Full!

I shared in my last post that, for me, an empty stomach was required for running. And that I'm working to empty myself of me at the end of every day.

But being empty is not the ultimate goal. I don't get empty just to get empty. 

I get empty so that I can be wonderfully filled.

Because starting a run on empty makes for a VERY hungry situation when I finish. Back in my racing days, I would make myself literally sick after a race because all the post-race goodies looked and tasted so delicious and I would eat too much. Even a normal, everyday run leaves me famished.

Because I start empty.

So if I get the end of a day right--by allowing Jesus to empty me of all the things He wants out--I wake up hungry. Not hungry for food, but hungry for Him to fill me.

"Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled," (Matthew 5:6).

We can be right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and we learn more about that righteousness every time we open the Bible. Relationship with God Almighty is the theme of the Old Testament: what does it take to know God? To enter His presence? To come to Him?

And the answer to that is found in the New Testament: Jesus. He is the One that allows us to know God personally. He is the Word made flesh, the living Bible who showed us righteousness through His life, death, and resurrection.

So we are filled with righteousness by His Word. First through our salvation in Jesus, the Word (John 1:1) but daily through our interaction with Scripture, that is God breathed, living, active, and able to judge and equip us for everything we need (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12).

I wake up empty, expecting to be filled.

And I have this theory: If I start out empty of everything that is worldly and sinful and selfish; and if I fill my heart with God's Word, which gives me gladness (Acts 2:28), awe and astonishment (Acts 3:10), joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52), then maybe I won't have room for more stuff I emptied out last night. Maybe I'll have less to empty out tonight than I did last night.

It's an imperfect theory. Because sometimes I choose to pour out the Jesus in my heart and fill it back in with myself. Bad move. 

But when I'm aware of my words, my thoughts, my actions, and my attitude, I respond with the Jesus in me.

And if I do it right, I overflow with Jesus and people around me actually get a little bit of Him that I used to fill myself that morning. 

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit," (Romans 15:13).

When I overflow with love, hope, peace, gentleness, and all other manner of the Spirit-filled life, I know I'm really full. Not full of myself, but full of Christ.

Empty so that I can be filled.
Filled so that I can overflow.
Glory!

Leslie Hudson

Don't forget about Saturday morning, April 11, 8:00 at Luther Lake! I'll be there to share a little and answer any running questions you may have.

Empty

I can't do what the running magazines say.

I've read almost all of them. And they pretty much agree that you need several hundred calories in your system before a run. A small apple, a granola bar, or a light salad should do the trick.

Unless you have my stomach.

I have one pre-race food: a cup of coffee about an hour before I head out the door. Anything more than that and I feel like I have just digested a four-course meal.

A few weeks ago I woke up hungry. About 30 minutes before I was to run, I found half a granola bar in my purse (that was only 100 calories to start with!) and thought, "This will be exactly what I need so I won't be hungry on my run." So I ate it. And for the entirety of my 4 miles, I felt like I was carrying a 10-pound brick in my stomach.

I need to be completely empty when I run. 

And I've also begun trying to empty my soul, as well.

Not empty in a bad way; sometimes empty means lonely, hopeless, and unfulfilled. 

On the contrary, I'm determined to empty myself of the stuff I don't need; the stuff that will make my soul sick. Like these:

"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind," (2 Peter 2:1).
"But now you must also rid yourselves of all things such as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips," (Colossians 3:8).

This isn't a complete list. These two verses are just ideas to get us started thinking about the stuff we need to see in our lives and get rid of. Colossians 3:9 (which follows the second verse above) says this: "Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old self with its practices..." 

So I'm learning to put off the old self. To empty myself of the things that I knew and felt and believed and did before I knew Jesus. 

But I can't do it alone.

So I start the process when I lie down to sleep at night. In the darkness and silence, I close my eyes and begin to review my day with Christ. I ask Him to show me where I blew it. Slipped. Fell completely on my face. Acted like my old self. Those are the things I want to empty. 

Jesus shows me that careless word, that unthinking response, that answer I wish I could take back. He shows me my bad attitude, my selfish ambition, and my unholy habits. 

