The Half Marathon - In Pursuit of JOY

Didn't know I was doing it until the day before really. Nick Bates - errr - "Beast" threw the idea at me about a week in advance. I was like, "Hmmm." It sounded really fun - and possible - yet somewhat ill-advised given my lack of training and certain recurring maladies. Just 4 weeks prior I had finished P90X and was halfway through Insanity when - shazam - my ab injury resurfaced. Anyways, if it weren't for that I might not have started any running workouts at all. Of course, the predictable knee pain commenced when the outdoor running began. Awesome. So given the circumstances, I tell Nick: "Let me go ahead and say 'No' now so the following 'I'll think about it' is properly couched."

However, I sensed the Spirit had lit the fire inside - and Praise God He did! I felt from the core of my soul, certainly although faintly, that I was about to be taken on this ride in spontaneous yet intentional pursuit of joy.

Joy?

Yeah, you might recall it's a Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians)? Well it also happens to be my 2011 bulls-eye, by the way. Satan's been robbing me of it ever since I was a kid. He really ramped his efforts up 3 years ago in March of '08 and has continued to fight fiercely since then. Undoubtedly, he'll extend the effort for the rest of my earthly life.

BUT (recalling Ephesians 4: 2-10), thanks to the Almighty, the eternal loser didn't win this time. I had a couple long runs under my belt (5 & 7 miles). Couldn't restart Insanity as of yet, but I figured it and P90 had probably strengthened the legs up enough to endure a 13.1'er (5 longer than the longest run of my life - in high school). Weather was supposed to be great on race day. I sleep well and eat pretty healthily, so I'm clean there already. Plus, without proper training allowance and goal-setting time, I couldn't overtrain nor could my analytical mind derail me. The goal was simply to finish the dang thing and the way to accomplish it was just to freakin' not quit.

Most importantly though, my guy Nick was ready to rock. His enthusiasm was awesome...and comical. Here's the thing; he's 90 pounds lighter than me and also "much" younger. So a couple things were at play here: 1) It would be really cool, from an "iron sharpens iron" perspective, to crush this race with the "Beast" and 2) I'm not turning down any challenge from some dude that thinks I'm old. You can forget it.

So I forced myself to take 3 straight days off of working out, which is about 3 more than the record (during workout seasons of my life), tested out the legs a little on Saturday morning and signed up on Saturday night, about 12 hours before the start.

We showed up at 7:00am Sunday and shredded the pavement from just after 7:30 to a few minutes past 10:00. Turns out your boy Nick unexpectedly had to deal with more knee pain during the race than I did, which was a total bummer. Regardless, we toughed it out. Snagged water and Gatorade at each station. Stopped to walk a couple of times on the back side. Busted through the finish line - together - where we each put down some cookies, and I also a banana...before heading to Huey's for a celebratory burger and "Diet Coke."

It was one heckuva day. So beautiful outside, unlike last year's cold and rainy race (I heard). I gotta say, it sure did seem like most of the race was uphill (figurative meaning unintended but accurate), but I can't ascertain how that would be possible when one starts and finishes at the same precise location. Regardless, I'm thankful for the convergence of all the blessings needed even to be able to participate in an event such as this one. Every one of them is to God's credit and for His glory.

Thanks BEAST. Here's to Philippians 3: 12-14 dude.

What's an ethical grid?

Who am I to split hairs with great ethicists of our time or manipulate the semantics of their words to generate my own unique opinion or perspective? I am but a novice, marginally educated in such matters. Sure, I was reared to hold biblical, spiritual and moral standards in high regard. Via St. Ann Bartlett and Christian Brothers High School, my parents sent me through Catholic schools with that intent. Speaking of family, we also attended church and observed the traditional religious holidays as I grew up. Next, could I say truthfully I haven’t learned life lessons through the accumulation of experiences over the course of my life? Not a chance. Finally, I’d say it’s true as well I’ve been gifted with an analytical mind, although at times that seems more a curse than a blessing. At any rate, I certainly reason using my rational intellect when making decisions.

