Unreasonable and Ridiculous

One minute: springing up the hill as fast as I can, lungs burning, legs pumping, sweat flying.Two minutes: slow jogging, deep breathing, slowly returning down the hill.One minute: madly sprinting up the same hill, lungs screaming, legs angry, sweat drenching.Two minutes: slow jogging, deep breathing, slowly returning down the hill.Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.It's unreasonable and ridiculous.I do that because very soon I'll be climbing five thousand feet, under the hot sun, with 20 miles of running behind me.I do that because of fifty girls.I do that because it's unreasonable and ridiculous and I want them to know that I'm willing to do something unreasonable and ridiculous, because a life of prostitution is what's really unreasonable and ridiculous for a teenage girl in Ethiopia, or anywhere.And as I run and ache and scream and sprint, I force my mind to think of one single image, with every step and every breath and every foot of incline. I think of breaking into a dark room, turning on the lights, and pulling those girls out of that dark room of slavery, because they're thirteen, and they should have crushes, not clients.I think of that image every single hill I climb as I prepare to run all that way for all those girls.I can run.And I can tell you about what is unreasonable and ridiculous, about how it shouldn't be that way, it can't be that way, and what my friends are doing, life by life, to spread unreasonable and ridiculous love in Ethiopia.And you. You can be a part of something beautiful, something redemptive, to all those girls.You can do something.What will you do? What unreasonable and ridiculous thing will you attempt?Laurie and her family started a lemonade stand, so that their kids would know they can make a difference.Cheri convinced a women's clothing store to donate 20% of all proceeds during a 2 hour time frame.Drew is actually running for ten straight hours, in and around Maple Grove, on September 15th, during the time I'm running in the Grand Canyon.A youth group in Washington and one in Oregon are organizing "solidarity runs" on the morning of September 15th.People from eight different countries and half of the United States have donated, and we have raised $31,450 (as of Thursday morning, Aug 29).We've raised enough so that 31 women can leave prostitution and enter the Keziah House. Our dream is 19 more.It's unreasonable and ridiculous to think that we can raise $50,000.But I have this unreasonable and ridiculous hunch that we - you and me and him and her - we - are going to do it.Because 50 girls.To join the adventure, click here.To read the reason why I got into this in the first place, click here.Photo Source