Thank you God:
For we can control (or try) to so much of our lives, but the Weather is
in Your hands. Booking an outdoor Event
8 months in advance requires Faith and You did not let us down. This does not mean in the future we will not
have bad weather days for this event, however it was so nice to not have to
check the hourly forecast in the days leading up to this years event.
Thank you Ratanak International in particular Brian
McConaghy: You have invested 23 years of
your life in establishing the good name of Ratanak International with your
involvement in changing the lives of the Cambodian people, Ratanak
International is a name that is mentioned as a leader in battling overseas
child sexual exploitation. Brian is a man who meets with Canadian politicians
regularly giving advice on best how to combat this problem. It was an honour to represent such a
reputable organization. I hope we
represented this Organization well, and lived up to your trust.
Thank you Paul:
You put my face on every piece of publicity for this event listing me as
the organizer, yet without you we would not have even had the first event, let
alone be going forward with the certainty of making this an annual event. Symbolically enough when I was to say these
words to you at the starting line you were tying up the loose ends of some last
minute registrants at a picnic table behind the scenes well away from the start
and all the activity.
Thank you Toronto Core Group: I will not mention names because for sure I
will miss some, but you designed posters, got sponsors, publicized this event,
prayed for this event, volunteered the day of, and came out in large part raising
funding and awareness.
Thank you participants: For without you we do not have an event. Thank you for your patience, and grace, this
is a work in process, and we came a long way from last year, and realize we
have a few more things to work on. I was
most encouraged by not knowing more then half the people, in fact it will be
interesting to see how many new people showed up at the Event.
Planning such an activity relies on so many people
outside of your circle. We seemed to
have more then our share of excitement leading up to our event. Paul went to pick up the pylons, only to have
the person he had communicated with not in that day so Paul had to convince
someone else to lend us the pylons, thankfully we did not have to ask Janice
for her "prize" pylons.
I had a three day adventure trying to get someone to
return my call about a very important matter.
Finally I had to email a Supervisor to get a response.
Lara went to pick up the Coffee on the Saturday
morning only to have the lady she had been dealing with not in as well that
day. Lara must be a great talker as we
ended up with our Coffee.
I save the best (worst) for last. Arriving at the Park Paul informs me that he
wants to use my Van to put the Ratanak Banner on. This started a three vehicle shuffle with the
table, chairs, ice, water and Volunteers for the mandatory water station at the
2.5 km mark. Picture next a Magician
with the three shells trick, you know how they put an object under one shell,
shuffle them around and when the Magician lifts each shell the object is gone.
Substitute vehicles for shells, and the only key to
a locked gate as the object, and myself for the Magician. Yes for the first time in my life on this
Earth I misplaced a key. At work I am
reading a book called Don`t sweat the small stuff (it`s all small stuff) sorry
but all the steps I had accomplished in the previous weeks reading this book
came undone at this moment. What
followed next was the most stressful 20 minutes of my life, checking,
re-checking, praying, almost hyper ventilating, and then Prayer was answered
for in the middle of a 5km distance I found the lost key, ran the 500 metres in
a time Isabella would have been impressed with and started the process of
driving my two volunteers, my sister Linda, and my Mother to set up the water
station.
I am known as a slow driver; not this day. Linda told me a few times to slow down, at
one point going over a wobbly Bridge I thought I heard her praying. The best moment had to be when a 60 something
year old man out for his morning jog, enjoying nature with his ear phones in
could not hear us approaching. My Mother
said honk and I did, however I was not used to the Horn as it was not my
vehicle and I really blasted it. This
startled the poor guy into jumping (no exaggeration) at least four feet into
the air. I still laugh when I picture
this moment. We finally ended up setting
up the table and this man and myself had a laugh as I explained my situation,
and found out we had ran in a few of the same races. Later on My Mother talked about these same
races with him and gave him some Ratanak International information. I have to chuckle again thinking what if he
comes to a core group meeting? What is
his story going to be like when Jessika asks him how he found out about
Ratanak`s work?
The Starting Line
My Speech for the starting line got lost in the
vehicle shuffle so I had to wing it.
