How Running Brings Me Closer To Jesus

The streets I run each week.  I.e.: my "wilderness."

How does running bring me closer to Jesus?  I could have a ton of predictable (yet, quite real and valid) answers to that question...

...when I run, I bring my iPod along and exercise along to the beat of great worship music...

...yes...but that's not quite my answer.

...when I run, I observe all the beautiful things in nature around me and praise God!...

...kind of (sometimes I do, I guess)...but, no cigar.

...when I run, I am alone and can think and pray with extreme focus...

...sort of in the ballpark of my answer, but not in the super-purposeful-holy-man kind of way.

 

 ...when I run, it goes something more like this...

 

Round #1 around the neighborhood: "Look at me!  Look at me! I am running!  I bet I look like some Nike-advertisement goddess with a beautiful glow and a smile because I am so in shape and so very awesome-looking as I round each corner."

 

Round #2 around the neighborhood: "Wow!  This is getting a little tough.  Oh, no sweat.  I was born for this.  I was made for this.  I can DO this.  I am still awesome!"

 

Round #3 around the neighborhood: "(Panting and coughing) I. Can't. Breathe!  Who ever convinced me to run anyway?  What was I THINKING?  Who cares about having muscles and being able to run longer than 10 minutes anyway?  If I ever make it home, I am quitting running for good.  What a loser.  Oh, God, have a care and help this poor woman to make it!"

 

Round #4 around the neighborhood (i.e.: the final hour, the moment of truth, the nitty-gritty): "Oh, good, sweet, Heavenly Father!  (not a swear, I promise...but pleas for help!)  Have mercy on me!  I am so full of pride in myself!  I think I'm all that and clearly I am not!  Look at me!  I look like a blubberer who can't even make it 30 minutes running (ok, jogging...OK, dragging my lame feet) around the neighborhood!  I need YOU!  I obviously CAN'T do this without You!  HELP ME!  If I make it home, I will never complain again and never get prideful about my own abilities every again!  Only YOU are good, Father!  Clearly, not me!"

 

That's more like it.

 

THAT'S how running brings me closer to Jesus.

 

"...he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else... ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’"

Acts 17:25, 28 NIV

 

 

Observations While Running: The Good, The Bad and The Smelly.

The rice fields at the edge of our neighborhood.  I smile every time I pass them...except for that one time when I was being chased by a dog!  True story...


Condemnation warning: I realize that I am writing this post involving exercise just a few days after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving: i.e...the day we all ceremoniously stuff ourselves silly in the name of all-things-American.  The temptation might be to groan while you read this and look at your growing belly and wonder why you aren't out there walking/playing football/playing dodge ball/running marathons/fill-in-the-blank with something somewhat athletic.  Well, believe me, I would love to pull up a chair and sit with you while you down your third piece of leftover pecan pie (which, BTW...aren't Thanksgiving leftovers the best?  my son ate sweet potato casserole for breakfast this morning - he's so hardcore).  Anyway...I am certainly not in this whole running phase to serve out condemnation or comparison to anyone who reads about my journey.  So, pass the condemnation and bring on the pie, people!  Oh, and...keep reading.

As I run around the neighborhood throughout the week, I am beginning to notice several things that I didn't before.  I am convinced that my senses are being awakened as my body threatens to give out on me as I run.  I think my sense of sight and smell are just trying to hijack my sense of "I'm so tired I could take a nap right here on the asphalt."  Anyway...here are a few things I have observe as of late.  I love my neighborhood:

