Chariots of Fire - They shall mount up with wings as eagles

This scene has been as much a blessing to me over the years as any portion of film I can recall and I've watched a lot of movies. Eric Liddell reads from Isaiah 40 that the nations are nothing to the Lord. They are like a drop from a bucket. The Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall run and not be weary.

At the end of this clip is Aubrey Montague finishing the steeplechase. He is exhausted and dejected, but he has competed in the Olympic Games. Aubrey serves as the narrator in Chariots of Fire. He is the poet for the film. He is not one of the star athletes, like the evangelist Liddell or the driven Jew, Harold Abrams. Aubrey finds himself watching and learning from the greats, but he observes cloaked by their shadows. Yet still, with less talent he has achieved his goal as an olympian. There is no medal for Montague, but is he any less a hero?

I looked at photos of myself running on Thanksgiving in a race near my parents home in Charlotte, NC. I feel like Aubrey Montague in these pictures--totally worn out. And yet, I ran a personal best last Thursday. I felt like I was moving through quick sand at the end of the race, dropping from 6th to 9th place overall. But it was the best I could give on the day and I was pleased with the effort. No matter the speed and talent of others, it is rare in our life-long habits that we breakthrough to our own best efforts. I've been running for 27 years and here I am in my mid-thirties setting new personal bests.

I must be honest, I've been waiting on the Lord for sometime and he has answered. He has helped me mount up with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). He has provided and blessed with the Tobacco Trail Church. Even other ministries are being considered in what might be called a two-point charge. I am open to it with God's help. I've personally and corporately developed partnerships with local para-church organizations: Child Evangelism Fellowship, Reality Ministry, the Durham County Detention Center, Habitat for Humanity, Alta Walk Senior Living, Durham Cares, Triangle Community Foundation and many others.

God has had me waiting all my life and 2010 has been a particularly renewed and strengthened year.

Chariots of Fire is on the top of my movie list. I always loved the running scenes as I have always loved running. More importantly now though is the marriage of running and faith. Eric Liddell exudes a confidence that comes only out of being a firm believer.

As he prepares for his last race, the 400 meters, he says to one of his competitors, "Good luck. Don't expect I'll see you until after the race." If you know any thing about running, he's trash talking, but politely. Liddell is implying that his fellow runners will only see his back. Some will say arrogance, but this confidence comes from God. Jackson Pollock, the great American sprinter, hands him a note from 1 Samuel chapter 2 which says, "He that honors me, I will honor him."

Do you believe this? Do you believe in a confidence that comes out of God's promise to honor those who honor Him? Consider.

Team Tobacco Trail Church at Habitat Halloween Ride

Here are just some of the members of our team that assembled as team Tobacco Trail Church from the left:
Jim Ray, Don Rose, Jason Scoggins, Adam Rust, Thomas Pafford, and me, George Linney.

Below are David Tallon and myself. David and I also race in a discipline called cyclocross in a 14 week fall and winter series for team Durham Cares.


We still need your help in meeting our fund raising goals to provide $500 to Habitat for Humanity.

One story:

Our God - Chris Tomlin - Passion 2010

And if our God is for us,
then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us,
then what can stand against?

These most powerful words come from Chris Tomlin's, "Our God" based on Romans 8.

In the song it seems to serve as strictly a rhetorical question. In the tradition of the Black Church, and even as it was chanted at the Tobacco Trail Church this past Sunday, it often has the same tone--uplifting, rejuvenating, acting and voicing that if God is purposing our lives than what can stand against us.

But it's not always that simple. Matthew 19 tells of a man who stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you."
The man asked, "What in particular?"
Jesus then lists off some of the majors, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, but the man says he's been faithful to these laws and begs the question: "What's left?"
Jesus then really lets him and us have it in terms of what stands against us, as the song reminds.
"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All you wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."
The man sighed a big sigh and with his chest and chin hanging on the ground he slipped away. As Peterson says in The Message, "He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go."
That's what stands against us, despite God being for us--all the things that possess us. And it's not just wealth, though that is high on the list. It's violence, and sexual sin, deception, loss of family, and hatred of the neighbor in our midst. How do we give up these possessions?
I don't really know. I'm trying to give them up every day with God's help. Thanksgiving is a good start--a time to share food, family, and friends. Advent is even better--a time for renewed hope for that child coming who stands for GOD WITH US.
See, this Emmanuel child means that despite my not knowing God knows. God is for us and while we feel the weight of all that possesses against us, he promises to be faithful to his people. We are riding out a powerful storm and remember that he will bring us safely to the other shore.
Confess, Repent, Swim Across to that other bank.