I mentioned two of the markings I had set up on the
course the previous night were pink
ribbons. I had purposely picked, as for
me pink is the colour for a young girl`s innocence, and though we could not
give the girls in Cambodia a lost childhood back; Today was for them, Today was
about them. I was going to mention that
Today was a day of joy, it was to be a day of celebration, as so many times the
Volunteers in our group face difficult stories with no happy ending. Three times during the previous week the same
scripture came to mind. I am not worthy
enough to pray these words, they were going to be a Benediction to encourage
the participants. Now they will used to
encourage the readers.
Isaiah
61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord
is upon you,
because
the Lord has anointed you
to
preach good news to the poor,
He
has sent you to bind up the broken-hearted,
to
proclaim freedom for the captives
and
release from darkness for the prisoners,
3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion
to
bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead
of ashes,
the
oil of gladness,
instead
of mourning,
and
a garment of praise,
instead
of a spirit of despair.
I then went on to explain a few rules and asked for
the people who were going to run to start at the front, people who were going
to walk/run to line up next, and for people who were just going to walk to line
up last.
First person in line I see is Isabella my 11 year
old Daughter. If you are new to my blog
Isabella has been quite Honest about my Marathon results, giving most of you
some laughs at my expense. My friend
Linda Ruth was impressed about my Cleveland Marathon result and asked me about
Isabella`s reaction. The day before the
Marathon my family came face to face with three Kenyan runners in our Hotel`s
lobby. Isabella must have lowered her expectations
somewhat as she ignored the two men and asked me if I could beat the lady? I suggested we look up her winning time from
the year before, we found out she had ran a 2 hours 30 minutes marathon. I informed Isabella I would most likely
finish one hour behind this lady and the "Isabella look" I am used to
of hope slowly disappearing came over her face.
Thankfully the start of the walk was uneventful and
I was encouraged at how many people knew me that I didn`t know.
The first two finishers were students from
Charlene`s class. Charlene may be the
"original core member” as I think Lisa Cheong and herself started the
group up, and here she is still involved so many years later, in fact bringing
a new generation to involve themselves.
Next was our first aid Lady Mary`s sister and Mary`s niece.
Next came Isabella and my Wife Gloria. Earlier in the race Isabella had to stop
running from a stich in her side, and told Gloria to go on without her. Gloria told her "this day is for not
leaving little girls behind, and I am not leaving you behind." Ultra-competitive Isabella nudged out
competitive Gloria for fifth place.
A little further down the way came my 13 year old
Daughter Katarina with Gloria`s Mother (Nona).
Katarina has my families’ most natural running stride and if she wanted
to could have finished much closer to the front, possibly winning, but walking
and spending time with her one Grandmother, and visiting her other Grandmother
at the water station were more important to her on this day.
I reflected later on what pride I took as a Father,
the day before Father`s day in watching my whole family take part in such a
special day. I have to think that God
our eternal Father must feel much the same way when He looks upon us who are
His children when we work for His Justice on the earth.
Ecclesiastes
10 vs 11
11
The race is not to the swift
or
the battle to the strong.
In my time as a Volunteer for Ratanak I have seen
many people come and I have seen many people go. Some go to other Ministries. The issue of sexual exploitation of Children
in Cambodia is deep rooted and will not go away overnight. It is something that requires a perseverance
that only comes from God. In my
experience God picks people with unrelated skills and gives them a task to complete. I was thinking just Today of how many people
that have came through our group who have stated as one of their assets
"Events Planner", not a slight at all on them but I find it
interesting that Paul and I get chosen to put on an Event. Rachelle Kearns is a great Artist and yet
she puts on an amazing Art Auction to benefit Ratanak although she confessed
(she was, and still is terrified of public speaking.)
Brian McConaghy has said many times his skill set is
useless for his role. Lisa Cheong used
to sell stocks to stockbrokers, now she is on the frontlines of helping the young
women who were the former child victims of sexual exploitation gain a new
chance at life. I could go on, and
on. I guess when you take a task so far
out of your skill set that actually succeeds you have to give God all the
Glory.
