A much better day to run, even if my knee was tweaked a bit. Ten miles. And Dave Swan had my lawn mower working when I returned. He gets my MVP of the day award.
Running affords me an opportunity to let the subconscious mind well up, unfettered. It’s a tragic thing that we so fill up our days with activity and noise that we leave no margin for that part of our brains that incubates new thoughts.
As it turned out, today my brain churned during the run, but little of value bubbled up to the surface. I’m a football fan, so thoughts of the Redskins 52-17 drubbing of a hapless 49er team (what does “hapless” mean? “Without hap?”). They really look good. How will they fare against their archrivals the Giants? Can they sustain their momentum?
Such are the pedestrian thoughts of a fan. Probably my staff would say, “that’s good that you are a fan – you need to be more balanced.” But what is balanced? I was reading 1 John 2. It says, “Do not love the world or anything of the world.” That is harsh. Where’s the balance there? I guess it comes down to what the word “love” really means.
So far, for me, the balance is that I’m not going to arrange my life around football. For example, this Sunday Karen and I will be in Colorado Springs visiting Tom and Emily Davis, Gary & Lisa Black, Tammy Maltby, Andrew Shearman and a few others. Our return flight on Sunday is in the middle of the Redskins game. Oh well.
Seth…
Was scanning your blogs and this one caught my eye. I wrestle with the sports thing, not in relation to watching it on TV (OK maybe a little when it comes to the Red Sox), but in relationship to my kids participation. I coach my one son’s basketball team and my other son’s baseball team. It’s a chance to connect with my sons and touch the community, yet we have some weeks that we are out 4 or more days between coaching or watching their games. Ah that balance thing…hahaha Do your kids play sports? If so, how do you manage it.
I am at an exciting point in my life in which I am seeing God’s kingdom more clearly than I ever have. I serve and I am reay to serve more because I believe that every act of service done with faith is part of His Kingdom coming and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
BTW, I am a pastor and a former youth pastor. I took my youth group with AIM to Ensenada way back in 1996 and just this past summer, I took 16 people from my church now to West Virginia.
Thanks
I wrote one over at http://www.youthworkerblog.com
I’ll export it over to this blog some time in early Feb. We parents need to get a handle on this issue.