Running to stand still

Well, after having a really good start to my marathon training during the fall of last year, I am as of today, still sidelined with my shin issue. The daily swelling has subsided for the most part and the feeling is not as pronounced on every step as it used to be. However, the feeling is still there and everytime I think of taking a jog step, I'm quickly reminded that it will be a while before I'm back on the road. So in retrospect, I guess my start last fall wasn't all that good at all. Sure, I started building up my mileage...several runs over 15 miles is not bad at all. But I ended up with an injury that has now cost me about 2.5 months of training...and the clock is still ticking.

Therefore, I am resolved to begin this training thing right when I am able to lace 'em up again. That means curtailing the urge to go out there and run til I can't anymore. It means no more than 10% increases in weekly mileage...It means being more responsible for my health than the feeding of my ego. Doh, that hurts to say.

My 2010 goal is a marathon. Not just to finish...but to feel like I have really laid myself out there. I want to feel like I have trained well and prepared and that when I put my mind to it, my body can be brought into submission. It can be stretched beyond what it thinks it can do. It can be poured out to reach the goal.

The reason that I look at it this way, is that it really parallels what I feel like God is asking of me in my spiritual life. Look at this passage from 1 Cor. 9:24-27...

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I have had lots on my mind as it relates to v.27 up there. "I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Man, that is powerful. How easy is I find it to be an example before men only to find sin enter into my life through private things. These private things undermine me from the inside out. It becomes something that wages war on my desire to follow the Lord daily. Most of this for me is carried out in sexual thoughts or desires, unchecked displays of anger or contempt for others, man the list is long on this. But it is all about letting my flesh rule the moment. What I want to do is the very thing that I do not do...That is all too familiar to me. But by the grace of God, by the power of His spirit in me, I can succeed at this. I can have a victory over my own flesh. All of this is done by training my body to be subject to my mind which in turn is subject to the Spirit's working in my life. I am so excited at how this discipline can apply to many areas of my life...from diet to exercise, time with my family, time with God. The opportunities are so abundant here and the Spirit can guide and direct all of this.

So you see, training for a marathon is something that I can do as an outward and visible sign of all the things that God will be doing inside me. Hopefully, there are other changes that will be visible to those that know me as well. I am so excited about all of this.

That's all for now. Hopefully the running will be back soon...as for the rest, I'm already training my body through His Spirit to be less of an adversary in my own life...so that I won't disqualify myself after standing before others in His name.