I am just coming off an almost-major knee injury. It was a "break" albeit a little tiny one! A few weeks rest and wearing a brace and I was good to go! The main reason I fell (I think) was I had some new shoes (they just now crossed 50 miles - so they were real new then!) and just misjudged the height of the curb, caught my toe and slammed into the ground. It happened so fast, I did not even feel the tripping part at all. My eyes never even closed! That's how fast it happened!  I think sometimes in life we can find ourselves in troubling or painful situations just that fast as well. One small mis-step and we are emotionally, spiritually, financially or otherwise eating dirt! Just a minor calculation and we are on the ground. So when I found this scripture this morning I could really relate to it.  Proverbs 4:12 says this in the New Living Translation: if you live a life guided by wisdom, you won't limp or stumble as you run.   Now that is a true bit of wisdom isn...

Okay so yesterday was supposed to be my long run. It had been over a month since I'd run over 5 miles or so. To help myself be successful in my endeavors I set two goals. Running two hours was my minimum, I would not accept less than that of myself. The second goal was I really wanted to do 10 miles. It didn't have to be in the two hours of course... I met several obstacles that I was not expecting. For one it was already in the upper 80's and I really wasn't prepared or conditioned for that! I did wear my camelbak as I always do on my long runs. And after about 5 miles just about every joint in my body was reminding me of two things a) how old I am and b) how difficult it was to run! And my poor toes! I've lost one toenail and have two more apparently getting ready to go through the same process...And by the time I got home I was nursing two good sized blisters... how'd that make me feel? Elated!! It is sort of like a rite of passage for a runner! So I made...

I must admit that I am just learning about running. Although I've been at it for just over two years I consider myself pretty much a beginner. One thing I am learning though is that there really is a balancing act to be done to make the body all work. For me, it's a body,soul and spirit thing and they all have to come into balance to make me into a decent runner - which I am determined to become! My body does all the physical part, of course. But then I have learned how stress, emotions and situations can really slow me down and affect my performance. That was amazing when I started seeing that one! But the time I run is my time; it's when I do a lot of my praying and sorting things out. So I think it's easy to say that my whole being is involved in my running adventure! What if we could (or would) engage our whole being into serving Him? What if we literally threw our entire being, body, soul and spirit into His service? It's too easy to divide it out - our spi...