Run for Boston

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with "love" but I wanted to share my feelings/emotions toward what happened to Boston.

When I first heard about the Boston Marathon bombing I thought “That’s messed up” and then went about my day. I honestly didn’t give it much more thought than that because I didn’t feel like it affected me personally (or any more than any other American that was hearing about it on the news). Then I started having several people ask me if I was scared to run now. When the first two people asked, I thought “Why would I be scared? That was in Boston and I live in Kansas City.” Then I really got to thinking about it and got to thinking about how big some of the races are that I’m going to run. After that my answer started to become “Yeah I’m kind of scared to run the bigger races now.” I started going through my list of races and thinking “I don’t think I will do that one anymore.” With these thoughts circling in my head and after hearing more and more about Boston I felt like I spent the rest of the day walking around in a daze. I was even supposed to run that night and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t take my eyes off the news. Then I started to ask myself “Why is this hitting you so hard? Why is this affecting you? These people were runners. They ran all the time and they were good at it. You just do it as something to do. You aren’t a real runner.” 

Later that night I heard on the news that over 140 people had been injured and 3 had lost their lives. Then the news anchor said, “And the vast majority of those people injured where spectators.” Spectators are those people who show up and cheer with noisemakers. They give high fives to every runner that’s close to them. They have encouraging signs like “Chuck Norris never ran a marathon” or “That guy stole my purse, can you go get it” or “My mascara runs faster than you” or “You guys are all crazy! Keep going!” The spectators are the people that matter most to the runners. Without them, a race would be just a day of exercise (or self-abuse).

What people don’t realize is that running can be a very lonely sport. You spend hours a week on the road; most of the time totally by yourself. You give up evening activities and neglect close friends because you have to “get your run in for the day.” (And not to mention the aches and pains and disgusting feet that is caused by this.) But on race day, all of that disappears. All you see if a route lined with people. People holding signs and encouraging everyone. In fact, on my first race, I got to a point that I really didn’t know if I was going to be able to continue. Then I heard someone yell “Come on 990. You’re almost there. Keep your head up.” I thought “990? I thought I was wearing 990.” So I looked down at my bib and I was. I looked at the spectator and she looked right at me and said “Come on. You can do it.” She was cheering for me!?! And I didn’t even know her? That’s when I realized what spectators really are and why they get up so early to line the race path.  

Kathrine Switzer, a women’s marathoning pioneer, said “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.” Even though I have not ran a marathon, I know this to be true of any race. This is true because of the spectators. These are the people that give up their morning to go encourage a bunch of crazy people to keep running. They don’t receive a medal at the end. They don’t really receive any recognition at all. Yet they are the reason why every runner finishes the race.

Yesterday I sat out on my “long run” for the week. I sat out with a goal of 6 miles (even though I had only ran 5 miles twice and 4 miles once.) When I was completing mile 5, I felt like I was going to start crying. My knees began to hurt. My hips were locking up. But the biggest reason I was getting upset was because I had set out to run 6 miles and I wasn’t going to make it. I was going to fall short of my goal. Then I started to think about Boston. I thought about the runners who witnessed everything. I thought about the runners that didn’t get to finish. I thought about those that may not be able to walk or run again. And then I thought about the spectators. I thought about those truly innocent people that had gone to cheer on total strangers as well as a one or two they might know. I thought about how they constantly give up time to make sure that runners achieve their goal. I thought about how truly selfless those people are and yet they were the ones that were attacked. Then I felt the tears rolling down my face. On Monday I thought I wasn’t a “real runner” so the attack wasn’t personal. But that following Saturday, it was personal. It was very personal. It was personal because I am a runner. For the first time, I felt like a runner. I felt like a runner because in every race I have ran, I have had spectators cheer for me. They considered me a runner. No matter how far I ran, short I ran, fast I ran, or slow I ran…the spectators were always be there cheering me on. And they will continue to be there. And they will continue to cheer. I decided in that moment, that the run was not about me. It was not about achieving a goal and beating a personal record. It was about Boston. It was about the spectators. I needed to run for Boston and for the spectators that were injured or even lost their lives. And that’s what I did. I ran six miles for Boston!

Bridesmaids

Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. – Matthew 35:1-2

The time to play at work is when the boss leaves on vacation. That’s when you get away with talking on the phone, checking e-mail, and posting on Facebook, right? Or if Mr. or Ms. Right hasn’t appeared on the horizon…well, what’s the problem with fooling around with someone who is available? No one’s watching, right?

Even though God allows U-turns, there are consequences for sin. Jesus tells a story about this is Matthew 25:1-13. The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids has haunted me for the past few weeks. In the story, ten bridesmaids were waiting for the bridegroom. Five took extra oil for their lamps, but the others thought they’d have enough. The bridesmaids left to buy more, and the bridegroom came while they were gone. They missed out on the wedding feast because they hadn’t prepared for his arrival.

Please hear my heart in this. I know a lot of us have made foolish decision. One time too many. And now you feel stuck, locked out of that wedding feast. No longer worth of human love. No longer worthy of God’s love.

