Preparing for the Eternal Marathon

This morning, as I was going through my normal routine of post run coffee, bagel and runnersworld.com, I was struck by the headline "Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist Sammy Winjiru Dead at 24". Not exactly what you want to read first thing in the morning. My first thought was "heart condition", however, I was wrong. As I read the story, I couldnt tell if his death was accidental, suicide or homicide. I just knew one thing, that this amazing athlete and champion had gone to meet his maker.

It is just another proof that nothing on this world lasts and that fame and fortune do not garauntee us a great life, a long life or any treasures beyond this world. Being a world-class athlete does not mean that you have it all "together", and definetly wont make you a better person. The amount of time that we put into training ourselves for the physical and emotional rigors of selected sports, occupations and hobbies should be matched by the amount of time we put in to our spiritual lives as well. It reminds of the writer to the Hebrews, who stated that "...I will run with endurance the race God has set before me."

We each need to spend as much time as we can with God, preparing for our Eternal Marathon's, or Triathlons, or Century rides. We need to know that Jesus' sacrifice for us was real, and that we all will meet him one day, and through Him we are promised eternal life. Jesus overcame the world, so that we would not have to. That through belief in Him and his work on the Cross, God has opened the Gates of Heaven "which never close."

I dont know if Sammy Wanjiru was a Christian or not, I only hope that he was prepared to meet The Father. May you, while you are out on your run or ride, or crosstraining this morning, spend some time with God. Glorify Him through your efforts and push yourself spiritualy as well as physically. And my you "run with endurance" this morning and every morning. Amen

Evangelizing for......Vibrams?

I have noticed that it is so easy to talk to people about Vibrams, evangelizing if you will. It takes almost no effort whatsoever. Its funny, if someone sees me wearing them they will walk right up and ask me about the funky shoes on my feet.

I then go into this long conversation explaining all the benefits of running "barefoot", how its so much better for our feet; that it helps strengthen all the supporting muscles, ligaments and tendons; how God designed our feet to be able to do these amazing things and we "like idiots" keep putting them in these casts. I am normally met with agreement and vows to go and "check 'em out".

I was out with my family at Garden of the Gods last week when we came across a couple climbers, one was on belay the other, female, was high up the rock. We decided to stop and watch her climb for a while, and soon there was a whole group of us watching this amazing woman climb this seemingly sheer face. I happened to be wearing my Vibrams and before long people start talking to me about my feet, rather than watching the woman climb.

I thought this was pretty odd, but I answered their questions, gave them my opinions and even the guy on belay seemed to be paying more attention to me than his girlfriend. What struck me later on, after the conversation was over and we were back in the car, my brother said "Mike, you were wearing a Jesus shirt, your Cross hat and yet all anyone wanted to talk about was your Vibrams."

(commentary) Why is it easier to talk about running, barefooting, or anything else we are into, however when it comes to the extremely important topic of God, Christ, Salvation and Redemption. What could possibly be more important of a topic?

Oh, my response to my brother: "Yeah, Andy, I guess they were really interested in saving their soles!"