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My Battle Cry


In July 2017 I wrote my last post about running. I wrote of Goals and of Cost, of Declaration and Revolution. In the intervening months I carried a 40 lb jerrycan of water through the Global 6k for Water in Chicago. I trained for and ran my second Chicago Marathon, propelled onward by an overwhelming crowd of supporters. I welcomed my wife across her first marathon finish line, followed by my sister Tracy. But most importantly, with your help we raised over $10,000 for clean water - that's over 200 lives changed forever by a humble gift of $50, to bring them access to a clean, fresh well and end the cycle of hauling surface water carrying parasites and disease and risk of death. Those 200 lives were well worth every mile. But there's more to fight for.

Then came a season of recovery. Many of you haven't heard from me for over a year, because I didn't run a Marathon last year. But that doesn't mean I stopped moving. During the cool early months of 2018, I met weekly with a group of guys to share community on the trails in the frosty Saturday morning hours. Later my wife and I celebrated our anniversary running another Global 6k for Water together, and I trained for and ran the Chicago Half Marathon, for which some of you generously supported Team World Vision clean water projects. But of much greater significance, I got to support Tracy as she ran back-to-back marathons in Chicago and New York to challenge friends and family to sponsor children through World Vision. In both cases, I proudly joined the crowds of spectators and yelled myself hoarse to cheer her on, celebrated her victories, empathized with her exhaustion, and bought her ice cream. Tracy won't stop there. My story doesn't stop there. There's more to fight for.

I sometimes pause to wonder where this journey is taking me. How many more miles will I run? How much training? How many races? I honestly don't know what lies beyond the horizon for me, but I know there's more to fight for. So TODAY I RUN. I run for change. I run for life. I run for hope. I run for love. I run because there's more to fight for, and this is my Battle Cry: TODAY I RUN.

So it is with great honor and hope that this September I will run the 2019 Berlin Marathon.

What's your Battle Cry? Maybe you've never asked yourself that question with those words, but you've certainly considered your charge. Do you feel accountability for the change you want to see in this world? Maybe you know there's need, you know there's hurting, but you're frozen, hogtied by the immense scale of the problems of this world. But I say: you have the very real power to act and create change. Find your action and make it your Battle Cry. Maybe your role is not to run - that's my Battle Cry. But you can certainly act. There's more to fight for, so stand up and act, because life is too short and too precious for inaction. TODAY I RUN. What's your Battle Cry?

Today, this very moment, I can introduce you to a child who needs you. If you're looking for YOUR BATTLE CRY, maybe this is what you act on. Standing up for this one child is simple and probably easier than you'd like to admit, and yet... to this one child, it can quite literally mean the world. So if you feel an urge to move, follow it. Stand, act, CRY OUT!

CLICK HERE to start your charge. And thank you dearly for your support.

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