It has been so long, years really, since I last ran naked. Running naked in the endurance world means electronically naked – no music, no phone, no GPS watch, not even the timer on a wristwatch. I take a deep drink of the cool, wet air and prepare my mind to listen to the only indicators I have - my heart and lungs.
As I start down the road, I find a steady cadence and rhythm that I know I can maintain. The path is familiar, but only a few yards are revealed at a time. Normal visual cues are shrouded in the cloud of fog that surrounds me.
Making a turn from the main road, I pass the school as the fog intensifies. It is the creek. The warmth of the water delivers more moisture to the air. I hit the bottom of the hill. How hard should I push? I can't see the top. If I go too hard, I won't have the energy to make it. I work to maintain my cadence and allow my heart to increase to match it. It's uncomfortable, but I can hold it.
How far do I have to go? How far have I gone? How much time has passed? Questions I can't answer, so I put one foot in front of the other and follow the path before me.
Should I pick up my tempo? The weather is still cool and I feel good. I don't know exactly what is ahead of me now or how far I have to go. Are there more hills? Maintain a steady rhythm I tell myself. That will keep me going and leave me prepared for the unexpected.
Suddenly, home breaks through the fog. I'm nearly there. I look back, almost disappointed that the run is over. The fog prevents me from seeing exactly where I've been. I know there were hills and creeks, churches and schools, but they're nothing more than memory now. I walk through the door, greeted by my wife and children. The run was good and I enjoyed it, but it's better to be home.
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As I thought while I ran, I couldn't help but consider how similar it was to our journey in this life. God doesn't always show us exactly where we're going. He gives us just enough of the path to stay the course and trust that He knows where it leads. He only asks us to keep pressing on.
Philippians 3: 12 – 14
“12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Like the fog shrouds what's ahead, it also leaves our failures in the past. It doesn't matter what struggles and temptations we fell to, they're nothing more than memories when we're made new in Christ. Yes, they leave scars and wake us up in a panicked sweat in the middle of the night. Those are tools of our adversary attempting to leave us chained to our past. In Christ, we are redeemed and righteous; seen as flawless by God in spite of the claims of our accuser.
2 Corinthians 2:17
“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Pace becomes an important part of our lives as well. We often throw ourselves into our passions without regard. We burn hot, but burn out quickly. It leaves us exhausted and disappointed. We have to decide what those passions are that deserve our best efforts – our relationship with Christ followed by our spouse and family. This is not a call to spend every waking moment working for the church. That's the church, not your relationship with Christ. The relationship draws closer in the quiet moments when Christ can be intimately close to His chosen bride.
It's also not a call to live without regard to wisdom to keep your spouse happy. There are needs and there are wants. When you love your spouse well, it also has everything to do with the quiet moments. It's the emotional and physical intimacy that comes from being available and vulnerable to the person God gave you. Christ repeatedly uses the example of marriage to talk about His relationship those that belong to Him. It's the closest and most tangible example we have. It's not perfect, but when we're loving each other well, it's a beautiful reminder of Christ and His Church.
The journey is not easy. It takes effort and you'll struggle every step of the way. When you tackle it with the proper perspective, a naked run in the fog is the best you'll ever experience. You'll find that it's more satisfying to trust in the One that put the path before you that all the stuff that tells you how fast you're going, how far you've been, how far you have to go, and attempts to take your mind off the struggle by keeping your mind somewhere else. You'll look back at the memories of a good life, but the homecoming will sweeter than you ever imagined.
Romans 5: 3-5
“...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
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