With that said, I make a different set of conclusions on roles played by Scripture, tradition, experience and reason than those reached by many Christian ethicists on the matter. For me, all related considerations begin and end with God’s Word. True, the aforementioned experts make the same contention, so let me draw the distinction clearly: I believe those other elements are of such lesser value than the Bible it would make more sense not to include them in these discussions, emphatically relegate them to secondary status or at least make critical clarifications about their use.

I won’t get into matters of apologetics, seeking to prove there is a God and that He is the God of the Bible. Nor will I cover pre-evangelism as it relates to the historicity of the Scriptures. I’ll assume common ground on those issues and begin with biblical content itself as the preeminent factor in my ethical grid. Then I’ll critique tradition, experience and reason as supposed sources in ethical decision-making and reframe them as mere illustrations of the varying degrees to which morality is applied. 

Some thoughts on King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

On April 16th, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to the city’s white clergymen in response to their criticism of local protests carried out by African Americans as part of the civil rights movement. These clergymen had argued the non-violent marches needed not take place, stating any process by which racial equality might be considered ought to occur naturally over the course of time, without disruption to society. Ironically, it was their contention the peaceful protests caused the reactionary violence undertaken by many of the city’s police and citizenry. These men wanted the issue to be handled privately, between members of leadership from both sides, with negotiations taking place behind close doors.

As President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King had traveled to Birmingham at the invitation of an SCLC affiliate, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. However, he came with a purpose. “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here,” he wrote. First on the agenda for his visit were considerations for a “nonviolent direct action program,” which led to the planning and execution of the famous civil rights protests. Soon thereafter, having led, coordinated and participated in these marches, King was said to be in violation of Birmingham’s preliminary injunction to prevent the participation, organization or promotion of any marches or protests without a permit. It is for that reason he was arrested and imprisoned.

Through the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954, the Supreme Court had ruled against continued segregation in the United States, as such was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. However, systemic racial inequality continued to permeate America’s deep south. King specifically indicted the city of Birmingham in his letter, referencing it as the "most thoroughly segregated city in the United States." Citing the many "unsolved bombings of homes and churches," he descriptively illustrated its "ugly record of brutality” and concluded: "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community."

King’s letter provides comprehensive insight on his spiritual beliefs and moral standards that in tandem gave birth to his basic convictions. In this regard he was first and foremost a Christian deontologist, basing his writing on the Word of God, which He believed set a singular standard of holy living to which all humanity was called to adhere, including he, his fellow African Americans and his white adversaries. Following his initial address, he aligned his personal evangelistic motivations directly with those of prophets from the Old Testament and Paul from the New. Soon thereafter, he justified the civil rights movement precisely by interlocking its purpose with the authority of the Scriptures: "A just law is a man code that squares with the moral law or the law of God." Quite obviously, he believed in a Heaven inclusive of people from “every tongue, tribe, people and nation (Rev 5: 9).” Throughout this letter, King’s Christianity is underscored, illustrating why he made the prescriptive and normative ethical conclusions he did.

King did not rely on God solely for instruction on matters of right and wrong in order to help him make correct ethical decisions, however. The way in which he pursued justice in leading the civil rights movement reveals he conformed to God’s will on matters of virtue as well. In addressing his oppressors, he demonstrated many core Christian character traits, some of which Paul described as “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians. Among other things, King’s writing showed him to be a man of respectfulness, humility, truthfulness, meekness, gentleness, kindness, forgiveness, patience and self-control.

MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail - "A Call for Unity" (1963)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Memoirs

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was sold out for the Gospel in the face of Hitler's opposition. Many times he was offered safety and security in America but, at great risk, chose to fight for Christianity with brothers in his native land instead. That decision cost him his life. Bonhoeffer is described in the memoirs of his book, "The Cost of Discipleship." Below are quotes in that regard, as well as others that I found very meaningful.

G. Leibholz:

"Christianity was not the concern of the believing, pious soul who shuts himself up and keeps himself within the bounds of the sacramental sphere."

"Christian principles must in some way be translated into human life and that is in the sphere of the material, in state and society, that responsible love has to be manifested."

"From his (Bonhoeffer's) faith the breadth of vision came which enabled him to separate the gold in life from the dross and to differentiate what was and was not essential in the life of man."

