Running in my Faith

Anyone with any appreciable amount of knowledge about running knows what it takes to have a good run, or to place high in an organized event.  It takes a perfect balance of training, hydration, diet and motivation.  When all that is clicking right, it seems like there isn't anything you can do wrong.  Even the weather plays very little into the results of your run because by being properly balanced, you will have accounted for that before you even take the first step.

Well, with the lack of training....and uh....motivation....and well, diet, i haven't done as well as i would have liked in the last several organized events.  While my times were a tad bit better than the last times i had in those same events in previous years, i had a really difficult time completing them.  And with my being the last male finisher of the most recent one, it has really rocked something deep down inside me like a little mental "kick in the pants"  that i've needed.  i'm working on a training plan for the next set of events i want to do.  i'm making sure i get the proper hydration i need on a daily basis.  i've been altering my diet to what it should be.  Okay, maybe not so much on that last one.  LOL

Anyway, this week i was reminded of how much my disciplines in my faith have almost exactly mirrored those of my running.  i've lacked the motivation, the interest and desire to study it.  To learn it.  To live it.  While i was making myself crack open the Bible, i was really only reading it as i would any other book.  i wasn't really READING what it was that God was trying to teach me in those words.  Plus, It's been WAY TOO EASY for me to find excuses to avoid studying and even easier to blame others for my lack of motivation and discipline.  So, just like in running, my progress in my faith BONKED like you wouldn't believe.

Fortunately, in the last several months, i've recommitted myself to the disciplines i used to follow and just like in running, i'm gaining strength, and endurance and connecting back with the love i have for it.  And so it goes, that as my running improves, so does my faith and vice versa.  i'm not sure i like them being so connected but that's how it is.  But then again, how interesting is it that there are several references, in the New Testament, about athletes and how they don't win the prize unless they are well disciplined and trained, etc....  It obviously fits.

So, there you go, i've got my disciplines that i need to do for running and those that i need to do in my faith.  What's great is that so many of those disciplines are so similar in their very nature.   I'm off to a good start, at a good pace and am working to keep my eye on the finish and the prize.  And even if i'm last, "To Finish Is To Win", right?  In EITHER case.


Thanks and God Bless.


Oh, and what page is my Bible turned to in the photo above?  Why it's my favorite one, of course.  The end of the watch strap is pointing to Isaiah 40:31  (NLT)  "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."  (emphasis added to express my point)

Laters!