Brad's Thoughts

As I have been the one blogging this entire time, I wanted to take some time and give you my thoughts on what we have just accomplished.

A year ago, I was challenged to use my time, talents, gifts and abilities to help our church, our community and the world. If you know me, you know that my wife and I don't make a lot of money but I was being called to do something to help. During an incredible class of Men's Fraternity "The Great Adventure" we were also challenged to find our adventures that make our heart explode with love and fullness and that is where the idea came from. I was going to take something that truly love to do (weird I know) and use it to help others. This was going to be an avenue for me to spread God's love in a way that 5 years ago I could never have imagined that I would be doing. This was going to be a way for me to give back to my community to spread the love of Jesus Christ to nations beyond our own borders.

I am just as guilty as most of getting too comfortable at what we do everyday and never learn that in order to get better at anything we have to challenge ourselves. I knew that this was going to be a challenge, but one that I was being called to do. I truly feel that God made me start to run and enjoy running for this exact purpose. I was too comfortable what I was doing.

Starting out this journey I thought that people would be banging on the door to give me money to help support our cause, but this was before the financial meltdowns. Sure there were times when I thought that with the news of the economy taking over everyones attention that maybe it could be something to delay, but I knew that I had a duty to help out the kids that have little.

As the date approached I became increasingly nervous and anxious about the lack of money that was coming in the door until I realized that no matter how much money we raised, it was more money to put towards the orphanage than they had before. Now the anxiousness was not so much about the money but about our safety and what I had gotten myself into.

The week before I barely slept. There were mornings that I was waking up at 3:00 am because I just kept thinking of things that I needed to do before we left. The major problems that I was having leading up to it were, my knee hurt, I was just getting over an illness, I had a sore back, I hadn't really slept in 5 days or so and I was freaking out about logistics. I kept praying for calming to come over me and Thursday it finally happened.

All of the people I have known on very different levels. Andrew, I have known for many years and consider him a great friend. Nick, I have known for a little over a year and look to follow the lead that he has taken with his family and his business life. Aubrey, I know basically through Nick and had learned really what a great person she is. Mandy, I have probably known just as long as Nick and have heard from many people how great she is as well. A lot of us knew each other on kind of a surface level, but not real in depth. This trip would change that.

On our way to Council Bluffs, everyone was already laughing and sharing life stories. I knew instantly when we got on to the RV that I was going to have a great time and had assembled a great team.

The first night was great, even though I don't think any of us slept very well. Not because of the place that we slept but more because of what we were about ready to embark on. I know personally I probably woke up 5 or 6 times just because I was thinking. On Friday morning, after our late start thanks to the construction in Council Bluffs, it seemed really weird that something I had planned for so long was finally on its way.

I won't go into all of the runs that I ran, because there was way too many of them, but some of the highlights for me were as follows:

• The first run going through Council Bluffs and just the high of hitting the road for the very first time
• Seeing Mandy get stopped by the guy in the minivan asking if she was being stalked by the people in the RV
• The hundreds of dead animals on the side of the road
• Meeting some new friends along the way (especially our hosts and the cops who were "just checking on us")
• Running in to Eastern Iowa where I seemed to know everyone and everywhere we went
• Running in to my home town of Marengo and remembering the sports that I was never good enough to play in but still loved to participate in and wishing that my old coaches could see me now (sorry if I sound too much like Michael Jordan)
• Seeing my grandma, sister and nephew as I came running in to Marengo
• Kneeling next to my uncles and grandparents graves (that gave me so much strength)
• Staying at my aunts house
• The camping experience (sorry guys, if we ever do this again I will make sure to turn the heat on)
• Running through Iowa City realizing 2 miles in that I was wearing black and yellow and figuring out that was probably why I was getting honked at so much
• Seeing Andrew break down in the middle of the run and seeing God pick him back up
• The victory dinner (20 piece McNuggets, medium fries and medium vault)
• The incredible, although probably inappropriate at times, conversations that we had

I learned so much on this journey that I hope to continue. I learned so much about my team. These people are some of the most caring individuals I have ever met. They were always there to cheer everyone on and to cater to people as soon as they hopped back in to the RV. I learned that you can recover very fast if you take the appropriate steps (advil, gatorade and the stick). I learned how much you can miss your family when you are gone from them for 4 nights. I learned how much more I love my wife for being supportive of me when all I could talk about for nearly a year was running this thing. And I learned so much about myself. I learned that I can do things if I just ask God for help with them. The human body is such an incredible piece of art and it can do anything and accomplish anything that you put it through.

As I close this off, I just want to thank all who have been involved. Point of Grace, you all have been so amazing. All of our sponsors, I thank you for your participation and I hope that we can partner again in the future. All of the families, I thank you for allowing your husbands, wives, moms and dads, and loved ones to participate. Our host families. I may be calling for your recipes. My team. This was not my thing, this was OUR thing. I was just the one that put it together, you guys are the ones that came along and sacrificed your bodies and your sanity. My wife, for putting up with me. I love you so much. The Niehoffs and the O'Tooles for what they are doing in South Africa. You are seriously changing the future for so many people. Most importantly I want to thank God for what he did through all of us. You are the one who pushed us through when we wanted to quit. You were the one who put the wind at our backs to push us along. You were the one that made this whole adventure possible. I hope that what we have done and will do in the future can change generations to follow You. May ALL of the praise and glory go to You.

Thank you all for reading this and following what we have done. Please look forward to updates in the future about what our money raised is doing.

Stay Strong, Run Long

Brad