Excessive Compulsive Running Disorder and the Christian

 I am a runner.  Some people may say that I have ECRD - excessive compulsive running disorder.  I like to run.  I get up early to do it.  I run when I am on vacation, or travel on business.  I run when it’s hot and I run when it’s cold.  I have been known to run in the rain and I enjoy running when it’s snowing.  I hope that when I am running my face looks like I am enjoying it – I’m not doing it to punish myself.  I am a runner. 

When I first starting running I didn’t want to draw a lot of attention to it.  I’d been somewhat sedentary and probably made fun on a few occasions of those schmucks out there in the cold rain running up that hill.  When asked “Are you are runner?” I’d say “Hmm, I don’t know  - I jog a few miles now and then.”  Finally someone confronted me – “Do you run 3 or more miles on a regular basis?” “Well, yes. I suppose I do” “Then, you’re a runner!”  So I admitted my identity and gave in to the moniker – and then ran even more!

So what does this have to do with running the Christian race?  Well, a lot.  If we are going to run the Christian race we need to know who we are .  I am a Christian.  There, I’ve said it.  Why is that important?  People who know that I am training for a marathon watch me a little differently.  Knowing I am a runner helps them define who I am (even though their knowledge may be a bit off)  “Do you really think you should eat that?” One might say.  “Or I could never do that…I can’t get up that early, or my knees hurt to bad (football injury, you know)”.  But it also helps me know who I am – and accordingly watch what I eat – or what I do.   People who know that I am a Christian helps them define who I am (even though their knowledge may be a bit off!) “Oh, you shouldn’t say that around Jeff, he may get offended” or “That’s not how a Christian should behave.”

More importantly though – It defines who I am.  “ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

I am a runner because I enjoy the benefits of running.  I enjoy the health benefits I get because I run.  I enjoy being able to clear my head, think, and pray as I run.  I enjoy seeing the stars in the morning or new fallen snow before anyone (except me!) tramples on it.  I enjoy the serenity.  I train and set race goals to challenge me and help me improve.

I am a Christian because Christ accomplished for me what I could not do – deal with my sin and sin problem – give me new life and the promise of an eternal one.  As a Christian I can now know and follow the path He created me for and enjoy His love and strength as I run each earthly step.  I need to train and strive to grow in my faith so I can run this race with perseverance and success.  As I come to grips with who I am as a Christian, and what all that means, I want to run more – for Christ – fixing my eyes on him as I run toward the prize.

How about you?

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms”  Ephesians 1:17-20

 

Log - last week ran 26 miles including a Saturday run of 10 miles in the cold and snow.   This Saturday the forecast calls for 12 miles - before 8AM!  


Knowing who we are is essential - if we are to become who God created us to be. 

Bananas!

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bananas bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

            

Matthew 4:4

Let’s talk about bananas.  There aren’t too many foods that I always have to have in the house –but almost every trip to the supermarket involves a purchase of  bananas.  I have to have bananas.  I usually run in the morning – before I have breakfast.   Bananas are a big part of my pre run and post run diet.  They provide the nutrients that help fuel my run and help me recover afterwards.   Fortunately bananas are easy to find, easy to open, and taste pretty good. 

Proper nutrition is important for the runner.   It’s hard to train for a marathon on a diet of Big Macs and soda– you would do much better on a more balanced healthier diet.  As I train I have to make wise decisions to eat this and not eat that.  I know I am not always going to make the healthiest decisions (I mean, how can I pass up the chocolate chip cookies my 9 year old  daughter made?).   But I can choose to, over the long haul, consistently make good ones.  And then those choices will sustain me through a 20 mile training run, and the training runs that follow.

So how does this relate to our Christian race?  So many of us try to run this race without the proper diet.  Yes, we go to church most Sundays, and read an occasional “Christian” book,  but what are we really doing  to make sure we are getting a healthy intake of spiritual food?  The Bible should be our main source of nutrients.  In order to successfully run the Christian race we need to be taking in God’s Word on not just a weekly basis – but on a daily basis.   How many of us eat only once a week?  Yes, we can live our lives without God’s Word.  Many people do.  But it’s like training for a marathon on that diet of Big Macs – eventually we will burn out.  We can do so much better!  God’s Word provides the proper diet to run the Christian race the way He intended us to run it.  It will provide the strength and encouragement to continue when we feeling like giving up.  As I run the Christian race, leading a small group study, teaching a Sunday School class, leading the Missions team, or even raising my kids, I realize how essential  that part of my diet is.  

Remember that man should not live on bananas alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

So grab a banana, and your Bible, and let’s run!

You Gotta Start Somewhere

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,  for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:12-15

One of my favorite cartoons shows a marathon runner bent over from exhaustion – 10 feet from the starting line!  The starter yells to the runner “You didn’t train for this marathon, did you?”

Next week I officially begin my marathon training.  I have a 16 week training plan and this Sunday will be 16 weeks out from the start of the marathon.  My training for the first week calls for 4 days of running culminating in a Saturday run of 10 miles for a total of 26 miles.

