Monday

What a nice weekend it was!

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday. The weather was beautiful, and we had a nice crowd at church with lots of life. We had lunch with some friends, followed by a short nap. Then Kedra, Rebecca, Ben and I made our way out to the Park. The girls walked, Ben ran, and I rode my bike. Rebecca plans to walk the Indy Mini (13.1 miles), so she is trying to get some training in. Ben is planning to run it, so he was looking for a good training run. I’m after some cross-training, and Kedra just likes to walk. I think we were all satisfied.

Life group last night was good. There were 9 of us, and we talked some about unity in the church, focusing on the difference between those who are pretty engaged with church and those who simply attend but are not involved, which is probably the majority of folks.

One thing that we talked some about, and something I have been thinking a lot about, is the problem of perception. Sometimes people who are really trying to live a life in relationship with God (the engaged) can come across as “having it all together” or worse “holier than thou.” The reality is, I think, that very few people feel either way, even though those who are struggling with life may (maybe the majority, non-engaged attenders?) perceive them that way. It doesn’t make much sense for us to go around advertising our faults, failures, and insecurities to all who will listen, but those things do come out in authentic relationships.

The key to breaking down the barriers in church, as well, as outside is the pursuit of honest relationships where we truly live for the sake of other. Intentionality!

I read this this morning from Henri Nouwen; seems kinda related:

One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.

Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.

It’s going to be a great week! Busy but good. This is a “rest” week in running. I’m going to drop from 50 miles to 45 this week. Some rest, eh? I’ll do a tempo run on Tuesday and 2 mile repeats (5) on Thursday, and a 16 mile run Saturday. Those are the “focused” runs. This morning is a nice easy 6 miler with Tim at the Park. Actually gotta go right now! See ya!