4,500 years and counting.

Last Saturday we spent the day in Manhattan, in part to have some fun because my daughter Ashley was home from college, and also to show her roommate from Southeastern the city that never sleeps for the first time. The Dad tour... started on the 100+ year old Staten Island Ferry system, past the Statue Of Liberty, Ellis Island and on to Battery Park to walk thru the fort that defended NY in 1812...walk up to Ground Zero to see what happens if there is no fort to protect...then hopped on the subway to head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After that it was on to Times Square.

What hit me Saturday...was the lasting effect of what we create. And the question...are we building/creating something that will last? Do we have in mind that our present efforts can last...4,500 years and beyond? After all the church that Jesus built is already 2,000 years old, manuscripts in the Bible are 3,000 years old...and there is this head-mask in the Met dated 2400 bc. Did that particular artisan shaping a warriors head-mask ever think...that his creation would be around 4,500 years? After all...he was probably making hundreds of them...just another day with the boss yelling faster.

Sure...our human lives will last a mere 70-90 years, and possibly not even that long if your name was Tutankhamen, he died around 17-18 years old. So it seems that the actual life we live is not so much of the point as the effect of the life we live is. Meaning... we should be thinking in terms of leaving a legacy instead of just reacting to the moments. Our children can certainly be a legacy, our work can be also...including what we create with our hands. What I am thinking is...our lives matter. Our contribution to mankind is significant...to the point that it carries beyond the length of our breath.

Each room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art brought a new collection of items created by someone at sometime. Each item is proof that whatever we attempt, even taking a picture can be a source of inspiration that has the opportunity to stand the test of time. But...I think I am more interested in leaving a legacy of lives instead of art. But where is the museum housing the collection of lives? Heaven? In my life as others have shaped and molded me?

I know there is abundant source of teaching in the Bible as it relates to a life well lived. I want m life to matter…for a longer time than the amount time I take breaths.

January 8, 2011...a day that will live in infamy...a lesson in atrophy.

It was about 22 degrees at 7:30am...snow was in the forecast to add to the already 25 inches on the ground, but the roads were clear...mostly. On this particular Saturday we had a 18 mile training run to finish before the snow became heavy. I on this morning was nursing  a little runners knee, trying to be careful, but not very motivated to run quickly. This was a important training run though, as the marathon was only 10 weeks way...and I had to run it well to qualify for Boston in 2012. As we progressed along my knee offered up a little pain, and the distance between me and my two running partners gradually increased. At about 9 miles we were about 1/3 mile apart but was on my way back and this quiet run amongst gently falling snow would soon be over. Soon...my family I would be celebrating Michele's Birthday by spending the day in NYC before Ashley left for college. As I crossed an intersection, about the middle of the street I stepped on what I thought was freshly fallen snow....only to discover in the most painful way...it was covering black ice! BANG! I went straight down in the middle of the street... which began 7 weeks in a cast to heal my ankle which was broken in 2 places. Needless to say...I'm not running the marathon in March...and apparently it may take a month now to learn how to walk again. The recovery into marathon running shape, may actually take 6 months to a year. This really stinks...but means that I need to adjust my training regimen that I have grown accustomed to.

What I've learned now is, the 7 weeks my ankle was in a cam-walker type cast was not just a healing of my broken ankle, but the atrophying of dozens of muscles in my foot and calf. What that means is...just walking is a medium sized effort accompanied with pain. And regretfully...the ankle/foot has also lost most of it's normal movement. I'm shocked that...when you don't use something...it gets weaker not stronger from the additional rest. Muscle strength degrades when not used. The lesson here physically and spiritually is...the more I use what I have, the stronger and agile I am.

Today that got me thinking, is there any correlation to any other parts of life? Well, there certainly is spiritually. The more I pray...the stronger I am spiritually. The more I read the word...the stronger I am spiritually. If I stop reading, praying, witnessing, living for Christ daily...I atrophy. Sharing Christ with those who don't know Him becomes more natural when done regularly. And of course the opposite of all those is true.

I have been in the sweet spot before. Its where your training and habits correlate with each other to bring you to a performance level that you have never been. I actually deeply desire that in all areas of my life...spiritually, physically, financially, relationally.

Time to go to rehab.