My Faith and Running

For many years I was not a runner.  And most of my life I also sat on the sidelines when it came to a relationship with God.  As with fitness I was never brash or brave enough to say I did not need something else, I just chose to ignore it.

Fitness came first, I guess because it was easy.  I got to a point in my life that I got tired of carrying around the extra weigh.  I got tired of being out of shape; I got tired of gasping for breath after a short run to play with my kids, our puppy or to get to the other side of the road.  Finally I was ready, I heard the call, on the first day of a remote military tour, I decided to loss some weight and get back into shape.

(Aug 2000, morning of polar bear swim
in North Star Bay, Greenland)

During that one year tour, I went from near my max weight according to the USAF and being unable to run 2 miles to being known around the base as the marathon man.  This transition was not easy; I logged nearly 1200 miles on the base gym treadmills and when the weather broke running the roads around base.  Like wise I watched every thing I put in front of my face, food was no longer something to just eat.  I began to look at food as fuel; I had to burn off what I took in.  In 12 short months with a lot of blood, sweat and determination I reclaimed my fitness and a much improved life.

My faith, well that was a longer journey.

I’ve always felt that there had to be more to this universe then a hap hazard collision of particles.  I always knew there had to be a bigger plan for the world and for myself.  But in my small circle, I relied on my own “wisdom” to figure it all out.  What I did not realized was that my approach to living in this world made me spiritually out of shape, it made me weak in faith and it only provided me the “fitness” to handle the shorter races of life.  I was never equipped to handle life’s marathon.

Then on 21 Feb 2010 I heard the calling and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and spiritually I changed.  And the purpose of my running changed.  I still run for fitness, I still run to get in touch with myself, my thoughts, I still run to rid myself of stress but now my time running is also my time for prayer.  I spend a good deal of my running hours in prayer, it gives me time to give thanks, it gives me time to reflect and it gives me time to seek out what God’s plan is for my life.

Running and prayer time go hand in hand…  I gain endurance during my runs, endurance to tackle the longer miles and endurance to run the longer races.  I also gain wisdom and strength to rely on God’s plan, to hear God’s voice and to follow his direction.  In prayer I have turned over life’s problems to him, problems I can not fix…AND I have seen these prayer requests answered.  I have seen health issues healed, job security answered, relationships healed, marriages (perhaps my own) saved.  And most important I have grown in my relationship with our creator.

Luke 18:1  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

If your feeling out of shape,lets go for a run….if your spiritually out of shape seek God.  Need help or have questions drop me a line: (burk dot brian at yahoo, you know the format)