Running Your Heart Out

My first date with my awesome girlfriend Alejandra was at a 16k mountain trail night run, where she waited for me in the dark and cold while I ran one of the craziest races of my life haha... Who takes a girl on a date like that anyway?

Well I do of course! and having her wait for me there at the finish line was a huge inspiration.

I ran as fast as I could, and whether that was primarily just because I wanted to get back to see her again, or whether I wanted to impress her by being one of the top finishers I don't know (it was probably a little of both) - but what I do know is that having a prize to look forward to helps a whole lot in running one's heart out.

For me, Alejandra was the prize.

...Today is the commencement of the 2016 Summer Olympics, and I'm pretty pumped to watch the games and see records broken, dreams materialized, and heroes recognized... I guess that deep inside every one of us is a longing to be good at something and have the discipline to work hard at it and therefore accomplish something remarkable... The question of "I wonder if I could do that?" is what makes the Olympics so inspiring I think... Because usually the answer is no, but still - there's always someone out there who'll have that same question and then proceed to spend everything they have in sacrificing all kinds of stuff to literally show the whole world that they can... That in the span of a few minutes, seconds, or milliseconds - boom! just like that, they are the fastest/strongest/most agile person ever in a particular sport... The Olympics are filled with stories of glory, which everyone knows only come after a lifetime of dedication and self-control.

...A few months ago I had the awesome privilege to meet a few of the best athletes from Ghana (perhaps the world?), who were training in Bogota for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and we got to invite them over to my parents house for lunch where we had an amazing time eating together and laughing and even singing and talking about Jesus as if we were a family... In fact, we are family because not only did they come over to our house to eat, but they also came to our Sunday evening church service where we broke bread together representing that just like the bread which is one - so also, all who take part in it and believe in Christ are one with him as well (1 Cor.10:17).

Just before this passage - in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete training for a really important competition (perhaps he was referring to the original Olympics that started in 776 B.C.)... He says he does not run aimlessly, or box as if he was beating the air, but rather disciplines his body and keeps it under control so that after preaching to others he himself would not be disqualified (v.26-27)...

And verse 25 is perhaps the most interesting one... Paul affirms that every athlete exercises self-control in all things and yet they do it to receive a perishable wreath. We on the other hand - those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ - we exercise control in our lives with the motivation that the prize we receive is actually imperishable.

Amen!

...Now, you might not believe me, but this last Sunday I watched the Bogota Half Marathon and at the end I got to talk to and take a couple pictures with the top place Kenyan woman victor Purity Rionoripio, and the second place Kenyan male champion Marius Kipserem...

And sure enough, Marius gave me his perishable (almost wreath, but actually bouquet of flowers), so that I could then give them to my lovely girlfriend Alejandra...

 Thanks Marius!