All the good things that come near

So these past couple weeks have been amazing, apart from me getting a cold worse than I have ever had before. I have been able to take the time to take a breath. I have come out of the clouds of winter and been able to see the hope and light that is a head. I am not sure if it is the vitamin B tablets I have been taking or that life has brightened up but my days are sunny even if the sun isn't shining. A couple weeks ago Taylor surprised me at church by telling me that we were invited to an elderly couples house for dinner this Friday evening coming up. I was thrilled but have never met this couple. The women ended up introducing herself to me last Sunday, as Audra and although she had invited me to her house she didn't even know my name. Her excuse was that she simply wanted to get to know Taylor and I better. Little does she know that this had been an answer to my prayers. This year has been a huge growing year for our church and I had been comfortable watching it grow from a distance and hanging out with the people I always hang out with. However, I love old people. I am intrigued by there stories and wisdom. When I came home from church I was procrastinating packing for our missions trip team building out trip to Victoria last week and went into my friend Sarah's room to discuss packing for the trip and I told her about my invite to Audra's house. I ended up confessing how much I want to get to know the congregation. There is so much that can be learned from each other and so many new faces to be introduced to. We both talked about how much we enjoyed the company of elderly people.
Two days later when we had gone to Victoria, Sarah and I were hanging out in Value Village because we had a couple hours to shop around until we headed back to Crofton. We sat down in the furniture section to rest but we also needed the time. When we looked over there was two elderly men involved in conversation sitting in the chairs close to us. One of them was wearing a watch. Sarah being led by the Spirit asked him for the time. Some how that small little question evolved into a conversation lasting forty five minutes with our new friend Sam. Sam was a world traveller and professor that taught at a bible university. He had many stories and much wisdom to offer Sarah and I. We prayed for him and he prayed for us and he introduced us to his wife Lillian. All three of us as we sat there chatting could not stop thanking God and praising him for this situation. Sam had been to India and had some stories of India to offer Sarah and I as we prepare for our trip and he gave us his mailing address and phone number so we could contact him after and tell him how it went. I could not help but say " You are so good and you love me so. Thank you Father!"
My cold is clearing up I am just battling the reminance of a runny nose and I am getting back to physical training but its hard to motivate yourself when you are on reading break and all you want to do is read and sleep. But victory came today as I motivated myself to get outside the door and ran to the track (which might sound impressive if you didn't know the track was literally just behind my house) I managed to run a whole big lap. I ran it all and then ran right back to my house. Lame I know but it was colder outside than I thought. I saw an icicle today, I think it might snow tonight it is so cold out. Tomorrow I will try harder and maybe dress warmer so I can run two laps.