The Good:
* The morning sun peeking through the clouds is simply gorgeous.  I am glad, though, that it has been hiding, because the Thai sun can be quite unforgiving and horribly hot. 
*  I have seen more types of flowers and landscaping ideas as I make my rounds.  I am inspired to make my home and yard more visually inviting to people come pass by or stop for a visit.  Now, if I just had time to do it all...
*  The aroma of all those flowers literally gives me an extra boost of energy.  Magnolia and jasmine blooms are my faves.
*  There is the cutest little 2-year old girl that takes a walk with Grandma every morning.  Thai caregivers sometimes follow their little ones around with a bowl of food because the kid just doesn't want to sit that long for a meal.  Bite.  Run.  Bite.  Play.  Bite.  You get the idea.  I love to always turn the corner and see her trying to evade her Grandma's attempt at feeding her breakfast.  It makes me giggle.
*  Passing the rice fields still makes me feel like I am in another world. 
*  At the very back of our neighborhood, a man always has his roosters out in the street in these portable cages as he cleans out their coop.  This, at first, seemed so funny and foreign to me...but then I remembered the suburban roosters of downtown Waco (where we used to live) and then I remember the ghetto.  Funny how that connection works.  Roosters = ghetto.  You get it, right? 

The Bad:
*  I have been chased by dogs and scared silly numerous times by ones that sneak up on my behind their fence and let out a huge howl or bark.  I am sure my neighbors have laughed at my antics after being startled.  I am pretty easy prey.
*  A few weeks ago, as I was approaching a tree that normally has these huge, long seed pods scattered over the ground, I almost ran over a snake.  As in, with my feet, not my car wheels.  I felt like an expert hurdler as I screamed bloody murder and leaped over the approaching snake that I had thought was just a seed pod in the road.  Last I checked, seed pods don't wriggle on the ground and bite.  Yikes.  I wish I had that on video.   Maybe not.

The Smelly:
*  I know where all the smelly dogs live.  Their poop smell is evident.  If I don't hold my breath in time to miss the smell, at least I have motivation to run past those houses as fast as I can.  Yuk.
*  Since many Thais don't eat the traditionally-sweet food that Americans eat in the mornings, they eat just about the same thing in the mornings that they would all day.  I smell curry, other spicy dishes, meat and rice steaming while on my runs.  Yum.  But, I would take a cinnamon roll over curry any day.  Thus, one of my reasons for exercising!
*  Thai housekeepers, moms and grandmas wake up earrrrly to hand wash or machine wash their clothes in order to hang-dry them in the midday sun.  I can run by and smell who's been diligent to wash clothes that day and who hasn't...my house would be included in the "hasn't" category.  I'm simply not thinking of laundry yet at 7 o'clock in the morning!

10 Things I Like Today

Jeshurun at about 9 months old

Jeshurun - July 2012
(Tiffany Bonow Photography)

1. My "baby" Jeshurun turned 7 yesterday.  I like him more and more each day.  Of course, I love him, but I really really like him, too.  He is strong, confident, well-spoken, adventurous, inquisitive, loves Jesus, loves his friends, a bug-enthusiast, a tree climber, a wanna-be outdoors man, a new Tae Kwon Do student, an almost 2nd-grader, fun, funny, and he's all mine.  I am thankful for him today!

2. Rain is falling outside right now, and the smell is absolutely wonderful.  I miss the rainy season (it has been quite dry here lately).

3. Leftover rotisserie chicken can be turned into almost anything for a second meal. Well, maybe not apple pie, but you get it!  We just enjoyed it in chicken melts.  Melted cheese is my comforting friend today.  Convince yourselves again; leftovers are cool and hip and earth-friendly and anything else you need it to be. 

4. The hawk moth caterpillar we found this week has started to transform. We noticed him slowing down and turning odd colors a day after we captured it. His chrysalis is exciting and full of promise. About a week from now, we hope to have pictures of the moth that he turns into!  (See some mid-transformation pictures below):

Kyla loves to check out the chrysalis every day!

Before the caterpillar started forming his chrysalis, he created a "net" of leaves over his body to protect him from prying little fingers or predators.

The first day of transformation...if you remember his bright green color before, then you know that this is quite a change!

5. These people (picture below) are still very fresh on my mind.  We had four friends (some old friends, some brand new) come to visit us, encourage us, and steer us on in our work life here.  They gave up a week of their life to breathe life into us - and don't we need it?!  I am thanking God for them today.