Charlotte CX4 Cyclocross 11/14/10

Last Sunday at Veterans Park in Charlotte was some of the most fun I have had in sports and I have been to a couple-three events over the last three decades. Sure, I finished well, second, in the CX4 cyclocross race. It was a breakthrough race and I am not quite sure what was different. Somehow I found myself near the front of the race early in the first lap which was new for me. In the previous four races I was dropped from the gun and as the field yo-yo'd I was somewhere in the middle of the pack.

But there was more than finishing place and that was only a feather in the cap of a day of biking and hanging with good people. There was a great vibe, great weather, great friends. I think a lot of us felt it. Dave, Joanna, Brett, and Erin--everyone seemed to be in great spirits no matter personal results. Josh, Angelina, and I couldn't let it go as we reveled in the post-race flow over fish tacos and margaritas in the NoDa neighborhood of northeast Charlotte. My hair was sandy. I mean seriously, sand-filled. My left elbow was lumpy from a cartwheel I managed to maneuver with a near perfect tuck where I landed on my back with my head in the sand, still clipped in with the bottom bracket of my bike pointed towards the blue sky.

This sandpit was more classically used for volleyball, but all traditional bets are off when it comes to cyclocross and we were riding through two, theoretically :), and carrying our bikes through the third pit because if you can ride through six inches of soft sand and make a 180 degree turn, well that's a neat trick. Now that I think of it, I'm sure someone can do it. There's is always someone who can do about anything on a bike, but consensus was that fastest way was to run the third sand pit as pictured above.

In Cross we run, ride, push, sweat, fall, gasp, and nearly puke over all types of terrain that one would hardly think to ride a bike. It is an absolute blast if you embrace it. I have only been at it for a month of racing and I am learning so much. Professionals and veterans roll through turns as if brakes never factor into how they cover the earth for an hour or less. It looks effortless like all great art does, but you have to know that inside these minds, muscles, and shifters flows the hard grinding work that only looks effortless. They have worked and worked and worked some more and it is shameful to say that it comes naturally and effortlessly, so I will neither say or write such fallacies. I have had that effortless flow from time to time in running and whitewater paddling and I intend to grow in the flow of off road cycling.

I have always shied away from mountain biking, but today my friend and Durham Cares teammate, DTallon, dropped off his mountain bike for me to borrow. Somehow, I gotta keep growing where off road cycling is concerned. If David (DTallon) had not lent me his cross bike last winter I would not be where I am today, enjoying a new discipline in what is still a new sport for me--riding bikes. Now David and I are running 1st and 4th in the CX4 point series and trying to get better every week, technically, mentally, physically.

This whole cyclocross vibe flows straight out of Durham too. We are well represented in the state-wide series. We have no less than four teams represented by our Bull City: Durham Cares, Garneau Custom, Bull City Cycling and The Regulators. We all train at Forest Hills Park and there are plans to unite the teams with something like a ghetto hat that reads: Forest Hills Posse. Look for it while sipping your next beer at Fullsteam.

Making Ready for Matthew 13

Tonight we will study The Sower at 630pm at the American Tobacco Trail Bridge over Lakewood Avenue. Van Gogh's masterpiece is inspired by a parable from Matthew 13 about seeds.
Some fell on the road and the birds ate it.
Some fell in the gravel. It sprouted quickly and withered quickly.
Some fell in the weeds and was choked by those weeds.
Some fell on good earth and produced a harvest beyond the farmer's wildest dreams.

Who is the farmer? Who are the seeds? What types of soil are we talking about?

This is a race report and letter on the USATF Trail 10K Championships. My friend, Jason Bryant, is the race director and this race report is from "Mole," a friend from the Trailheads. I did not run this year, but I hope to return next year. The problem is getting in shape in time to race by late August. Maybe next year we will get a break in the heat! It's a great race if you enjoy mountain goat climbing. You might want to add it to your calendar.