"He believed in man as a free spiritual being, but this freedom was conferred and inspired by divine grace and granted man, not for his glorification, but for the conservation of the divine ordering of human life."

"Hitler was a destroyer of Europe and a traitor to his own country. Men can lose their country if it is represented by an anti-Christian regime."

"He was firmly and rightly convicted that it is not only a Christian right but a Christian duty towards God to oppose tyranny, that is, a government which is no longer based on natural law and the law of God."

"He felt that his church was more concerned with her own existence and inherited rights than with preaching against the war and with the fate of the persecuted and oppressed."

R. Niebuhr:

"The life of the Spirit is not that which shuns death and keeps clear of destruction; rather it endureth death in death is sustained. It only achieves its truth in the midst of utter destruction."

Bonhoeffer:

"When a man really gives up trying to make something of himself...then he wakes with Christ in Gethsemane (where Jesus wept just prior to His' arrest)."

"Christians stand by God in His hour of grieving."

"It is not only my task to look after the victims of madmen who drive a motorcar in a crowded street, but to do all in my power to stop their driving at all."

"The Cost of Discipleship" - A Spiritual Tornado

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “The Cost of Discipleship” to assert authentic Christian faith must be lived out in uncompromising discipleship of Jesus Christ. He contends: “The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ (p. 51).” A key analysis of his differentiates between two terms he coined, each possessing a diametrically opposed meaning. “Cheap grace,” he states, “is forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. It’s grace without discipleship, the cross or Jesus Christ (p. 44-45).” Contrarily, Bonhoeffer continues, “costly grace” is that which “costs a man his life,” echoing the words of Jesus in Mark 8:35: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

I’ve found three primary reasons for which Bonhoeffer deemed this writing necessary. From an overarching view, he references original sin: “Adam made himself God, so he no longer had God. Since then, sons of Adam in their pride have striven to recover the divine image by their own efforts. The more serious and devoted their attempt and the more proud and convincing their apparent success, the greater the contradiction to God (p. 299).” More practically, he discusses faulty paradigms and strategies of those in the Body of Christ: “The real trouble is the pure Word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast - burdensome rules and regulations - false hopes and consolations - it has become extremely difficult to make a decision for Christ (p. 35).” Finally, he underscores struggles Christians will endure after giving their lives to Christ. Mirroring Paul’s words in Philippians 1: 29, Bonhoeffer writes: “We have forgotten the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering (p. 89).”

This book has furthered my knowledge in many areas, the first relating to a residue of self-orientation that surfaces when I serve others. Bonhoeffer convicts me to mature: “If you do good, you must be quite unconscious of it. Otherwise you are simply displaying your own virtue (p. 159).” He probes further, “If we want to know our own goodness or love, it has already ceased to be love.” Second, I’ve sought to make radical career transitions based on the presupposition they were necessary both for my continued growth in intimacy with Christ as well as my ministerial success. Bonhoeffer challenges overemphasis on vocational ministry: “Let the Christian remain in the world to engage in full frontal assault on it, and let him live the life of his secular calling in order to show himself as a stranger in this world all the more (p. 264)!” He reiterates: “The cross is right there, (the Christian) has only got to pick it up: there is no need for him to go out and look for one or to deliberately to run after suffering (p. 89).” Third, throughout much of my sanctification I’ve placed too much emphasis on obtaining knowledge as opposed to living out the gospel. Bonhoeffer implores: “An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system and a general religious knowledge are essentially inimical to the whole conception of following Christ (p. 59).” Finally, I’ve struggled to understand my incapability to save others. Bonhoeffer informs: “Every attempt to run after people, to use our own resources to arrange salvation for others, is both futile and dangerous, because swine do not recognize pearls cast before them and because it profanes the word of forgiveness by causing those we serve to sin. Worse, we only meet blind rage of hardened and darkened hearts, which is useless and harmful (p. 186).” I must understand it is the Lord alone who “knows the secrets of the heart (Psalm 44: 21)” and only He can soften or harden hearts (Exodus 10: 20, 27).