Blog of Josh Hall

If you’re not familiar with the L.I.V.I.N.G Ministry, it’s an organization dedicated to serving the homeless and needy in the Pittsburgh area.  They have a few outreach programs that range from a large clothing drive event in the fall, job fairs, preparing breakfast for labor hall workers at 5am, Bible studies, and the biggest is Project L.I.F.E.  With Project L.I.F.E., 4 men are able to live in a house, that the ministry bought and renovated, and focus on building life skills such as budgeting and cooking, they rebuild relationships with their families, and they also learn discipleship.  The ministry just bought the house next door and they are working on renovating it with a similar plan in mind for it.

As for the race, on Saturday, October 16th, I’ll be in Chicago for the Men’s Health Urbanathlon.  I ran the 12 mile course last year, but this year they changed it to 9 miles and added more obstacles…like getting up and over a bus.  🙂  Throughout the course, I’ll be climbing over marine hurdles, over taxi cabs, and up and down the stairs of Soldier Field (where the Chicago Bears play).

My goal is to raise more than $1000. If you can make a flat donation of any amount, that will help me reach that goal.  If you want to get inside my head for a bit of motivation, you can do something like:

Give me $1 for every second under last year’s time (120 minutes.)
Since I’m also racing in the Great Race again this year, $1 for every second off my total time there (60 minutes)
• Give me a big bonus if I run the Urbanathlon in a mile/minute time that is better than my Great Race average mile/minute this year.
• Get creative!

If you’re not able to support me financially, some words of encouragement go a long way as well.  If you want to learn more about the ministry, or possibly getting your church involved in volunteer workdays, reach out to volunteer@livingministry.org.  I’ll be glad to talk with you as the chair of the board for the ministry too, if you have any questions or want to become a regular supporter.  Please send this to anyone who you think would like to participate!

Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and prayers!

Josh in the Urbanathlon 2009

#19 goes both ways.  If you’re not asking people for help, then who is  your family?

Well, some of you already knew, but now that it didn’t pan out, we’re allowed to talk about it.  Back in April, Chemistry.com (where Kallie and I met) contacted us and wanted us to be interviewed by a “national magazine” about our story.  Turns out it was People Magazine.  So they called Kallie, asked her a bunch of questions and asked for “our story” and I guess they interviewed a bunch of other people as well.  After a long waiting period, we were told we weren’t selected for the article, but it is cool just to be able to say we were interviewed by People Magazine.

I’ve also been selected by Pittsburgh City Living to be the Ambassador to the Hill District!  Not sure what that means exactly yet, but it’s a city program to showcase all the individual neighborhoods of the city.  Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute to the growth of the Hill!

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity.  We’ve been to California and back twice in July, a couple weddings around the state, heading to Canada/Yankanuck next week, went camping in Ohio and went to Cedar Point, back to Bedford for our 1 year anniversary, and just a bunch of other stuff that filled our calendars and put smiles on our faces.  I think next year we’re going to really protect our weekends and time together.  We had fun this year, but it was way too chaotic, and we even cut out a lot things as it was.

Back to real life, Kallie’s down to part-time work and full time student to get her NP license.  Since she’s doing that, I am also heading back to RMU for my masters in organizational studies.  We’re looking at 2-3 years for us to finish those up.  Work is reimbursing me as long as I get above a C, and I need above a 3.00 GPA to graduate, so I should have some motivation there.

I’m training for the urbanathlon again in October.  Probably doing a 5k in Charleroi and the Great Race 10k before then in preparation.  I’m going to try to fund-raise for the L.i.v.i.n.g. Ministry again this year too.  A lot going on with the ministry, and they could surely use the support!

I think after the race, I’m going to focus on music, playing out, writing songs, etc to carry me through the winter.  Hopefully I’ll be able to follow through on that one…I’ll keep you posted 😛

“A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.”

– Chinese Proverb

You’re considered family when you’re asked for help.  Think about it.  If you don’t feel comfortable asking someone for help, it’s probably because of a varying degree of either fearing their reaction, or not trusting them.  Neither are the traits that exist in a (healthy) family relationship.  It’s a form of flattery honestly.

Do you know what TED Talks are?  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, but the topics that are covered in these talks are much broader and deeper than that.  Some of the most respected minds in the world take time to give a lecture on their expertise.  I know, I said the “L” word.  Honestly though, these are some of the most poignant monologues and engaging lectures I’ve ever listened to.  The topics span from world peace, to the social impacts of selling vs giving bug nets for people in Africa, from sound waves to what we perceive (or perceive incorrectly) with our eyes.  When you have people like Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) giving lectures, it’s bound to be entertaining.  There are TED conferences happening all the time, and I’d love to go to one, but for now, these videos are awesome.