If I hadn’t been running for several months already I could not start on this plan.  I began running (again) last April.  Running as a term is probably generous.  I started out walking.  I could not run a mile without having to stop or walk.  A marathon was the farthest thing from my mind.  Even a 5K race seemed daunting.  But I knew I needed to get in better shape, and I knew from experience that eventually 1 mile would turn into 2, and 2 into 3 and so forth.  I ran a 5K at the end of May, a half marathon in September and since signing up for the Pittsburgh Marathon at the end of September I have logged 350 miles – including a few 10 milers.  Over the course of the next several weeks I will ramp my weekly mileage up to 40 miles with weekend long runs up to 20 miles.  Between now and the marathon I will run close to 500 more miles.

Right now (middle of January) fitness centers are full over America with well meaning individuals trying to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. Few will succeed.  In the next few weeks crowds will return to normal as many give up thinking that the goals they are trying to achieve just can’t be accomplished.  Many want to be in marathon like training shape immediately, expecting to see miraculous results right away and get disillusioned by how much work it takes and progress seems so slow.  If I would have started back in April trying to run 5 miles every day, I would never have got this far.

Many of us as Christians try to run the Christian race without a proper training foundation.  We decide it’s time to get serious with our faith (a good thing) but then set goals to lofty to achieve.  We throw ourselves into ministry without the proper training, (or none at all).  We think we can minister without the proper exercise of a consistent time of scripture reading and prayer.  Before long we are burned out and frustrated wondering why we did not succeed.  And we quit.

Hebrews is right (of course, it’s in the Bible).  Many of us should be teachers by now – we’ve been Christians for a long time.  But we have failed to lay the proper foundation that will allow us to move on and grow. We want to be marathon runners but we haven’t learned how to run that first mile.  It may be time to go back to the gym, get in the Word of God, take it slow and purposeful and lay that foundation.  We have a lot of miles to run, but we don’t have to run all those miles today.

Running the Christian Race

Hebrews 12:1 “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,”

You've heard it said before – life is a race – a marathon, not a sprint.  It takes endurance.  It takes perseverance.  You also don’t want to run a marathon, or any race for that matter, with a 50 pound sack of potatoes on your back.  You want to shed as much baggage as possible.  Yet, over time,  we accumulate lots of  “stuff”.   This stuff  comes in many forms – physical, emotional, spiritual, and so forth.  Some of the stuff  we actually need, and for those things – maybe “stuff” is too harsh a word.  This stuff may include relationships, such as family and friends,  or a place to live, or clothes to keep us warm.  Much of this stuff serves to enable us to run our race.  Our focus should be on discerning what stuff is hindering us and keeping us from running the race, or slows us down.  Sin,  of course, falls into that category, and while more discernable than most hindrances, is not the only thing that hinders.  Life can get pretty complicated - and before we know it our schedules and closets are filled up with more than we know what to do with.  Discerning what to keep and what to get rid of is not an easy task - but needs to be done if we are to throw off the stuff that entangles us.  

To run with endurance we also need to train. We just can't expect to show up at a marathon starting line one day and expect to run the 26.2 miles.  It takes preparation.  It takes work.  It takes focus.

 Hebrews 12:2a “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith .”

Some say that the difference between a runner and a jogger is a race entry.  You have a different motivation when you have signed up to run in a race, and in most cases paid money for the privilege to do so.   As I write this I am signed up to run the Pittsburgh Marathon.  Besides an $85 entry fee, I have also committed $450 for a 3 night stay at one of the local hotels (non-refundable).  In addition,  I will be joined by my brother and his wife who have also paid non-refundable race and hotel fees.  When I get discouraged and think of backing out I will be reminded of the money that has already been paid and the people that are counting on me to join them.  I've also told several friends and coworkers about my plans and I don’t want to have to tell them that I’ve backed out.  My sights are on the finish line - looking forward to crossing the line and having a finisher's medal placed on me - knowing that all my preparation has paid off.

In my Christian race – my goal is none other than Jesus Christ.  My eyes should be fixed firmly on Him.  All that I do, including running the Pittsburgh Marathon and writing this book, should be done with Him at the center of all my plans and the end of all my goals.  He is the reason I live, and to Him should come  the glory in all that I do.  He gives purpose to my life – to my work, my running, and my writing. 

This blog will parallel my training for the Pittsburgh Marathon to running the race called the Christian life.   To me that means more than just training physically, but spiritually as well.   For as Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

My hope is not that you will become a marathon runner, though if you do, that’s fine.  My goal is that this blog will help you run the Christian race with perseverance, while keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus. 


In the upcoming weeks this blog will focus on training and running the Christian race as I train for and (hopefully) run the Pittsburgh Marathon.  This is not my first marathon (though I have not run one in 8 years) so I have some experience in training - but also much to learn. 

Are you ready to run?