On Saturday morning I ran my first half-marathon. I’ve been running 3 times a week for two and half years now, and once I started running longer than 4 miles, I had in mind to run 13.1 in a competitive environment (if you use RunKeeper, we should connect on there). As a big sports junkie, I miss the competitive sports environment I was consistently in during high school and some of college.
I ended up running at a 7’58” pace and beat my goal of getting 8 minute per mile pace or better. Looking back on the race, I might have been able to push it a little more early in the race but there were some decent hills on miles 4-7 so I feel great about my time.
I wouldn’t say I love running, but I think think there’s a lot of value in being healthy through eating and exercise. Running has been a good fit for me to get a good workout in a short amount of time, while also being able to push myself to new levels of fitness.
One of my biggest gripes of American Christianity is its lack of a theology for the human body. When is the last time your pastor preached on the importance of treating our bodies with the understanding that they are living temples of God? Actually, I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard that talked about at church. What a shame.
I’ve been reading a good book by Matthew Lee Anderson titled Earthen Vessels (affiliate link) and also watching some of the tv show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution both of which has greatly challenged my understanding of how God views my body and how I’ve turned it into a temple for too many awful things.
Calvin called creation the “theater of God’s glory” and we play a role in that because He has created us to be His ambassadors.
I wonder if Christians have really missed the mark when it comes to a holistic understanding of how God desires to transform us?
More and more, Christians are being recognized for their desires to join in God’s pursuits of restoring our world, but they’ve missed out on God’s desire to restore our bodies.
That’s just one more reason why I run.