But God offers forgiveness. He offers grace. And He blesses the relationships He finds waiting and watching in purity. You can trust Him today and every day! Make God your focus, the Kingdom your work, and all your relationships will succeed.

Prayer: Let me be found faithful so that, at the appropriate time, you can bring me together with the man/woman of my dreams. I thank you that you can do more for me than I ever think or imagine. In Jesus’s precious and Holy name, Amen.  

Jesus, Take the Lead

Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi along, without her two sons or her husband. – Ruth 1:3-5

One of the best sermons I ever heard on dating had to do with a study of Ruth. It presented Ruth in a light I’d never heard before – from the perspective of a single Christian male. The sermon stated, “Some of you men have a mental or an actual list of what you’re looking for in a wife. How many of you’d include pagan family, most of her life spent in a cult, homeless, flat broke, pitted out, dirty, with a crazy, angry mother-in-law as a bonus prize?” Flaws. Ruth had plenty of them. I have them. So do you. We’re all wounded and broken, and our lives are far from perfect. We can’t see the next step forward. We think our past keeps us from having God’s best. We wonder how God could ever use us.

That’s certainly how Ruth felt. She was a grieving widow. She was broke, relying on the kindness of strangers just to get a meal. At times, she must have wanted to fall into despair. But she had one thing that trumped all of that: faith. She trust God to direct her life, and she put Him in charge. She let Him take the lead on everything from her finances to her love life. And check out what happens in return for her obedience: after all her grief, Ruth married a man named Boaz and had a son who become a direct ancestor of Just Christ, the Messiah. Who’s to say God can’t use broken people? Let God take the lead in your life, and wait for Him to work His wonders. Lead me Lord, I’m waiting!

Prayer: Where you lead I will follow. Help me take courage in my strengths and give my weaknesses to you. Show me what they are so I can move away from my broken past and into the glory you’ve planned for me. Amen.

And...Action!

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. – Ephesians 5:1

One thing that has really been bothering me lately is that almost everyone and their brother listed their religious beliefs as “Christian.” God calls us not to judge, but…really? When I think of a few of this people that claim to be believers, I think of the time they pressed women to sleep with them, or all the drunk pictures they posted over the weekend, or how they can’t carry on a conversation without using vulgar language. Christ calls us to stay pure and act like proper children. I’m not saying it’s easy to do. Thankfully, I have Christ-like people in my life who have taken a vast interest in my love life. Every time I go out on dates they always ask me if I was pure….not just sexually but in all areas; making sure I strayed from anything unpleasing to God. It’s an awkward conversation but I thank God for their concern. If they didn’t keep me accountable and set a godly example for me, I might have fallen into sin long ago.

My faith – at some point – had to become my own. I made decisions not based on my parents’ or friends’ happiness or pleasing them – but because I wanted to please God and serve Him. The New Living Translation of today’s passage and the verses that follow says, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ…Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.”

Why are these instructions so hard to keep? Why are there millions of Christians masquerading as child of light – when they are actually acting in darkness? “So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth” (1 John 1:6). And…action! If you went on a blind date tonight, how would your date be able to tell if you were a Christ? How do you imitate Christ with your actions – whether you’re in a relationship or not?

Prayer: Thank you for calling me your child. Help me to live to please you and not myself or my parent – no matter how good their intentions towards me. I ask for help to imitate you in everything I do and say. Amen.

Loyalty Pains

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children. – Genesis 29:31

Loyalty. It hurts when someone leaves, breaks up, or cheats on you. It hurts beyond words. Misery loves company, and that’s why God asks us to get connected. We’re here to encourage one another. Take long walks. Talk and share. Pray together and point each other back to God – even when He is silent.

Leah is the best biblical example of this. She was not loved. Nor was she the favorite wife of Jacob. After Leah’s father tricked Jacob into marrying her, Jacob spent seven years working for the hand of her younger sister, Rachel. Ouch. Talk about a loyal pain. But the Lord noticed her misery. As Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda put it, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Leah’s husband) looked down and saw a woman who was lonely and sad because her husband loved his other wife better than he loved her. So, to ease her sorrow, to provide her comfort, God gave her children – beautiful, upright, strong children, one of whom would found the lineage of the priests of Israel and another who was an ancestor of Jesus Himself.”

I know some of you – myself included – have experience deep sorrow from a painful breakup. From someone breaking his or her commitment. Maybe you’re the one who broke it. You never know how God’s going to redeem your love story. He’s still writing the pages as we speak. Learn to trust Him and put your hand in His. He’ll lead you down the path of righteousness. Next time you’re tempted to believe you’re the only one with heartache in relationships, take heart and think again. Since the time of Genesis God has been making and remaking His covenant to His people. Unlike your ex, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” (Numbers 23:19). No. Say it again: No! No loyalty pains or broken commitments can separate you from God’s love.

Prayer: I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, fears from the past nor present worries can separate us from you. Be our shield in times of distress. Come to our aid and rescue us in our brokenness. Amen.