One of Those Days

This morning I got up a little late for my run, but that's okay. I drove up the Valley a bit to run on a trail along the Eagle River and on into Vail. When I parked right in front of me was the river and then directly on the opposite bank the land rose straight up to mountain side. As I was getting out of the car I noticed on the other side a deer starting to makes it's way up the side of the mountain. It was amazing to watch it run with such gracefulness and ease. In some ways it reminded me a bit of reading "Hinds Feet in High Places" years ago. It was kind of fun and inspirational. As it turns out once I started running I wasn't nearly as quick or graceful. I mostly just plodded along. However, I did manage to get in about 11 miles today, and I started at about 7,700 ft. and by the turn around point I suspect I will was well about 8,000 ft. there in Vail.

I must admit, that Vail was much more pleasant this time around. Something about running along side a river to calm your nerves a bit. After running I drove back to town and stopped at the post office to pick up a package my parents had sent me, which included my alb to wear in worship tomorrow. It turns out because I don't have a key to our P.O. Box I wasn't allowed to pick up the package. Uff Da! Feeling a little disappointed I headed back home. While I was gone there was a showing of the house by a realtor and it turns out that when the left they locked the door. I wasn't anticipating that and so I was locked out of the house. Luckily I had a key to the church so I could call the realtor and find out the combination of the lock box. Now, normally these sorts of set backs would have set me back for a while. Not today. Today I am going to keep a positive attitude and I'm not going to let anything slow me down. I'm going to finish my sermon, go watch a movie, and then maybe even treat myself to a nice dinner. I think that sounds like a lovely way to celebrate this beautiful day.

A Running Connection

Running has clearly set into my life. As I was running today I got to thinking about one of the assigned lectionary texts for this Sunday, Romans 5:1-5. As I was running I got to thinking that it's much like running a marathon.

Here's what I'm thinking... In preparation for a marathon you intentionally face suffering, particularly with the weekly long run. By facing this suffering head on you develop endurance, an endurance that gives you the character to face the journey of 26.2 miles ahead. Having witnessed this character in oneself you have the hope of finishing the marathon. The marathon got its set distance after a messenger ran that far with good news and then dropped dead. It seems that each time I've run a marathon I've had the feeling at some point I was going to die. In my first marathon I ran things were falling apart, I thought I was going to die for sure, but then somehow I lived...and finished.

In our lives when we face suffering, which I would most often count as a loss of relationship, such as a divorce or the death of a loved one we are best off facing it head on. Unfortunately we have a tendency to push it under the rug or try to ignore the suffering. When we face it head on we build endurance, character, and have hope that we will live through this suffering and suffering that may lie ahead. It all begins with faith, a faith that comes from God.

Fences

As I was out mowing the lawn today I got to thinking about fences. It seems to me that fences really only cause us trouble. On the one hand they keep our neighbors out. A sad state of affairs since one of the greatest things we are lacking in our society is community. We don't have it, and we don't know how to live with one another. We need to learn how to live with both the good and the bad. How do we work with that? We will never learn if we keep our neighbors fenced out.

Fences are a problem as well when trying maintain the yard. What a hassle to try to mow with them there. Isn't that the case with the fences we build between us and God? They keep other people out and it makes it even more difficult to maintain our lives because we have to keep working around the fences. Maybe it's about time we start tearing down some fences instead of building them.

Vail

I was driving around the Valley the other day exploring what options there might be for employment. I made it as far east as Vail. When I got to Vail it made my stomach churn. After wandering the "streets" a bit I actually started to feel scared.

There was just so much money, so much excess, in Vail that there was almost an evil feeling to it. As I understand it Vail was built as a town to be a resort, and that's exactly what it is. Soon after building it appears that rich people discovered it and started demanding that their every need be catered to. As you pass through it is separation of the rich and the richer. It's crazy insane. I saw a few folks getting picked up who appeared to have come from Spanish speaking countries. Clearly they did not live there, though. They were the minimum wage help that is demanded to support this lavish lifestyle. It had almost this feel of days gone by where many were servants, maybe even back to serfs. It didn't feel right. I didn't like the feeling that I was going to be applying to be a part of the system, consequently supporting this growing divide between rich and poor.

As they were building Vail it was decided that there would be only one chapel house any and all churches that might want to be there. I suppose it has created some interesting ecumenical opportunities for those congregations. However, it just added to the dark spiritual feel that I got while I was there. It had a sense of trying to push God out of town, or at the very least contain him to a little box in the corner. There was spiritual darkness.

To be fair, I hear that Aspen is even more extravagant. To be fair, I think I would have a very different perspective if I were coming as a tourist on vacation. Yet as someone seeking to live within in this culture it was a bit unnerving. This after having lived in Eden Prairie, which has its share of excess.

It seems the divide between rich and poor is very real and growing quickly. It seems that spiritual warfare is alive and well. I know as Lutherans we tend to be hesitant to speak of spiritual warfare, but is that just giving the other side a leg up? I think it's real. We need to fight back. It may not be a Frank Peretti version of spiritual warfare, but it's there.

Ruach

In the creation story in Genesis it talks about the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. As I recall the word for Spirit there in Hebrew is Ruach. Later in the creation story breaths the breath of life into Adam and the word there for breath of life is once again Ruach in the Hebrew. Breath, Life, and Spirit are so intermingled that they can all trace back to the same word in Hebrew.

I've gotten a lesson in that running here in Colorado. Thanks to the elevation as I ran up each hill today I found myself gasping for air, for life. At times it felt like I did as a child and a friend would hold me underwater allowing me up for a quick breath and back under again. At other times it felt as if I had been holding my breath for the entire run. To breath is to live. Without that air today I didn't feel as alive as I sometimes do when I run. That energy we often call spirit (think about team spirit). Breath, Life, and Spirit are so intermingled.

Where are you drawing your breath from today? Where did you find life? How did you experience Ruach today? I pray that you are touched by the Spirit, the breath of life today and every day!

A Bolder Boulder

As some of you know I ran in the Bolder Boulder 10K on Monday with about 45,000 of my closest friends. It was really a lot of fun. Sure I was completely winded by the mile and a half mark, but what is a Minnesota boy to do in this crazy elevation. There must have been at least 8 or 9 bands within the first two miles and another 10 or more along the way. There were also a couple of places with belly dancers and I was so proud as I passed by the Luther Church and the entertainment they provided were two 85 year old women who supposedly were either polka or country dancers (I wasn't quite sure as they were just waving to the runners as I passed by). Despite the lack of oxygen at the high elevation I did manage to muster up the strength to pass a runner, who I'm guessing was just finishing the third grade, just before the 6 mile mark.

It was pretty cool to finish in the University of Colorado Football stadium. I was surprised at how open the road really was with so many people running. They did a great job of spreading things out with a wave start that worked pretty well. Incredibly there were so many waves to start that one of the people there with us actually started an hour after I had already finished. It was also fun to see the guest starter this year was former Denver Bronco Ed McAffrey.

After the citizens race was done they had a big Memorial Day Celebration. It was well done, despite my not being all so patriotic. The highlight, though, were sky divers that parachuted into the stadium right near the end of the presentation. It turns out it was so windy only one of the six jumpers landed on the field. Two landed in the stands, one landed in the midst of some of the last walkers to cross the finish line, one landed on the roof of a building next to the stadium, and the big final jumper with the 20 foot American Flag landed in a tree behind the stadium. Knowing that everybody was okay I must admit there was a certain amount of entertainment in their flying wild like that.

So that was my Monday... Memorial Day... For sure there were plenty of memories created that day... Did I mention the hotel room had a hot tub in it? If only had the right person to share it with... maybe next time...

Thoughts from the Road

Here a few random thoughts from the road to Colorado. Later I will try and share some things I've thought about upon arriving... Thank goodness my radio doesn't work in my car as I drove through Sioux Falls as Tornados were approaching. I guess that's not the first time this year... I stayed in Gayville, SD. I don't think they ever really anticipated 8th grade boys living there when they started naming the area, because it really wasn't right to name the next town over then Yankton. There is just something wrong there... I was thrilled to find a cup of coffee for only 50 Cents (no not the rapper) at the C-Store in Gayville. I figured it couldn't get any better than that. Then of course it did as I got my mug refilled in a small town in Nebraska for only a quarter. Small town coffee rules!!! ... Nebraska was just hot and windy. I actually found myself not enjoying driving all that way as much as I have in the past. I hope I'm reenergized for the drive back home for Grandma's Marathon... As I passed Denver and started going through the passes it began to snow. There was a good amount particularly through the Vail Pass. It was kind of like spring in Alaska... I-70 West of Denver is still an amazingly beautiful stretch of road. Now I'm here in Gypsum for the summer. What will the summer hold? Who knows! I guess that's part of the thrill of the adventure. The not knowing absolutely kills me, but as Michele kept reminding us on so many runs last year, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." I just sometimes wonder how much stronger I need to be...