Iditarod

Anyone remember reading a book about the Iditarod in AP English, good old Ray Bradbury lead us through the wildest chase in Alaska and for the first time, last week, the book become alive to me and I met the Martin Buser, World Record Fastest Racer across the 1.200 mile terrain.

Iditarod means clear water and was named by the Shageluk Indians for the Iditarod River.The word comes from the Ingalik Indian word HaIditarod which was the name for the river on which the town was built. It means distant place.

In 2002, Martin Buser broke the record when he crossed the finish line in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. He said that currently there are areas of the race 20 years ago were freezing cold and last year he was getting bit by mesquitos.
The race has started in downtown Anchorage since 1983. The teams leave the start line at the corner of 4th and “D” at two minute intervals, starting at 10 a.m. There are usually over 65 teams starting and some years even more.
The teams average 16 dogs, which means over 1,000 dogs leave Anchorage for Nome.

I went to Martin Buser’s house, He told us that he knows his dogs (500 dogs) simply by their sight and sound. as I looked around at all the dogs, it become very real to me that this is his purpose, devoted and willing to sacrafice all that he has.

Immediately I thought about Heavenly Father and the reality of him knowing every single person that has ever lived, he knows us more than sight and sound, he knows our fears, our struggles and our hearts.

And as we take small steps to get closer to him through out this life, or level of happiness expands, our willingness through the terrian becomes more like an adeventure. Sometime that leads our hearts to repeat those types of experiences.