I would tell you everyone's names...but then I'd have to kill you.  ;)

6. Just so you know, taking away half of the chocolate chips and replacing them with peanut butter chips in your next batch of cookies will make you smile and ooh and aah.  I know this firsthand.  I have already eaten two cookies today and plan to eat lots more! 

7. Today, I like the fact that I am still in my pajamas and it is 2pm.  Sabbaths are the best.

8. Skyping with family.  Thanks, Meemaw and Mr. Andy for calling us this morning!  We miss you!

9. Thanksgiving is near.  That means feasting is near.  That means I need to keep running so that I can still wear all the clothes in my closet without having to buy a size up!  That will motivate me to keep at it like nothing else. 

10. Although I have said it before, and will probably say it several more times in the future, I like you today!  Yes, you!  Thank YOU for reading and for being more a part of our world here as I share about all the ups and downs and in-betweens. 

What do you like today?  Share in the comments below:

Confessions of a Running-Hater

My new running shoes laden with magnolia blooms I find on my runs around my neighborhood.  Maybe if I actually stuff them with flowers, they might smell better than sweaty socks?

Alarm beeps...

Snooze button hit...

Alarm beeps again, this time, in a more annoying tone...

Ugh...I roll out of bed...stumble downstairs...

The coffee pot that leaks starts up while I do my morning stretches (aka: the things I do simply not to fall over because I have yet to ingest caffeine)...

After fixing my cup, I meet with Jesus...and hey, to be honest, I check my Facebook feed for the first of many times each day...

Then...I run.

*Cough, sputter*  What?

Yes, the pigs have flown, and the bullet has been bitten...I started running.  I am currently in denial that it is actually happening.  I don't like running!

But...I have a friend, Wendy, who is a self-proclaimed running-hater that is currently training to run a marathon this December.  She brought up running last year during a time of fellowship at the S-clan's house and I was like, "What?  Whatever!  No thank you!..."  So mature, I know.

She claimed that her walk-to-run program made her into a running convert and I was skeptical.  I hate running, after all, but not walking.  Hey, I can walk the neighborhood with my kids like any other mom.  Walk up hill?  Sure!  But, I'll fake that I am not actually huffing and puffing the whole way up. 

After actually starting a push-up regimen that hasn't left me feeling like a complete exercise loser, I started opening up to doing some kind of regular aerobic exercise.  As long as it did not involve me trying to emulate Jillian Michaels in front of my living room TV, I was up for it.  Hey, she's got great abs and everything else, but I think I might have a serious heart attack if I try to move at her speed. 

So, a few weeks ago, I actually started it.  The 8-week program starts off slow, and the end goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes straight with no walking (or falling on the ground in sheer exhaustion) breaks.  So far, I am in week two and I feel like I am going to die every day...but it is getting better. 

For more seasoned runners, it may seem like a piece of fat-free angel food cake, but for me, I am getting my rear-end kicked around the block.  This is all proving one thing that I have been seriously dreading owning up to: being in shape doesn't just "happen"...you actually have to do something about it.  I may seem like I can do my day-to-day tasks with no problem physically, but in twenty years, will I be able to keep up this same endurance? 

And, most importantly, if I ever do actually get to be on the Amazing Race (a fake dream I only have between me, myself and I, and now...you) - will I be that girl who is huffing and puffing on the side of the road while her husband tells her "This is for a million dollars, baby!  Why are you resting NOW?" 

Yes, these are the thoughts that run through my head.

I may never be a marathon-runner or an Amazing Race contestant (I'll skip the drama, thank you!), but I want to run around with my grand kids and also having a fighting chance at raising this metabolic-rate that is slowing with. every. stinkin'. year.  I am not 15 anymore.  When did I miss that memo?

Want to join the program with me? (Click here to read more)  Want to cheer me on?  Or, want to tell me how I am going to ruin my knees and you're gonna send me Bengay in the mail and a note telling me I am a crazy loon?  Leave a comment below: