Make Adjustments

Make Adjustments

Here’s a great Bible passage for runners: “I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble” (Proverbs 4:11-12).

The context is a father talking to his child and exhorting the child to heed his advice. The child will be wise to listen carefully and then to follow through.

We’ve already discussed the importance of getting good advice for running and for living (way back in Weeks 7 and 8). In running, friends who are experienced runners, coaches, running magazines, running store clerks, and other resources (including the “On Running” tips in these devotionals) can help us make important adjustments in training and more. And we have numerous Bible study tools and other resources to guide us in our spiritual races.

Last week we highlighted the importance of listening, especially to God, and hearing the adjustments he wants us to make in how we live. But if we are serious about having “straight paths” and running without stumbling, we need to take the next step—actually taking the advice and doing it, applying what we have heard.

The Runner

Little Megan loved watching the Olympics, especially the runners. She told her mom, “I’m going to be in the Olympics someday, probably the marathon.” She would flip through magazines in the doctor’s office to find pictures of people running and point them out to her parents.

As Megan grew older, she searched the Internet for running stories, especially the ones in which someone came from behind to win. She also read everything she could online about the sport. Soon she knew the history of the Olympics and could tell anyone who asked about how the marathon began and just about all the great Olympic champions, men and women. Eventually Megan subscribed to a running magazine and became an expert on everything related to running long distances: training schedules, nutrition, dealing with injuries, equipment—everything. Megan never lost her interest in all things running. Later, as an adult, she joined an online running chat room where men and women shared their running stories about the great feeling they had at setting a personal record or finishing a grueling race.

One fresh spring day, sitting in her office high above the city, Megan looked down at the running path along the lake and saw joggers making their way along the shore, avoiding walkers and cyclists. Turning from the window, she picked up the small statue of a runner she used for a paperweight and fingered it thoughtfully. I wonder, she mused, if I’ll ever go running.

The Race

That story seems far-fetched, and you’re probably thinking of a bunch of reasons why it would never happen. That would be like a pilot never flying, a hunter never hunting, or a singer never singing. Unfortunately, however, it’s close to how some people live the Christian life. They know all about God, the Bible, and the finer points of their denomination’s theology, but they don’t actually do any of it. What they know about God and how he wants them to live doesn’t affect them at all.

James has powerful advice for people like that who hear God but never follow through and make the necessary adjustments in how they live:

Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (James 1:22-25)

The person who looks in a mirror and sees dirt on the face, disheveled hair, and a piece of spinach between the front teeth and who walks away and does nothing, thinking, I’m looking good! is self-deceived. People who are serious about their faith, about following Christ, will do what they know God is telling them—they will make the adjustments God wants them to make.

The Result

If you were running in a marathon and a spectator friend alongside you warned, “Watch out for the banana peels on the ground,” you’d be alert and watch your step. If a veteran runner told you about shoes that could compensate for your pronation problem, you’d listen and follow that expert’s advice. If at mile fourteen (out of 26.2) you felt overheated because the clouds had left, you’d remove the outer layer that you had donned for warmth. In each case, you’d hear and sense what you should do, and then you’d do it.

Run your race of faith the same way, listening for God’s voice, hearing him, and doing what he says.

My Story

Mitch welcomed me back into the store. I hadn’t seen him for almost six months, the last time I had bought a pair of running shoes. He asked me about the races I had recently run and wanted an update on how those shoes had worked out for me. We became reacquainted friends as I browsed around the local running store, which adjoined the local bike shop.

The first time I met Mitch, I came in with a dream, a big, crazy dream that made my friends and family chuckle when I told them. I planned to run a marathon. Me, just an average runner accustomed to chasing away geese while dodging their droppings all over the sidewalk on frosty mornings around the pond.

After determining to run that first marathon, I knew a good pair of shoes topped the list of things I needed. In one of my many running magazines, I remembered reading a suggestion about taking old shoes into a running store to have an expert analyze the wear patterns. Somehow this would reveal the way feet hit the pavement and where extra support is needed. Very skeptical about how much dirty soles could tell anyone, I carried a bag with my sweaty, worn-out old shoes when I first met Mitch.

True to the words of the magazine writers, he studied the sole of my shoe and declared that I suffered from overpronation. Not only did he look at my old shoes, but he also wanted to watch the way I ran in new shoes. I quickly realized his expertise in proper running-shoe fit, and my skepticism slid away under the racks of COOLMAX shirts and shorts.

The shoes he suggested to correct my tendency to overpronate and better stabilize my ankles felt like miracles on my feet. I ran for miles and miles in those shoes. On a sunny October morning, the laces securely held the time chip and led me across the finish line of my first marathon.

My running equipment did not fail me, and I vowed to return to Mitch every six months for replacement shoes.

Angie

Think It Through

1. What’s more difficult in running—getting good advice or following it? Why?

2. How about in the Christian life?

3. What adjustments in how you live do you know God wants you to make?

4. What’s keeping you from making them?

On Running

What should I do if someone is overheating (hyperthermia)?

Hyperthermia comes in three levels. The least concerning is heat cramps, usually caused by not being used to the heat and losing too many electrolytes. The electrolytes can be replaced with a simple sports drink. The next level is heat exhaustion. The person becomes dizzy and fatigued with a rapid pulse, and he or she probably will faint. This person needs to get to a cooler place quickly and be given lots of water. Finally, the third level, and the one of greatest concern, is heat stroke. This is when the body has stopped sweating and the skin is quite dry. The person is extremely dehydrated, with a body temperature of about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This person should be covered in ice or put in an ice bath immediately.