They shall run and not be weary


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The human body is an extraordinary self-renewal machine. It has been designed by God to constantly restore itself in such an efficient way that it is almost imperceptible. Each second, 10,000,000 cells die and are replaced with new ones and through this process one hundred hairs are replaced every day from our heads, our skin is made entirely new every month, our bone structure is totally replaced every three months, and even our nails grow from base to tip in six months.

The replenishing capabilities of our bodies are a bit more evident during physical exercise. When you run, your body goes through several stages of tiredness and renewal:

  1. From resting state to aerobic mode
  2. From aerobic mode to your personal mark
  3. From your personal mark to "the wall"
Reaching the aerobic mode

First, you experience the initial fatigue of taking your body from a resting state to the aerobic mode, when your heart rate increases and your breathing accelerate. Most inexperienced runners will stop at this stage, not allowing their bodies to adjust and provide them with the strength to run for a longer while.

Patience is the key to overcome this first stage of fatigue.

Reaching your personal mark

How long that while depends on how far you have trained. You will feel tired again to the point of quitting when you reach the highest number of miles you have ever run, or what I like to call your personal mark. Your body needs to reset your personal mark. In order to do so, you start with a small number of miles, let's say two, and continue adding distance to your run little by little.

Perseverance is the key to get past your personal mark and move the second stage of fatigue farther and farther.

Reaching "the wall"

No matter how far you reset your personal mark, the conditions of continued exercise will take you to the third point of heavy fatigue, known among distance runners as "the wall," normally reached around mile 20. During the aerobic mode, your body will produce the necessary energy in the form of glucose mostly from carbohydrates. When the carbohydrate reserve is totally depleted, your body readjusts to produce glucose from your fat stores. This process is much slower than that of burning carbohydrates, causing the energy levels to decrease rapidly for a while until your body makes the switch from carbs to fats; but fats can take you a lot farther than carbs.

Purpose is the key to overcome the wall and switch energy sources until you reach your finish line.

Running and not getting tired is physically impossible and yet our bodies respond with energy that surprises and enables us. In the same way, waiting with patience, renewing with perseverance, and soaring with purpose provide our race of faith with astounding strength. The Bible puts it this way:

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,
and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
(KJV: Isaiah 40:31)


If you feel you have hit your wall, feeble in spirit, stale in your accomplishments, unfit for service, or overwhelmed by sufferings, remember that you can switch your energy sources to take you the extra miles into your finish line. God is everlasting. He does not faint, nor is weary. His strength does not run off or empty. His supplies do not have an end; his resources are inexhaustible. There is no deficiency or decay in him. His power is never weakened.

Switch your energy sources: wait upon God, persevere in the race of faith, run with purpose, and you will see the difference.



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Vladimir Lugo
vlugo@race-of-faith.com

The Christian Challenge


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Many of us have overheard or participated in the office chatter about the colleague who accepted the promotion, or the co-worker who is pursuing a doctorate degree or some entrepreneurial opportunity. Perhaps we know a family member who is training for a marathon or a triathlon. They inspire in us a sense of awe, a certain degree of admiration. We may think they are even crazy for accepting a challenge that most of us undoubtedly and almost instantaneously reject in our minds and simply appears insurmountable.

Last August, my wife dared me to one such challenge. “Let’s sign up for the L.A. marathon with the group from church!” she said undeniably enthused with the idea. I was astonished, not only because of the type of challenge that had just been presented, but also because until then, my wife was the least likely person I knew that would embark in a physical challenge of her own devising.

Though I have been active with other sports over the years, neither of us had run further than six miles, nor run competitively before. I reluctantly agreed, after pondering for a few seconds, as she charged two steps ahead of me in the direction of the “sign-up-for-the-marathon” table just outside of the sanctuary. She did not realize that for the following six months, we would have to be disciplined, dedicate time and effort to training, and develop the mental toughness to reach the level of fitness required to run 26.2 miles. In my mind, I was uneasy and uncertain about completing the training, about being physically able to run that far, and about agreeing to subject myself to the unavoidable physical pain that would be coming our way.

Thinking about that August afternoon reminded me of the thoughts and attitudes we have, and the life situations we may be going through, the moment we decide to walk with Christ. The stories testified by Christians range from heart wrenching to spiritual, from swift, spur of the moment, to lengthy pragmatic processes, and everything in between. Some had hit rock bottom, consumed with an addiction and had fallen to their worst emotional, physical and spiritual shape before surrendering to the Lord. Others were searching for meaning in their lives, and tell of an inner voice that led them to the nearest church on a rather typical and average day.