Mole wrote:
Monk,

You weren't exaggerating about the inclines on that course. Hill training would definitely be a big help to up the pace for that race. Both up and down! My quads are a little tight which hasn't happened in a while. Race was great though, amazing course and definitely a test of trail running skills. Plenty of technical, turns, off cambers. I decided on second hill (longest of the 4 majors) that I'd be better off to walk short stretches as I was so maxed out and I think that was a good decision in end. Of course, rock garden was using all 4's to make it up. Weather was super humid but not too hot and course fairly dry, just some slickness and black loamy earth from all the dense undergrowth on one side of the mountain.

Highlights were some of the blitzing downhill stretches, seeing the finish line and having at least a little juice to kick it in a little and passing a Kenyan on the final climb ( I had met him prior to the race and he trains in Fayetteville on flat road races!).

Didn't even bother watching heart rate as I knew I'd be maxed out for the entire race as I usually am. Averaged 171 with my max at 180 for the race. Finished in 17th overall, 3rd age group for USATF and 5th masters (with top 3 all out of staters--VT, MA, CO) with time 50:56. Was really pleased. Never so out of breath at end of a race. Was really well put on. Ran into guy named Coates Kennerly who said he knew you I think from ministry and you had been out few weeks ago visiting him. Had nice talk post race watching runners.

Hope Shut In training is going well. Would love to get some hill training in with you at some point. I was thinking of trying to do Oconeechee trails at some point as they sound like good hills.

Mole

--
Craig S. Heinly

Eagle's Nest Camp-A Reflection

I have not been writing here at cog blog in a while, but here is one place that has kept me from the computer. George IV and I went to Eagle's Nest Camp for an amazing eight days in August. We canoed. We ran. We sang. We played. We "how, how, howed." This last cryptic quote is part of an ENC tradition surrounding Indian Village and spirituality. In my cynicism of days gone by, I marked it as rude or condescending to Native Americans. Now I have grown up and opened my eyes. Helen, Paige and all the rest of us never intended any harm, only love, admiration, and humble remembrance for those that came before us on the land in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. Cherokees and others lived here for years and many of us feel a connectedness to ancient ways as we wander around the Nest doing our thing with a few less of the creature comforts from home such as light all the time, or air conditioning, or constant access to cars and smart phones. We are not completely unplugged at ENC, far from it, but we make a nod to simplicity that goes a long way in the frenetic pace of life for many of us elsewhere.

On the final night of Session IV we celebrated a very rainy Indian Village. Now when the trees at camp are filled with water they hover like the thickest of canopies. You just do not get as wet in a light or medium rain as you would think. The trees hold so much of the water. I would call what we experienced 45 minutes of a light drizzle moving to a medium rain. Now, we were wet, but not that wet. Not as wet as a downpour over 3-5 minutes. Not as wet as an un-covered light rain for even 15 minutes. And ironically, we were still protected even though we weren't fully covered by a canopy of trees.

Indian Village is a naturally open-air stage. Somehow with surrounding old growth pines and old growth rhododendron and old growth other that I don't know as well by name, but some readers who have been to Indian Village will probably be saying under their breath, somehow there is an open space of pine needles that perfectly fits a semi-circle of about 100-140 in an audience and 15-20 players coming out of the woods and seated and standing center stage. Their are music makers and great chiefs, medicine women, and tribal chiefs. They all play a part in the drama we call Indian Village where we reflect on our time together at camp.

I thought to myself as I grew slightly uncomfortable in 45 minutes of light--medium rain and as I saw souls 100 pounds lighter than me grow even more uncomfortable, Eagle's Nest, as is true of many important communities, is not for everyone. Not everyone will find value being outdoors in the rain. Sure, this evening was debatable about whether or not we should have gone inside. We hoped for what happens more so than not, a light rain, turning to no rain and a beautiful hazy sunset on a mid-August evening in Southern Appalachia. But we took the risk and got something else and the night was what it was.

My son has been crying himself to sleep most of the last two weeks. That's how much he misses his eight days at Eagle's Nest. How is it that I am not overly concerned? Like him, I've returned to life outside the Nest after a second summer there as a camper. It was 1987 and Allison and I had spent seven weeks there as campers in Session II and III. Life in central Florida was fine, better than most 12 years olds lives' if I had to venture, but it wasn't a hill of beans compared to the time spent off 43 Hart Road.

I never was the same. I never really have been. It's alright to cry. Try to find something everyday at home that is good and different from Eagle's Nest, because though different, life at ENC and life at home can and should speak to one another. Hopefully, you will find your way back to the Nest, but if you don't, it was still time well spent.