I run towards the dirt road, always looking for an off-road adventure.
My feet land softly, my hands limp, my shoulders relaxed. The form I don’t even think about anymore.
My lungs rhythmically exchange sweet oxygen for the byproducts of muscle activity.
Damp skin cools me, the humidity of the day already beginning.
What a beautiful day to run. Another beautiful day. And I say that every morning because the beauty of the run is not dependent on the weather.
Why do I run?
Because it’s faster than walking.
To reach the point where the wind is not challenged but created.
Because I wish I could fly. And then I realize I can.
To release emotion and feel passion.
Because everyone could yet few will choose to.
Because God made me a runner.
He made me to move. I see Him in the motion. A fluid stride, a waving tree, a soaring bird—they speak of a Creator.
Running brings me to a place where I am acutely aware of both the grandness of the world and also the microscopic activities that keep me going.
I run, and I see, and I feel. And it all points to my God.
He planted passion in a little girl first realizing the mile in PE was not that bad. He watered the passion as I signed up for track in junior high, thinking maybe even if I could not run very fast, I could just run forever.
The passion sprouted throughout high school as I found courage to break away from the pack and run in the front, and it bloomed when I discovered my stride would take me far and fast in college.
God meets us in our passions. He delights in our joy, and a form of worship is created when we praise Him because we realize our source of joy is from Him, for Him, because of Him.
Beauty is created when our lives come into alignment with the vision that He has for us. The person we are is bigger than the person we are trying to be.
Only when we know who we are in Christ can true confidence shine, and in doing so we glorify not ourselves but Jesus.
In these moments, when my mind and soul and body are in tune with my God, I feel invincible.
In this place of alignment, we find favor and acceptance with God. We are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine because He is with us. We are able to overcome every obstacle and handle every situation. He is our strength.
God created me to run, but more than that, He created me to be someone who makes a difference, someone who does something awesome. He did not create me to be mediocre.
I am His, and I run to Him.
Last week we had a worship workshop at a church here in Malaysia. We spent a whole day unpacking the word “worship.”
We found that worship is not an activity but rather a lifestyle, a continuous act of having a heart that praises God. Worship takes on many forms—singing, journaling, cleaning, etc.
We worship what we love most. How do you worship? And what are you worshiping?
