Lent Day 23

Half way.  Tonight at midnight will mark two exact halfway points: this is the half way point in my Lent experience and the halfway point in our US government’s fiscal year.  Half way through and I have made so much more progress than the government.

Even after the experience I had last night with the neighbor and her dogs, I still went running tonight.  I will not let anyone or anything get in the way of that promise I made to God.  I will stay true to my commitment.  Though, I do believe that God tests us sometimes by allowing some things to happen in our lives.  It’s how He shows us that He is there for us and for us to prove our character to Him.   This whole experience is not about going outside running and getting in shape physically.  It’s about building my relationship with God and strengthening my character.  It is through adversities that we grow stronger.  It is through these tests of my character that I will know how strong I can be.  You cannot tell how strong something is until you test it.

I have a concealed weapons permit and I do carry daily.  This is not because I go looking for trouble.  I carry a weapon to protect myself and my freedom in case trouble should happen to come looking for me.  Now to stay true to that, I took both dogs and my weapon as I went jogging tonight.  We went running around the east half of the loop all the way to the most southern point where I can see the sunset.  From there, I went back north to where I would normally take the west half of the loop where those ferocious caged animals are located.  At that intersection, I stopped for a brief moment debating.  Do I stand my ground knowing that I am well protected and it is my right to run in the road or do I turn right and go back along the east half of the loop from whence I came?  There is a sense of selfish pride that I had to fight off.  That sense of standing up for what I believed is right, when in all reality I would have been looking for trouble.  I turned and ran up that steep hill to the east.  Sometimes it just feels better to do the right thing.  When I got to that halfway point at that intersection, I had to ask myself what I was doing.  Do I take the high road or the low road?  Is my goal success or will I allow myself to be distracted? 

Avoid the confrontation.  If the confrontation looks for me, I will be prepared, but in the meantime, I’m going to do everything I can do avoid it.  In doing the right thing, God will bless me with that strength and endurance to have an enjoyable uneventful jog around my beautiful neighborhood.  The running feels good.  Making the right decision felt great.

Sometimes when I go running, I don’t even pay attention to what I am physically doing.  I simply put my body on cruise control while my mind ventures off into its own journey.  That can be a wild adventure in itself.  As I said to a friend yesterday, “Thank you traveling flight Ben33011 on Grass Airlines”.  So there I was, running along, my mind was somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle, and YIKES! A snake!  My heart skipped a beat!  Oh, wait, that’s the same piece of rope in the road I saw yesterday.  Argh!