Noxious Stimuli

Skunks...and more skunks...
Last Friday when I was out trying to enjoy some fresh air in the park I came across nothing but that oh so familiar and unpleasant smell of the skunk.  I tried to be tough and pretend like I could not smell them but their stench was overwhelming and I found myself focusing on that instead of what my real purpose was that morning.  They were everywhere...dead and alive...seen and unseen.  First was the roadkill skunk...who's odor will be ground into the road for the next couple of weeks, and of course the heat and humidity just make his unpleasantness linger longer.  I don't know why in the world the park people have not removed his carcass, causing me to suffer every time I'm there.  Then there was the unseen but so very potent, nose-hair-singeing skunk.  His eye watering smell spread a great distance.  Hoping the smell would have vanished on my next pass through that area, I was sadly disappointed it had not as I was forced to endure it yet again.  Torture.  Then there was the alive-right-there-in-front-of-me-skunk!  He did not smell.  He was just happily poking around some weeds.  I tried to find beauty in this little guy as he was not causing my sense of smell great distress but I just could not...given this was my third encounter that morning.  In this case, I just felt lucky that I saw him on the side of trail BEFORE I became his stink target!  Let me tell you, I turned around faster than you can blink and doubled my pace to escape..thinking what a close call that was!
Once I settled myself and came back into focus I began to think about how a skunk is such noxious (toxic, corrupting, harmful, deadly) stimuli to our nose.  I takes all focus away, causing you to think only about how bad the smell is and how quickly you can get away.  Just as a skunk is noxious to us, our sins are even more noxious to our soul and to God.  Lucky for us skunk smell is only temporary and we really don't have to do much to escape it except wait it out.  Unfortunately, we are not so lucky with sin.  Sin is stuck inside of us, eating away at our heart and soul, slowly destroying our lives and our relationships with those around us and even worse, destroying our relationship with Jesus.  Sin will not just go away with time.  I cannot assume, "that was a long time ago and I'm sure God has forgiven me, I'm different now."  No-sir..It is not that easy!  We must confess to Jesus that wrong-doing, that sin, no matter how deeply and for how long we have filed it away.  Jesus wants to have a beautiful, open, pleasantly fragrant relationship with us.  So..face the sin in your life head-on, confess to your Lord and Savior, and be forgiven.  You will feel an amazing weight lifted off your shoulders.  You will no longer be causing noxious spiritual odor to cloud your heart and relationship your with Jesus.

1 John 3:4-5 (NIV)
"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.  But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins."

Romans 6:20-23 (NLT)
^"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.  And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.  But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

First sponsor..first mile!!

Yesterday was exciting!  I received my first sponsor donation in the mail.  I love how God used the first response to remind me He is in charge of this.  It came from someone that I really did not expect to participate financially.  I knew this person would be a fantastic prayer warrior for me during this process but I also know times are tough and they do not have any extra income.  Not only was it the first response but they requested to sponsor the first mile!  Yesterday's run was only 8 miles but for some reason it was mentally hard to complete.  I now have a refreshed motivation and am really excited to get out there and complete the deed the Lord has placed in front of me.  I know there will still be tough days but knowing my friends and family are behind me, supporting me means a lot and makes me want to work harder to not only complete the race but finish strong!

James 2:17
"...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

James 2:24
"You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone."

So THANK YOU to everyone that chooses to financially support this mission.  For many giving financially is taking a step of faith in their own finances.  Taking that step of faith is an action/deed that will not go unnoticed by our heavenly father.

Sponsor Letter Is Done!!

I am so happy to share with all of you that I have finished my sponsor letter and started handing it out! I'm not really much of a writer...but it seems I've been doing a lot of it since the start of this. I have attached a copy of it for all of you to read. If you are reading this and do not receive a letter but would like to donate, please contact me and do so! I'm very excited to see where God is going to take this...after all, it was HIS idea!!

Dear family and friends,

Greetings! This letter is to inform you of and ask for your support in a challenge I have committed to.

I belong to Monroeville Assembly of God church and am a youth leader there for Incline Student Ministries, the church’s youth group. Our church, specifically Incline, supports an organization called “Speed the Light”(STL). STL supports missionaries around the world by providing them vehicles and sound equipment, enabling them to more effectively spread the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our youth were challenged to raise $35,000 this year to purchase a vehicle for Bettina Weaver, a missionary in Myanmar, Africa.

As a leader, I felt compelled to be an example and work“outside of the box” to contribute towards this seemingly insane monetary goal. Four months after we were initially presented with this goal, God spoke to me. He told me to run a marathon to benefit Bettina Weaver through Speed the Light. I was pretty sure, on many levels, that this was not possible. I spent the next 5 weeks in denial, actively ignoring all the signs of confirmation from God that I really was supposed to do this (and I was flooded with signs). You see, I really did not want to run a marathon. There was just nothing attractive to me about the thought of running over 26 miles. I learned over those 5 weeks that what was lacking was faith. I did not have enough faith to:
1) believe this was really something that came from God…because God doesn’t just talk to me like that.
2) believe this was actually something I could physically do…and live through.
3) believe that I could put in enough training hours and not lose too much time with Matt and my girls.
4) believe that I could find enough (very inexpensive) childcare all summer while I trained.