Whether we as human beings were in the midst of despair, or we arrived at the conclusion that we needed a faith, consciously or unconsciously, we agreed to the Christian challenge. The thoughts and feelings at that instant, thinking whether one will be able to live a life that is right with God, may be no different than those that come to our minds when we sign up for a race – uneasiness, self-doubt, fear of pain. However, the simple act of accepting, of making up one’s mind, required courage and a level of commitment. If you agree to the Christian challenge knowing that it will require dedication and fortitude to see it through, that on its own is an awe-inspiring act.




Jairo Ospina
jospina@race-of-faith.com

Running, Racing, and Rituals (Part 3)

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As we discussed in the first two parts of this article, the relationship between running and racing is very obvious. Your personal training enables you to participate in organized races; the better your training goes, the better you will do when competition comes. But why rituals? What rituals have to do with running and racing? Are these really related?

Rituals

Rituals are institutional. Every sport discipline has its characteristic demands, conditioning, and routines. Anything repetitive is also ritual; something that you repeat over a period of time and do it the same way every time to preserve its integrity and ensure its results. Think about it. Running in the strict sense of this definition is ritualistic. You pick a breathing pattern, choose a comfortable pace, move your left leg in front of your right leg, and repeat over and over until you get to your destination.

Running Ragnar at Sunset through Malibu, CA-1
Running Ragnar at Sunset through Malibu, CA-1

I recently participated in the Ragnar Relay Race, Los Angeles. Their slogan is: “Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.” Without expanding on the details of this event, which I am planning to do in a later post, you can infer its cyclical personality, so true, that they made it into their tagline. Running and racing also have rituals typical of the sport. For example, the stretching, warming up, running, cool-off, stretching routine; the circling around of the race track for speed training, with jogging and speed repeats; or even the ritual of choosing the right kind of shoes. Faith is full of rituals. Our experiences of faith are enhanced, directed, even stimulated by rituals that have been institutionalized by many years of practice and proven results.

The Scriptures are full of rites and costumes that we can use today to help us in growing our faith and express our devotion to God and to one another. Worship, music, church attendance, daily prayer and scripture study, and service to others, are just examples of the exercises of our faith. To this matter, the Bible encourages us “to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling” NIV: Philippians 2:12.

A word of caution here; many assign rituals a negative connotation, see them as boring endeavor, and regard them as ineffective practices. However, rituals are to our faith what strength training work out is to our running. They may seem boring and ineffective, but constitute the calisthenics of a stronger spiritual life, of guaranteed of endurance and a race without injuries.

So get your mind set to do what is needed to build up your spiritual muscles by recognizing, understanding, and building up the personal, corporate, and ritualistic elements of your faith without fear or shame.




Running, Racing, and Rituals (Part 2)

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In the first part of this three-part article, we discussed the relationship that exists between running and your spiritual life as a personal discipline. This article will explore the relationship between racing as the corporate experience of faith.

Racing

Racing is corporate. Racing is running with others in a competition of some sort and not just by yourself. Every race has its organization, rules, and purpose. Things like the corporation or institution that organizes the race, their agreements with the proper authorities regarding the use of the public facilities, the scheduling of the event and all the logistics, the official rules that govern the course, distance, tracking, and safety, whether the race purpose is commercial, athletic, or charitable, and so on, are all part of the corporate nature of racing. Through the corporate nature of racing we learn that a marathon is 26.2 miles and there are national and international organizations that certify race courses. Even the unwritten rules of expected behavior and sportsmanship give racing its corporate character.

Running is personal, racing is corporate, and rituals are institutional.Faith is personal in the sense of each running his or her own course; discovering his or her own purpose in life. However, and especially true in our American society with its individualistic emphasis, we often forget that faith is also corporate. Faith is corporate in the sense of each running in a race, hence, the race of faith. I very often encounter people that struggle in this area; "I believe in God but not in the church," is a comment I hear now with more frequency than ever. This is equivalent of saying "I will run my own marathon of 1 mile." The race of faith has its own organizing factors, its own rules and expected behaviors, and its own corporate objectives.

We are of encouragement to others and we are encouraged by others in our corporate race of faith. This dual role of helper and helped will preserve our focus on running in such way so that we are counted among the winners. We now want to win for ourselves, but also want to win for those who follow us, and will follow us. Understanding the corporate nature of faith will help us stay on right on track.




Vladimir Lugo
vlugo@race-of-faith.com





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