Physical fitness and godliness

Physical fitness doesn’t happen by accident. Neither does godliness.

Deena Castor is a world-class marathoner who won the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won the Chicago marathon in 2005. In her online journal, she recently reflected on the year ahead, which will include the Olympic marathon trials in March and (hopefully) the Olympic marathon in Beijing.

Beijing is only eight months away. Between now and then I will log over five thousand miles. I will go through 15 pair of DS Trainers. I will take 200 ice baths. I will log 600 hours of afternoon naps. I will get more than 200 massages and have a total of about 1000 acupuncture needles. All this in an effort to maintain health and get as strong as possible.

Notice that there is nothing haphazard about her plan. This snippet reveals a larger training regimen which makes the most of every day. When the races finally arrive, Kastor will have done everything possible to be ready.

Paul tells us to train for godliness in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 because “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  But many of us have no plan for training in godliness - not a plan to study Scripture, nor a time set aside to talk to God, nor any definite commitment to serve someone in His name.

The payoff for physical training is fitness.  The payoff for godliness training is so much more, holding promise for this life and the one to come.  This will be the topic at MHCC this Sunday.

PS - I think I’ll pursue Deena Kastor’s training plan.  I’ll start with the naps and see how it goes from there.

January 4, 2008 · Filed Under Discipleship

Comments

2 Responses to “Physical fitness and godliness”

  1. Kara on January 4th, 2008 1:41 pm

    Haha Yes I think that the naps thing is a good place to start. ;]
    Lately though I have been trying to set aside a time to study about God and all that good stuff. So far I have been able to keep up with it for the most part.
    It’s a good topic to discuss though. :D

  2. David Osborn on January 6th, 2008 6:13 am

    Great insights! Thanks for sharing them.

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