Using the System

Acts 25:10-11
(10) But Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourselves know very well.
(11) If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar."

It seems to me that Paul wanted the Roman government to take him to Rome so that he could preach the gospel there. He used the system to his advantage since he could have been acquitted. He knew what would happen to him there, but he went anyway. He did this all for the sake of the gospel.

Are you looking for little things that could help you to spread the gospel? I don't just mean leaving tracts around, but actually talking to people about it? Maybe Facebook would help. I don't know. All I do know is that Paul had quite an opportunistic approach to sharing the gospel.

I think of this sort of thing with my running. It was bitter cold this Saturday morning (below 20) and I didn't go out. I was not happy about it though. There are other times when I'm happy for the excuse to sleep in. I want to be in the mindset where I want to do the hard thing and am upset when I can't. The reverse is what my flesh desires. That goes just as much for sharing the gospel.

Doing Hard Things

My team at work has decided that it is going to try running a 5k this April. I told them about the running plan that Amanda used and they are intrigued. Now we'll see what happens.

I am a bit skeptical about this, but I hope that peer pressure will end up winning the day in the end. It's in the 40s today and drizzling. How many of my colleagues are going to run in this weather?

In other words, we have Gatorade commercials with athletes working very hard to achieve their goals. We have Under Armour commercials with athletes running the steps on the stadium. And so on. They really glorify the hard work that goes into performance. Yet it is clear that so few are willing to put in that kind of work.

That goes for me too. I don't always push myself enough when I run. I don't always dig as deeply into the Bible as I'd like. I don't always work as hard at loving my family as I should. I certainly don't dig as much as I could at work. And so on.

This whole experience brings a few things to mind for me:

• I need to watch out for pride as I run
• I need to push harder in areas where I know I need work
• I need to keep seeking insight into other areas where I need to push harder

I used to work with someone who had the motto "lean into it." I think that is a good motto for life. Am I willing to do it?

Faster Than I Think

I ran my first 5k today. When I do my jogs around the neighborhood my usual mile split is around 8:15/mile. We have some pretty healthy hills here that slow me down a little bit. When I have a fairly flat run I can get in just under 8:00/mile.

I shocked myself by finishing in 24:01, which comes to 7:45/mile. I felt horrible when I finished, but I think that's good. I didn't want to finish with anything left in the tank. What kills me is that someone finished just ahead of me so I ended up 4th in the over 30 category for men.

The good news is that I ended up 10th overall and I did finish ahead of all the ladies who ran. Now that I have this race under my belt I have a better idea of how to run it next time. I don't think I will necessarily finish a whole lot faster, but I do think I can get in a hair under 24:00 next time. I just have to be smarter in a couple of spots. It would also help to have a better diet the week before.

Climbing Hills

I have a couple of fairly hilly routes near my house. There is one that I run fairly regularly (1-2 times/week) that is 3.44 miles and it usually takes me about 28:30 to run it. I'm not sure why, but yesterday was a serious struggle. It may be because I have put on a couple of pounds through careless eating. It may also be because it is now warmer in the mornings.

At any rate, a lot of thoughts go through my head as I fight to climb the hills. I try to make it an act of worship and think about some inspiring praise & worship songs as I climb. But, to be honest, sometimes I think of Rocky training montages. What red-blooded American man isn't inspired to see Rocky doing all kinds of feats of strength as he prepares for the big match?

When I think of running and hills, I tend to think of this:



In particular, the part where he has the log on his shoulders and he is going through two feet of snow. That's how I feel sometimes.

What really struck me yesterday was how much this reminds me of Christ. I think of Him carrying the beam on His back as He climbed Calvary. He couldn't make it because of the beating that He suffered, so someone was called in to help.

John 19:16-17 ESV
(16) So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,
(17) and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

Matthew 27:32 ESV
(32) As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.

This is a little different than Rocky, isn't it? Rocky always guts it out and succeeds in his training. However, there are usually some stumbles along the way too, right?

One thing is certainly the same. Both are victors at the end. Maybe it's stretching things a bit to call Rocky a messianic figure, but there are certainly parallels.

Anyhow, thinking of Christ climbing that hill for my sake certainly helped me to suck it up and make it up the little hill I had to climb. Thinking about this makes me want to go back to California and take another crack at the fire trails. At the very least, I'm going to get a chance to tackle the beach next week.

Running Light

I've been working on increasing my distance on my Saturday runs. I was content to do just a little under 3.5 miles for my "long" run and did that for a long time. Then one night on the way home from class I wondered how long it was to downtown Cary from my house. Turns out that it's almost exactly 2.5 miles. I thought it would be good to have a little variety from the 3 runs that I do, so I decided to work up to that. It took me a few weeks, but I did it 2 weeks ago. Last week I did 4.6 miles because I knew the extra work I'd have carrying Lily around the airshow.

Today I did 5.1 again, but with much more hills. I was excited to see that I did it in 8:08 miles. This was no small feat for me. The last mile is brutal as it is almost all uphill. There is one long break after the first climb, but then only a very short break after another long climb. It ends with a short, steep climb, 0.1 miles of slight downhill, and finally 0.1 miles of slight uphill. It definitely gets the heart and lungs going!

The key I've found through all of this is that I need to give God all the glory and praise for being able to run. I posted a photo of my old self at the height of my gluttony. Not a pretty sight. Only God could take that tub of goo and turn it into something that can run up and down hills. I want to make sure that I keep the focus in the right place.

While going up that marathon last mile I tend to think of songs in my head. "It is You," "Blessed be Your Name," "Not to Us," and "Heart of Worship" all got me through today. It was not a lot of fun, but it sure feels good to have finished!