The rest of the walk was uneventful and many people
just stayed well past the finish to enjoy the day, to enjoy the experience.
Many times I have been thanked for having the Vision
of the walkathon. A vision is something
that God gives and I am grateful for the amazing people who were able to bring
this vision to reality.
These are my thoughts after running in The 2011
Boston Marathon
June
6 2011
500
000 people came to Boston. $125 million
dollars were generated. At the recent
Cleveland Marathon $18 million dollars were generated. I dreamed of having that kind of support for
Ratanak International.
I dreamed of one day set aside in places that have
heard of Ratanak`s work. In my dream I
also see the girls from the NewSong Center in Cambodia taking part in their own
walk. It is to be a day set apart when
people around the World walk or run in support of those who cannot. A day that is coming!
I issued the statement on the Neil Boron show that
if you can run a Marathon you can organize a walkathon. You have to look no further then me to see
this is true. To this end there is a
Group who came out to support us on Saturday but also to get a feel of which
such an event looks like. They are
making plans to add another walkathon in a different City for next year.
There is such a heaviness that sometimes comes from
being involved in this Ministry. What I
find most disturbing is that human beings are inflicting such damage to another
human being (especially little children.)
Sometimes I am overcome with a sadness that can last for days when I
think too much.
A week before the walkathon I felt such a mood
coming on. I thought to change up my
music and put a worship cd from David Crowder in my Van on a long drive. My mood lifted until song number 10.
Deliver
me
Deliver
me out of the sadness
Deliver
me from all of the madness
Deliver
me, courage to guide me
Deliver
me, your strength inside me
All
of my life I`ve been in hiding
Wishing
there was someone just like you
Now
that your here
I
know that your the one to pull me through
Deliver
me to loving and caring
Deliver
me to giving and sharing
Deliver
me from this cross that I`m bearing
Deliver
me
Deliver
me
Deliver
me
Deliver
me
Deliver
me
Deliver
me
As I heard these words an image of a young girl in Cambodia,
being held in chains, held in captivity behind huge walls came to me. I could see her but she could not see me,
although she sensed there was someone wanting to help her, hence her sadness.
Interesting enough this song and this image did not
have a negative effect on my thinking, as I thought there is going to be an
answer to this.
A friend sent me these words in regards to the walkathon "Clearly it
will be a walk in the park physically, but Spiritually it will be
powerful!"
The Wednesday before the walkathon I received an
answer to the above song by a highly unlikely source. As I worked out that day at my Gym a Taylor
Swift song was played that as soon as I went home I looked up the lyrics.
I cannot tell you with certainty that this event
took place on Saturday as a result of the walkathon, more importantly to me is that you cannot
tell me that it did not happen.
Change
Because
these things will change
Can
you feel it now?
These
walls that they put up to hold us
back
will fall down
This
revolution, this time will come
For
us to finally win
And
we sing hallelujah, we`ll sing hallelujah
So
we`ve been outnumbered
Raided
and now cornered
It`s
hard to fight when the fight ain`t fair
We`re
getting stronger now
They
might be bigger
But
were faster and never scared
You
can walk away, say we don`t need this
But
there`s something in your eyes
That
says we can beat this
Today
we stand, get off our knees
Fight
for what we`ve worked for all these years
And
the battle was long, it`s the fight of our lives
But
we`ll stand up champions tonight
It
was the day things changed
Can
you see it now?
These
walls that they put up to hold us
back
fell down
It`s
a revolution, throw your hands up
Cause
we never gave in
And
we sang hallelujah, we sang hallelujah
Hallelujah!
The image I had of the girl in Cambodia; I see her
chains came off, I see the walls holding
her captive are knocked down and I see She walks out Free! HALLELUJAH!
Thanks to the 100 people including 76 adults 10
students and 14 children (Paul originally estimated 100) who walked/ran/danced for a total of 500 kms
and raised the staggering total of $12
932 and still coming in (well above Paul`s goal of $10 000.)
See you next year.
Larry
