Journey to Bethlehem: Days 15-16

Goals.  We all have them, but this running to Bethlehem has reminded me how much easy they are when specific and clearly defined.  Yesterday I finished the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman.  I know I have talked about this study several times in my blog, and there is another blog post processing, but the basic premise is that many people who call themselves Christian are not actually following Jesus.  They are more like fans cheering for Jesus from the sidelines.

So yesterday as I was running, I was thinking about how having a specific goal of running 80 miles has spurred me to be more consistent in my running and to run longer distances.  Through all of September, October, and November, I ran about once a week, occasionally twice, and there were 2 weeks in there I didn't run at all. I also never ran more than 4 miles, and I only ran 4 a handful of times.  Most of the times I ran it was around a 5k distance (3.1 miles).  In contrast,  I have run 11 of the past 15 days (it will be 12 of 16 once I run today), and I have only run less than 4 miles one of those days.  And quite a few of those days I have run 5+.  

And the difference is that I have a real and concrete goal.  80 miles in 3 weeks.  It's a big goal - one that challenges me.  But it's also a doable goal.  

So how does this relate to moving from being a fan of Jesus to being a follower?  For me, I think the challenge of being a follower is that I don't know where to start.  I don't have a step by step plan, and I usually don't understand what God wants me to do (often because I'm not listening).  

One of the things Idleman talks about is how sometimes we reduce following Jesus to rule following.  I think it's because rules are concrete.  Things that we can comprehend, and measure how well we are doing.  But following Jesus is much less clear. For one thing, each person is called to follow Jesus in different ways so we can't tell how well we're doing by looking at others.  For another, it takes more time to spend time with God trying to discern what he telling us, and often the rules seem simple in comparison.  The ways God calls us to follow to are usually going to be seen as being crazy by the world around us.  He called Noah to build an ark, he called Peter and the other disciples to leave their bill-paying jobs and follow, he called a virgin to give birth to his son and the man who had not made the baby to be the father.  And he calls people today to the same kind of crazy journeys - leaving worldly comfort and security behind to follow him into places unknown.

This journey isn't easy.  There's no clearly defined path or easy to follow road map.  There are no specific goals to work toward.  It's a matter of every day, or really every moment, choosing to follow Jesus wherever, whenever, and in whatever he may lead us, letting go of our own plans and goals in pursuit of something bigger and better.

It's enough to make us wish for clear cut goals like 80 miles in 3 weeks, no matter how much they challenge us. (5.5 miles last night, 52 miles down 28 to go, still planning to run today)