See Spot Run

Sports is one of those areas that I believe has been idolized by pop culture which exalts outward appearances and temporal things. The "in" crowd at schools are made up of the Football Stars and the Cheerleaders. You notice that the heartthrobs in tween/teen movies such as "High School Musical" and "Air Bud" are captains of their sport. Apparently today: Sports Star=Cool=Popular.

Of course, there is the other side of the issue that of not exercising enough which is very prevalent as well. The "People-Don't-Get-Enough-Exercise-Because-Their-On-Their-Video-Games, -Ipods, -Laptops, -and TVs" statistics are true. The obesity statistics can prove that they're true. Or for some teens (like a lot of home schoolers who mostly read, study, practice music, and use the internet), they simply don't eat much so that they don't have to exercise yet can still remain thin.

Balance. That's the magical word. The key is keeping our body fit, active, and strong while not letting it define you, plant pride, do it for attention, take over too much of our time, or make our bodies an obsession. Easier said than done though, right? Sometimes we find ourselves leaning both ways... at the same time... because it is hard to live out a "healthy" balance (no pun intended). We'll never do it perfectly.

I love playing many sports (my favorite is Ultimate Frisbee). I played on the community basketball team from grades K-6th. It was fun, but playing beyond that point wasn't an option. So now I run. I ran in the fall of 05 and 06 with a home-school cross-country team. In 07 there was no team. This year my team has been practicing pre-season during the summer, and our first meet of the year is this Saturday in Wimberly. Hello Pain, Heat, and Total Exhaustion, I'm expecting to meet you.

My modern day running hero is Ryan Hall. He's a solid Christian who ran the Marathon in Beijing for the U.S. getting 10th place in the world. In this video he was still training for the Olympic trials, but it tells his testimony and he shares how running brings him closer to God. Check it out: