Had a great time with the family tonight.  Movie (RIO) and then this stack of food at Cook Out.  Good stuff!

If you look real close, you can see me...

It’s funny how we can be so close to something so big, and never know about it.  Kind of like living with a big ‘ol buffalo in your den and waking up one day and realizing it’s been there the last 5 years or so.  That’s a little how I felt when I heard about the Bridge Run down in Charleston, SC.  Granted, I’ve only been running a little over 3 years, but I was still surprised that I’d never even known about a 10k that has been run annually since 1978 and which now attracts more than 30,000 runners each year, and this year was no exception.  A record 40,000+ registered, and just under 35,000 showed up and ran, so I felt like I had a good shot at finishing in the top 10…thousand.

Just to give some comparison to the numbers, here’s what some other famous races draw:

• Boston Marathon: around 25,000
• New York Marathon: around 45,000

The number of runners was about 2.5 times the population of my hometown and a little over half the size of my entire county.  From what I understand, previous years the gun has sounded and everyone just took off, so with the growing crowds they decided to use a wave start this year and we were herded into corrals based on our expected finish time.  I registered in the 49:00-60:00 minute finishers, and apparently so did about 33,000 other folks, so I ran in a crowd the entire race.  That part of the experience was pretty frustrating, because I had really hoped to go sub 50:00, which meant an average pace of around 8:00/mile, but I knew right away that it would be very difficult when I ended the weaving in and out of mile 1 in 8:21.  Still, I was hopeful that the crowd might thin after that first mile. Ummm, no.   Continue reading

Ever feel this way?

Love Jesus, Hate Church, by Steve McCranie, may have been one of the more interesting books I’ve read so far this year, and it’s probably worth your time to read it, too.  It’s one of those “no holds barred” type of books, a sort-of “tell all” expose on church life.  Granted, it’s written from one guy’s perspective and experience, but there’s a lot of stuff in this one that will ring true with you, too.

McCranie does have a rather lengthy writing style, which means there were times that I was finishing a sentence and then trying to remember what the original thought was.  He also falls victim to a huge pet-peeve of the B99, and that is the need to say something and then follow it up with 3 or 4 examples of the point you were making when the original point was already understood.  I think it’s ironic that he writes like a long-winded pastor who would typically be in the pulpit of a church somewhere that the author would most likely never attend.  I also find it ironic that I just used 2 very lengthy sentences right after saying the author has a lengthy writing style.

McCranie mentions a handful of times throughout the book that he does, in fact, love the real church, which he sees as very different from the business of church, or the “well-oiled machine” as he likes to call it.  It was nice to see him clarify the two, because I’ve always felt like people who dump on the church are like bullies picking on a girl without realizing that her bigger boyfriend is right behind them.  I’m all for pointing out mistakes and practices in the church that can – and should – be corrected, but at the end of the day it’s important to remember that we’re talking about Jesus’ bride, and that should give us some pause.

The book felt angry at times, and probably should have since the author wrote this right up front:

Confession: I Love Jesus with a burning, all-consuming passion. He is the source of my life and the best thing that has ever happened to me. In a word, I am literally obsessed with Him.

But make no mistake, I Hate Church and everything it has become today. I Hate Church with a raw, loathing vengeance, with unleashed rage, with every fiber of my being. It’s like church pushes me right to the edge, right to the point of no return – and then sadistically pushes even harder, mocking, sneering, and demanding I respond. (p. 14)

Love Jesus, Hate Church is that raw and honest from the first page to the last, and McCranie does a good job of filling it with personal stories of things that he has experienced in the church and outside the church that have shaped the way he views the “well-oiled machine.”  It is very possible that you’ll be put off by some (okay, most) of what he writes, but at the end of the book you’ll be wondering if the reason you were bothered is because you are part of the problem.

Truth, as they say, can set us free.  Sometimes, though, it cuts us a little as it tears away the chains that held us.  For me, freedom is worth the pain of being set free.