The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”
Today was a rough day and running came to my rescue more than once. During the workday, I was struggling through unimaginative figures that would not balance no matter what I did and when I picked Jordan up from the BGC, he presented me with a note from the principal. *sigh*
The first run was along the creek bed behind my office. Strictly speaking, I was trespassing but people do it all the time. I had to hop a fence to get in.
It was an out and back route. It was a short run and there was nothing noteworthy about it. It was enough to take my mind off work for a few minutes and relieve the stress that was creeping up my neck from my shoulders. Felt good.
Getting home and dishing out disciplinary consequences was where the blessing really showed itself. Apparently, Jordan was very rude to his principal and had to write his own note, which he gave me to sign.
There are very few spankable offences in our house but bold-faced defiance is one of them. However, Jordan almost always has the option of working off a spanking. Working off a spanking usually consists of scrubbing a toilet, tub, mirror, wall or floor.
Tonight, it manifested itself in what turned out to be a 2.77 mile run. This is not the first time I have used running as a form of correction and I find it to be very effective. The lesson is: If you want to screw around at school, you’d better have a strong back!
I outfitted him in some running gear: an iPod Shuffle, arm warmers, running cap and a flashing clip light for high visibility, as we were running after dark.
There were to be no rest breaks, except for the traffic lights and even then, we would dance vigorously so our heart rates didn’t drop.
I didn’t work him beyond his capability, but I did work him hard. When we got to the halfway point, I gave him 60 seconds to catch his breath and he asked me why I run when it’s so hard. I told him, “Running is totally natural and it’s only hard because we have gone against nature for too long.” Then he asked, “Why do I have to run when I’m bad at school?” I told him, “Cuz I don’t pay bills for grown folks. After graduation, you have to get outta my house and if you’re not prepared for college, you will be prepared for Boot Camp!”
We turned around and headed back, running hard and waving at the people who were smiling at us as we were dancing at the crosswalks.
When we got back home and ran up the driveway, I gave him a high-five and told him he did well. Then I asked him, “College or Boot Camp?” He said, “College!”
Good boy!
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