Greetings from Gulfport, MS & February Charity Reveal

Run Stats:
Day: 65
Miles Completed: 241.8
Miles to San Diego: 1858.2
Avg Miles/Week: 3.8
# of Marathons Completed: 9.3
Playlist Favs: Catalyst podcast
Shoes: Skora Tempo

Bible Verse of the Day: The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me -- to tell people the Good News about God's grace. Acts 20:24b (NCV)

Run Reflections: It's a beautiful Saturday along the gulf coast today. Sunny with high's in the low 70's and light winds. This week I've been traveling along Hwy 90, an iconic gulf coast road running east-west below I-10, and should be arriving in Gulfport after completing my run this afternoon. Mileage has dropped a little this week but I'm still pretty pleased with the pace I've been able to maintain and that my legs seem to be keeping up. Today I plan to talk a little about the town of Gulfport and the February charity selection.

Gulfport is the second largest city in Mississippi after the state capital in Jackson. It is the home of the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees - a group that provides construction support to our sailors all around the world. Gulfport was founded in the late 1890's by two railroad owners (William H. Hardy and Joseph Jones) who dredged the harbor opening a shipping channel to the sea. The harbor was completed in 1902 and Gulfport became a working seaport that now accounts for millions of $$'s of annual sales and revenue for Mississippi. Today, the tourism industry and local casino's also support the local economy. Gulfport was significantly impacted by Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005, in fact there is a Hurricane Camille Gift Shop listed a one of the top 12 things to do in Gulfport. It's actually located next to an old shrimp boat that was blown ashore by Camille. In addition to beach and fishing attractions, Gulfport offers several tours of local historical sites including City Hall. I also discovered the option to enjoy a day canoeing or kayaking along the local Wolf River. I've included a picture to give you a sense of what that might be like.

As mentioned previously, one of the main goals of this running project is to try to highlight, give back or serve/support people who are trying to be a light for God in our world. Here's some info on this month's selection - the Scott family from right here in the (virtual) gulf coast.

February Charity: A few weeks ago, I shared some thoughts from our good friend Tima Williams on what it was like to grow up in Mobile, AL. She and her husband Scotty have been regular readers of the posts so far on this journey and my recent progress across the state of Mississippi has reminded them of a lot of places they have lived and visited. As I have spent a good part of February virtually stomping through their old stomping grounds, I thought it was fitting to select the mission work that Scotty's cousin Brian Scott and his family are currently pursuing in Honduras as this month's charity. Provided below is a recent blog post by Brian outlining what their life in Honduras is like and outlining their desire to join the group Mission on the Move to start and staff a children's home. I've also included a family picture (from their blog site).

Have you ever asked yourself why we The Scotts in Honduras do not post things every day? The truth is that a lot of what we do is really pretty mundane and not that exciting. If we posted every day the posts would read as follows:

Today Isaiah and Lydia worked on their computers the biggest part of the day finishing their school

OR

Last night we got up once with Baby x and twice with Baby g to feed them bottles. Today we changed Baby x and Baby g's diapers four times each, two of which were number twos.

OR, the ever exciting…

Today I spent an hour in the bank waiting in line to pay my water, light, and cable bills.

Finally,

I AM posting that I spent time writing a blog post today and I had to stop a few times because Baby x, our mobile foster child was no longer at my feet and I know he likes to sneak in the bathroom to try to play in that large ceramic bowl full of water or pull all of the clothes off the shelf in the bedroom onto the floor.

Mundane…

We often feel like we have to have mountaintop experiences or great explosive worship to experience God, so our mundane lives can make us feel like God is distant. It is true mountaintop experiences are great ways to experience God, but God does not just live on the mountain top.

The Psalmist writes:

Psalm 121: 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber...

According to Psalm 121, where do we find the Lord? God is not on the mountaintop where He would be of no help. He is at the feet of the believer in the middle of our mundane circumstances guiding our steps.

In the New Testament Jesus does not make His disciples find him. He seeks them out and invites them to follow him along the way as he interacts with people in their mundane lives: Matthew at his tax collector's booth; Peter, Andrew, James, and John at their fishing boats; at weddings that were running out of supplies; at funerals filled with mourners; and with the woman at the well as she gathered water at the hottest part of the day.

So in changing diapers, cleaning house, standing in lines to pay bills, helping our kids with school work, AND the occasional mountain top experience, we experience God in many varied ways.

As we have posted on Facebook, we are seeking to join Mission on the Move in helping start and staff a children's home. We are starting the mundane task of setting up house on the property. We will be moving into a strip of small apartments to oversee construction, hire and train staff, and eventually oversee the foster families on site.

Though setting up a house is not all that exciting, it is necessary to do the work God is calling us to do, and we need your help. We need $7000 to renovate the rooms, put up safety rails to protect the children, and buy furniture. Will you please pray about how you can help us do what we need to do to bring children out of dangerous situations or to prevent them from going to large group homes?

Please pray about how much you can help. If you want to help, make your checks out to Scotts in Honduras and put "renovations" on the "for" line. Then send your donations to Clearwater Church at 2524 Newman Rd, Mobile, AL36695. Thank for helping us turn the mundane into Christ experiences. Thank you for helping us glorify God in all areas of our ministry. In Christ.

Wow, how awesome are these folks? Based on mileage run in February, I'm pleased to be able to donate $105.30 to support the Scott's accomplish their goal. I hope you'll consider doing so as well or looking for another charity or community need to invest in this month. Wouldn't it be cool if, together, we could donate a bunch of money to help them help these kids?

Thanks for taking the time to check this out. I hope you have a Blessed week. I'm looking forward to checking in with you again soon, hopefully from somewhere in Louisiana. For any local folks, let me know if you'd like to join me for a run.

Cheers,

Pat