potpourri2 page 4

I logged 30,000 miles of running between the ages of 16 to 46. That's enough to circumnavigate the globe and then some! My primary goal was to stay physically fit. But along the way I made soooooo many good memories of special runs:

At sunrise. At sunset. On sunny days and rainy days.
During college when I needed a break from my studies.
Through storybook snowfalls like a Currier and Ives Christmas card.
Through clouds of yellow butterflies after a steaming July thunderstorm.
Alone. Accompanied by my children on their bikes. With my two dogs.
Under the Moon and stars on winter nights.
Through woods filled with spring wildflowers.
On the morning after my wedding because I was sooooo super-charged with adrenalin!

But regardless of the place or time, it was always me and God!

Hitting the Wall - I remember the precise spot on the trail when at age 39 I hit the wall. I had a church that lifted me up every Sunday. But by Tuesday I was "flat" again for the rest of the week. I had a wife who was in and out of the marriage like a revolving door. She was wonderful when she was in! But she never stayed for long. (I knew nothing about BPD at the time.) My job was better than most. But it was just an endless succession of projects - each with a different deliverable, schedule, and budget. And I knew that one-by-one our children would soon grow up and leave home. For the first time ever I realized that this was how my life was going to continue until the day I died. I felt like a hamster running on a wheel and getting nowhere. So I blurted out to the Lord,

"If this is all there is (to life), I'm disappointed!!!"

I was shocked at what came out of my mouth and waited for a lightening bolt to strike me dead! But nothing happened. What I said was kinda raw. But I was speaking the truth - at least as I saw it at the time. Fast forward a few years.... By this time I had (quietly) "crashed and burned" and been Baptized in the Spirit. My wife didn't like that. A lot of people in the Methodist church didn't like that either. But to me it was (and still is) the most wonderful thing in the world! I was still running competitively in the over 40 "Master's Division," training hard, steadily improving my 5K times, and always thinking about how to beat my rivals in the next race. But one morning the Lord said,

"Stop running! I want you to focus on My things!"

Looking Back to Egypt - It wasn't that running was bad. The problem was that running consumed too much mental space. Ending a love affair after 30 years was difficult! But I quit running and began to focus on God's business. I liked it! But several months later it was time for the annual Golden Baton Relay Race. My running buddies asked me to be on their team once again. When I protested that I was out of training, they pointed out that the race was still two months away - plenty of time to get back in shape. I decided it would be OK to run again just this one time. But the first time I hit the track it felt like I was dragging an anchor behind me! There was no hope of getting my speed back by race time. Then the Lord spoke to me,

"What's the point? The best you can do just gets slower every year. Someday I will give you all the ability to run you could ever imagine. And you won't even have to train for it. But for now, focus on My things!"

So I called my running buddies and told them sorry, they needed to find someone else. I never tried to run again. But I found a new and better way to continue my love affair; I began to hike on the mountain. It's still me and God!