It all came down to one Sunday morning sermon. The congregation was handed an outline, on it was the word “marathon”, with a star beside it. I knew that was meant for me. It was the big flashing “this IS God talking sign” that I needed. Still deficient in faith, I would not commit…until the following day when I opened up a Runner’s World magazine to see the headline “Running on Faith.” At that point, I finally submitted to God’s will and registered for a marathon. Though I still struggle in confidence about the running part, I do get more and more excited every time my feet hit the pavement in training. I will be running the 26.2 miles on Sunday, September 18^th at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pa!

There is a lot more to this story and if you would like to read it, I have started a blog to share with you this entire endeavor, from beginning to end. Please visit: http://runningonfaith-stl.blogspot.com

I am asking for you to prayerfully consider partnering with me in this challenge to benefit Bettina Weaver and her ability to spread God’s word to lost souls. My goal is to raise a minimum of $2600. That seems like a lot of money but it’s really only $100 per mile. I am not necessarily asking for that much from each of you. I am asking for you to give what you can, be it more or less. I want to show my Incline students that God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things when done for Him.

I also ask for your prayer as I train for the big day and for Bettina Weaver and her mission in Myanmar. I would like to have every mile I run sponsored by someone, that’s 26 people. I want you to choose the specific mile you want to sponsor. I will have a list of all my sponsors and their mile with me on race day. In return, I commit to give you my prayers during that mile of the race. Prayer and running have come together as one for me and I can’t think of any better way to spend 26 miles on the road than to lift all of you up!

Thank You for your support!! 
Lisa Benton

“Running on Faith”

Marathon Sponsorship for Bettina Weaver through Speed the Light
*This is considered a tax deductible donation.
*Please make checks payable to: Monroeville Assembly of God
*Write in the memo: Speed the Light
Please indicate your first and second choice for which mile you prefer to sponsor, if you have a preference. I cannot guarantee you’ll get your preference, unless you return this quickly. J If I am, by some chance, fortunate enough to have more than 26 sponsors, I’ll double up sponsors on that mile. I’m really looking forward to taking you all to the Lord that day, so please send me your prayer requests! I run at least 30 miles/wk in training now so I’m even happy to lift up your requests now..send them my way..I have lots of time out there on the road!
Please feel free to contact me regarding any of this at any time! This is a family commitment in the Benton home and I want you to be completely comfortable with any commitments you make in support as well. Even if your prayer requests change over the course of the next couple months, please let me know!
Lisa Benton: lmding@msn.com

Power of Prayer

I don't even know how to start this post except to say...I serve an amazing God who has delivered me amazing friends and PRAYER WORKS!  I belong to a group of young women at church and we call ourselves "MITS".  I started attending MITS (moms in touch...at least I think that’s what it stands for...though I have no idea what the "S" means) five years ago.  It has been through this church group that I have developed the closest friendships I could imagine.  We joke because we are all VERY different in personality, only having in common that we are moms who all LOVE good food and God.  We meet twice a month for breakfast, fellowship and devotion and this was a MITS day.  We spent a lot of time talking about prayer today.  Some of our group has laid some big prayer requests before God in the last several weeks and months.  God has answered some prayers while others are still waiting to hear God speak to them.  But, let me tell you.. there's just nothing better than receiving praise reports of answered prayers!!

Why am I writing about this you may wonder?  Running and prayer have come to be something that go together like peanut butter and jelly for me (which, by the way, is one of my favorites).  I spend a lot of time on the road and I'm out there because God has called me to run a marathon to benefit someone else. Running for Him is just that much better when I’m running with Him!  Last weekend I was at Boyce Park running what was going to be a record distance and half way through my knees both started to hurt...and not just a little.  I felt that I was going to have to cut my run down by about 6 miles.  At the time, I was praying for some of my Incline students that were facing various issues and it hit me…”I’m spending a lot of time praying for everyone else, perhaps I should try praying for myself.”  So, I did.  I prayed for the Lord to take away the pain so that I could just get in a few more miles.  Within the next mile, I was running pain free and completed that day’s training goal (16 miles)!!  Was I amazed?  Yes!  You bet I was!  I don’t know why but I am still in great awe every time I see prayers answered and miracles happen right before my eyes.  God is so good and so faithful and so obviously real.  He wants to hear our prayers and He wants to bless us by answering them…all He asks is that we are faithful to Him in loving and serving. 

As I begin to collect sponsorship and donations for Bettina Weaver (through Speed the Light), I also begin to open up my email and phone to take prayer requests from all of you.  I will be praying for all of my sponsors on marathon day but I don’t want it to be just a one day deal.  I am spending hours out there every week and I want to take all of your prayer requests to the God that I KNOW still lives and works miracles today!

I do not want to post my phone number here since this is public but please email me at any time your needs!   lmding@msn.com

Colossians 4:2   "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

Psalm 17:6   "I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer."