We Run So They Can Be Free

It's been almost two years since my last blog post. Life has been crazy-awesome. Lots of great things have happened including college degrees, bike rides, a cross-country move, new job, Rose starting school and many trips. But what I really want to write about is what's happening RIGHT NOW!

For the last seven years God has challenged me in many, many ways and he has changed me through and through. One of the things He has done for me is open my eyes to a world of injustice; things you can't just un-know. Sometimes I get caught up in the regularities of life but God never fails to return me to that place of personal sacrifice. That's where I feel most comfortable and most like myself, when I'm asked to give up something that I have for the sake of someone else. During this seven year period I've been heavily involved with an organization called Venture Expeditions. You've probably heard me talk about it a time or two :) I've biked and hiked with Venture to engage in physical sacrifice on behalf of the oppressed and this year I will be RUNNING.

Because of the way "real life" works sometimes I just don't have the flexibility of my yesteryear to leave the country for 3+ weeks or spend 2 weeks leading a cycling team through the Appalachian Mountains. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I was really having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be able to join a Venture tour this summer. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was supposed to do something this year. Maybe an even stronger feeling was that I needed to do something. Whatever it was, God was definitely stirring something in my heart. I was talking this over with my sister-from-another-mister, Emma, and she suggested we form a Venture Local event for the Twin Cities.

Within a matter of minutes Emma and I had formulated a plan for a group of local Minneapolis women to run 100 miles in 5 days on behalf of women everywhere that are exploited and trapped in sex slavery. We'll each raise $1,000 which will be donated to Venture Expeditions and benefit their projects in Southeast Asia. Along the route we'll stop and share our hearts behind the run and educate those we interact with on the real facts of women and girls in slavery.

If you're in the Twin Cities area and are interested in running with us please let me know! If you haven't already check out Venture Expeditions' 2014 tours. My first trip was to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and it changed my life. I encourage everyone who reads this to sign up for a tour of their own and find out the beauty behind benefiting the world and discovering the soul.