Pastor Dana’s blog

After a couple of weeks of walking during my Lenten devotional time, I thought it might be good to start running. I need the exercise, and I need the solitude that a lot of people that run seem to find out on the road or trail. So how does one start. Well, I talked to a pastor friend that is training for a half marathon this summer and asked how he got started, and he told me that he found a training plan on a website for runners. So off to Google I go, and low an behold there it is, how to get from the couch to three miles running in 8 weeks.

Now I have a plan, and its time to take some action. After all one does not become a runner by studying about running, by learning everything one can about shoes and technique, but by running. So off to Running Central in Peoria for some advice on and procurement of proper footwear. What did I find? Some of the nicest people ready and willing to help this novice get started with the proper shoes and loads of encouragement. I must admit I had been a little afraid of entering an actual running store for fear that I would be looked upon with condescension as a rank amateur, but my fears were thankfully not realized. Reminds me of how fearful people are of entering churches, fearing the judgment of those who might be known as the “pros” of Christianity. Can we be just as kind and encouraging to those who are seeking a new life running with Christ as these folks were to me as a new runner of the trails? Something to think about.

Anyway, on to the real point of this story.

When I started running my legs would be burning near the end of the one minute intervals of running. Yes, I am really out of shape. I found myself looking at my watch, yearning for the minute to be up so I could once again walk for the next four minutes. I would get so consumed with the discomfort that it was all I could think about and the seconds seemed to go by so slow. Then during my second walk/run a couple of days later, I thought about how I was concentrating on the discomfort instead of the goal and started looking ahead on the path instead of looking down at the ground right in front of me. It was amazing what happened. Now the discomfort didn’t go away, but my mind was on the goal and the burning muscles didn’t consume me. Eureka!! AHHA!! Running lesson, YES! Life Lesson, YOU BET! When we focus on our own discomfort it is really hard to see a way to our goals. When we focus on our own discomforts we find it hard to see where God is taking us. We are pain averse creatures and we will do almost anything to avoid it. But when we focus on the goals, the struggles that get in the way don’t seem so large. It’s not that we don’t notice them, we just put them on proper perspective, as something that needs to be overcome to reach the prize. We see the prize and we press forward. It’s the same when we fix our eyes on Jesus, not on ourselves or our own comfort, and we strive for the prize of winning souls to Christ.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart… Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
(Heb12:1-3, 12-13)

Triathlon

Well, here goes facebook again. This week they changed everything around and I can’t find what I’m looking for.

Actually I am pretty new to facebook and didn’t have to go through the pain of living through the last change, not that long ago. What was interesting about this change was a conversation that I had with a young person of college age that was frustrated about this change. I guess what caught me off guard was that we usually think of old people (relative term depending on how old one is that is saying old people), any way we usually think of old people as the ones who are resistant to change. After all it is the young who always seem to be asking for things to change. So to see this young person frustrated by the change in their beloved facebook interface was a bit of a surprise.

It was a learning experience for both me and for them. Especially when I suggested that this might be the same way that older people (again subjective term) feel when worship style in the church is changed. I guess it shows that we are all resistant when the things we care about are changed, but we need to remember that change is a part of life, and look at what the changes we encounter are really about. Has the change just been about the interface, or has it changed the substance? Is the introduction of new music in worship changing what we believe about Jesus? Is the introduction of video into worship changing what we believe about Jesus? Is the introduction of a new interface for facebook changing the substance of what we use it for, to connect with our friends? Whether the music is traditional or contemporary, or even emergent, we can still connect with God who hasn’t changed. No matter whether we use visuals on screens or in stained glass, the story remains the same that God sent His Son Jesus to show us His love and forgive us from our sin. Nothing we use to present that story has the power to change the truth about God.

In a couple of weeks the fuss over facebook will die down and people will be used to the new format. We will once again be able to find our stuff and make it give us the information we crave. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to take these life events into context and examine where we are in the midst of them and discover something about ourselves. Yes sometimes life is frustrating and we find comfort in the stability, but it is also in the stability that we can so easily find stagnation and complacency.

Anyway, just some random thoughts on living this Christian life.

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