for finishing the race and will receive a trophy for finishing in the top 5.


After the marathon our church family met together for our monthly Celebration. We had a fellowship time with lunch and then we worshiped the Lord together. There was a great theme of running the Christian race and being a support and encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are running the race with us. It was a great day.

As we closed our worship service we showed a couple of very inspirational videos (translated in Portuguese) for our church family that were really powerful. They were about a father and son, Dick and Rick Hoyt, that do Ironman Triathlons. The son has such a binding physical disability that he has his father carry him through the triathlons. These videos were amazing examples to us of how our heavenly Father carries us through the marathon of life and how we should carry and support our brothers in Jesus who need encouragement.

I encourage you to take the time to watch these 2 videos. It will take about 10 minutes in total, but it is well worth it. You will be encouraged.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7