Today was my long run, and 9 miles later I am feeling pretty good about my race in just 2 weeks. I have gotten about 10 more sponsors over the last week, and am hoping to pick up a few more. And now back to my 13 reasons I am running 13 miles...
#2 Cierra

It seems fitting to write about Cierra today, since it was just yesterday that we moved her into her college dorm. Cierra came to crossroads as a middle schooler, a kid who was always glued to the hip of her best friend Bella. The two girls were inseparable some of the few girls we have amongst the many, many boys. It didn't take long for anyone to fall in love with these girls, and by the 8th grade Cierra was being mentored and later dicipled by one of our staff members, Lucinda. Back in 2006 we took a trip to Anaheim for a youth convention, and Cierra felt called to take greater leadership in her faith. She became a student leader at crossroads, interned with our children's program, joined the worship team, and now as she heads off to college she wants to come back one night a week as a volunteer staff. Over the last 5 years I have had the great privilege to watch Cierra grow and change, and really stand up and become an independent woman of God. It was a bitter sweet joy to drop her off at her dorm knowing that Crossroads and its staff had played a monumental part in getting her to this point...the first one in her family to go to college. There is great joy knowing just how much she will thrive in college and yet it was hard to let her go, knowing she wont be around our table for dinner every night. But I am excited to see the way God will use her, and I am proud to see what has God has done through our staff in Cierra's life.

The opportunity to change lives through relationship...that's why I'm running the extra mile.

See Ypu At The Finish Line,
Heather

Sorry for the long absence. I spent 3 weeks of July up at camp with all of our kids and it really was a fantastic time. We even celebrated the baptism of 5 of our Junior Camp boys. I was blessed by all of the ways God revealed himself in our time there. I got back to the city the first part of August, but between playing catch-up and having a group of Canadians here on a missions trip, there hasn’t been too much time to write. But with only 3 short weeks until the race I have devoted myself updating this blog and getting as many more sponsors on board as I possibly can. Right now I have a total of 20 fully-committed sponsors and a few more on the verge.
In the interest of giving you something to read, and hopefully to find a few more sponsors I have decided to count down the 13 (one for every mile) reasons why I have decided to go the extra mile. These are in no particular order, as each one of them is near and dear to me, but I thought I would start with:

#1 Raymond
This is Raymond.

I am not sure if there is a bigger blessing in ministry than to see someone trained up, and then getting to work side-by-side with them. And for us at City Crossroads, Raymond represents that blessing 100 fold. I’ve known Raymond since I first was an intern at City Crossroads almost seven and half years ago, and back them he was a 14-year old student leader in the youth group. Over the last few years I have had the great privilege to watch him grow-up and truly become a man of God. Raymond has taken on responsibilities and handled his fair share of trials all with a grace and a joy that just emanates from his amazing personality. Raymond has heard God calling him to ministry and we are thankful that that call has brought him on staff at City Crossroads; I count it an honor that I get to work with him day in and day out.

Now, Raymond has been volunteering for many years, but back in April we were able to hire him as a youth pastor in training using a grant from the Church of God Association in Northern California. To be able to pay Raymond even a very modest paycheck represents a milestone in our ministry being able to come full circle. And I am excited for all the things God is setting in place through having him on staff.

But what does this have to do with running? Simply this, our grant runs out in April 2011 and though I am confident that God will continue to provide a way of keeping Raymond on staff, I also know that finding a salary check in our small budget is a difficult task. So one of my biggest reasons for going the ‘extra mile’ is to find new monthly sponsors who might replace some of the funds we will be losing when the grant runs out. By finding new sponsors we can continue to keep Raymond right where God is using him to transform lives at City Crossroads, just like God transformed Raymond in the little rec center on 6th street.

Raymond is the reason I am running the extra mile.