running by the bayou

so i began running again today. i ran for a stint my last semester in college, but then got shin splints and had to stop. but now i am classified as "sedentary" since i sit all day. so i decided to begin running and working out again.

so a few years ago the subdivision my parents live in built a running/jogging/walking trail around a little bayou that we have in the middle of the subdivision. so i took up running on that. (when i say running, i lie a bit...it is a jog/walk program created to get me jogging/running for 30 min straight in 10 weeks).

anyway, as i am running i noticed that the people running on this track are not amazingly fit. they would not be the front page people for a gym. they are just average people trying to get out more. the last time i ran it was in a gym. and in the gym, people are fit. they run well. they look good. and frankly, i feel little when i go there. i feel like i don't measure up. and i feel like everyone is there to show the other person up.

but here, at the bayou, there is no presumption. no one is better than the other. everyone is tired. everyone is weak. everyone is just trying to be a little better. and while running around that smelly bayou, there is an unspoken connection between the people. a community built in sweat, weariness, and silent head nods.

thinking about this reminded me of church. and how some churches i've been to remind me of the gym. people look good. they have it together. and their purpose is showing up to church is to be better than others and to show others how they are better.

but then there are the churches that i feel comfortable in. these are the churches resembling the stinky bayou. people here don't have it together. they are weak, tired, messed up. but they come. they meet here regularly, not because they have it together, but because they dont. they meet to encourage each other. to build one another up, not themselves.

this is the church that i go to. cause i'll be the first to admit, i don't have it all together. i don't know what's goin' on all the time. i am weary. join me at the bayou.