Archives for posts with tag: running

The Day

April 17, 2012 //
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Just wrote down everything I can remember about a day that changed my life. Altered it forever. Duh, I cried.

Grateful for a friend today that reminded me, my story is sacred. He knew my story long before I was made.

Psalm 139:15-16 “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

He gave me this story to glorify Him. Why wallow in despair over this season in my life where I have challenged myself to confront and conquer that day? Jesus didn’t put up with wallowing. No sir.

John 5:6-8 “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in his condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’”

My mat and I are walking tomorrow. Maybe that’s why I’ve been running so much lately… trying to tie a physical action / overcoming a physical challenge with the mental and emotional obstacles I’ve begrudgingly forced myself to acknowledge. Funny, before tonight, I would have rather ran another 13.1 miles (that would have been 52.4 miles in two months) then deal with the day.

Walking down to domination station with a group of women tomorrow night. Only Satan can keep us from responding to his command, “Get up!” Thankful that my Savior is love, action and mercy.

K

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Categories kristen, life, running, values

Sheretta

January 25, 2012 //
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The power of a run. It’s illustrated by the connection I have with Sheretta.

Sheretta is a shy woman, almost 26, single mom and just moved out of a homeless shelter. Sheretta is also a Member of Back on My Feet. Yes, the kickass organization I work for.

In March 2011, I went for my first run with Sheretta. We literally got stuck running together because we’re the same height, same pace, same sense of humor. Starting out for a two mile run, I would ask Sheretta about life… no response. About her kids… one word answer. I have vivid memories of running through the streets of downtown Dallas in utter silence, not because I didn’t have anything to say (HA!), but because I knew I didn’t need to.

Today, we can’t stop talking. She knows my heart, she knows my love for laughter and she definitely knows I’m not the best babysitter.

I’m not writing all of this today to ask for money (that’s my day job). I am writing this today - and you can see what D Magazine wrote about Sheretta - because we need to turn her new house into a home.

In December 2011, Sheretta moved into a three bedroom townhome. Today, she is still sleeping on an air mattress with her angels, Taylor and Tylor. With two kids under the age of five, Sheretta’s family needs a whole lot of everything!

  • Two twin size beds
  • One full/queen size bed
  • Dining room table and chairs
  • Dressers, one for each member of the family
  • Two desks
  • Lamps
  • Shelves
  • Curtains
  • Rugs
  • Chairs

I am personally renting a truck on Saturday, January 28th to help pick up donated, low-cost items. If you have an item which you would like to donate to Sheretta, Taylor (five year-old girl) and Tylor (two year-old boy). Please email me at kristenkouk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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Categories kristen, life, running

Going to Keep Going

August 5, 2011 //
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Duane is from Irving. He’s lived in Canada and Oklahoma. He doesn’t have a home now.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

I can’t assume Duane hasn’t always run towards Christ. However, I will assume that there have been rare pearls of inspirational moments in Duane’s life.

He doesn’t know it (he can barely remember my name), but Duane inspires me to run.

Running and racing is inherently selfish; perhaps that’s why it was used in this letter to early believers. We are entreated to delegate time, training and effort towards investing in ourselves if we are to efficiently persevere through the race, our run towards Christ. Also known as perfection. No pressure.

I am the last person to preach concerning athletic perseverance. Thirty minutes into Danceaton and I am laughing at my snapping skills, planning my next Pinkberry visit and calculating my haggle for a gently loved Marc Jacobs handbag. These are weak thoughts. Weak, un-athletic physical moments have been accompanied by pathetic, unchallenged inner dialogue over the past two years.

I’ve recruited my cloud of witnesses, those teammates without a home, and I am ready to throw off the feeble attitude that hinders me from running the race marked out for me. Literally and figuratively. Concurrently.

Matthew 5:41 “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”

K

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Categories hobbies, running, values

The List: Perspective

July 20, 2011 //
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Something I’ve literally been missing lately. Tomorrow will be my fourth doctor’s visit about my eyes this month.

My man must have perspective. I don’t know if I’m going to require third world mission trip perspective, but enough perspective to shrug off the little things in life.

I’m looking for this value because I don’t think I’ve mastered it. I want to learn from him.

Pat on the back to me for the totally adult moment that just was. I don’t know if this focus on perspective is because of the baptism at Watermark last night or because of running with the guys…

One running buddy recently confided that she has had two of her children adopted because she couldn’t take care of them.

It couldn’t have hammered the nail in the coffin of adoption any harder. A resounding testament to the kind of children that are put in the system. The ones that need love. I want to someday give the gift of love to a child (which grows up to be an adult).

James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

That is a point of view that I hope he shares with me. Shrug off the little things, not the little ones.

K

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Categories the list, values

Validation, the Mechanic and Scout Chico

March 20, 2011 //
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Going on a date tomorrow night that is so mired with controversy (in my own mind) that I would have totally bailed if it didn’t include watching Bradley Cooper for a good one and a half hours. Note to self: stay away from bachelor auctions as they inherently cause confusion, obligation, issues with self-confidence, validation and an emergent need for a ten pound loss of a run.

I’m running now. M/W/F with a unique running group. Notice, I said “a unique running group.” Not, “an unique.” Sensitive issue after happy hour with ten recent TCU grads and their lack of grammar skills. Seriously, I called home at midnight on a Friday to receive approval from the Master of Grammar, my mother, only to be informed that she missed that day in third grade. For the record, I’m right.

Other dating stories? Oh, they’ve reached a level of hilarity at this point (read: almost a year single). Met a guy, asked him what he did… “I’m a mechanic.” Automotive technician maybe? Maybe? THROW ME A BONE. Because whatever my occupation – blessed – my job is the rock to your mechanic scissors.

Please don’t dismiss the previous paragraphs as the blinking neon sign that I am ultimately the largest snob in the Big D. While that being inconceivable… I’ve come to decide that I have much more in common with my almost four year old mutt, Scout Chico Kouk. Bordering on brilliance, oozing ambition and really, really dirty. However intelligent and flawed we are, much like Scouters, I’m waiting on a dude to figuratively throw me a dating bone.

K

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Categories dating, film, kristen, pups
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