He empties me of me.

I'm coming totally clean here. I usually fall asleep during this process. So when I wake up in the morning--before my eyes even opened--I ask God one more time to empty me. Make me ready to receive what He has for me that day.

Because I don't want to be so full of yesterday, so full of myself, or so full of things I should have put off long ago that it weighs me down. Even the little stuff--like that half granola bar--can feel like a 10-pound brick.

And I want to be free. Receptive. Open. 

So as I wake up and grab my cup of coffee [and nothing else!], I remind myself that I am empty. Confessed. Cleaned out by the one who knows me better on the inside than I know myself.

You can be, too. 

Take time today to empty yourself of you so you can be filled by Christ. (More on that soon!)

Oh! And come run with us! Prize Runners Group run this Saturday, April 11, at 8:00 AM at Luther Lake in Dickson. 


Leslie Hudson

The Best Race Ever

What was the best race you ever ran?

When I was in my early twenties and the best running shape of my life, I was looking forward to setting a 5K Personal Record at a course near my hometown. My parents were coming to watch, I knew many people in the field, and the conditions looked to be perfect. I also knew the course record, and if everything went perfectly I just might beat it.

The morning was gorgeous and I was ready for a fast race. We got there early, picked up my goody bag, and I went to the portable potties before I started my warm-up. As I stepped out, my husband looked at me sternly and told me the words I feared more than anything: 

"Bonnie McReynolds is here."

Now, Bonnie was perhaps the fastest woman to have ever lived in middle Tennessee. She has a 5K PR of 17:06 and finished 11th in the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:36. [Yes, I typed those numbers correctly.] She did workouts on the Vanderbilt University track with a group of really fast men. 

And on that innocent Saturday in October, she chose to come to a little 5K in my hometown. It was her last tune-up race before the Chicago Marathon, where she ran 2:45.

There went my hope at impressing the crowd. There went the victory. 

But I was actually super excited to be in the same race as Bonnie. There was no competition; I wouldn't even see her once the gun went off! I felt honored to be 2nd to her in a 5K. (Don't tell anyone I was over 2 minutes behind her!) It didn't hurt at all to lose a race when I was in the presence of greatness.

So I have a little bit of camaraderie for John on the first Easter:

"On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!' At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first." (John 20:1-4, HCSB.)

This is one of the best running stories in the Bible. John ("the one Jesus loved") and Peter got word from Mary Magdalene that Jesus' body had been moved. And they raced to the tomb. CAN YOU IMAGINE? The intensity. The passion. The confusion. The complete and utter desperation of two men whose lives had been shattered by the death of their Savior and friend.

Peter had sworn that he would never deny Jesus but had done that very thing three times on the night He was arrested. ("Even if everyone runs away, I will certainly not," Mark 14:29). John had been the only disciple to stand at the foot of the cross and had been given the honor of caring for Mary, Jesus' mother, from Christ Himself.

Peter is thought to be the oldest disciple, the leader, the spokesman. John is thought to be the youngest; brash, bold, and energetic. Peter would die a martyr. John would die an old man after he had viewed heaven and written it down for us.

But in John 20, all they could think about was getting to that finish line: Jesus' tomb. 

It's hilarious that John says it two times (verses 4 & 6) that he beat Peter. In fact, he goes from identifying himself as "the one Jesus loved" to "the...disciple who had reached the tomb first." He wanted everyone to know that he won the race.

But he was scared to go in by himself (verse 8). Young and fast but too afraid :)

Peter went in first, seeing all the cloths and wrappings. John went in only after Peter did, but scripture tells us that John "saw and believed," (verse 8).

Peter lost the race, but he was the first to see the empty tomb.
John lost the race, but he found faith.

For those of us who call ourselves runners, we would be wise to do the same. 
Running is important, but not if we miss the truth of Easter. Not if we miss that there is an empty tomb. Not if we miss the resurrection of Jesus.

Enjoy your running. Love your racing. But know what  you're really running for: 

"Hold firmly to the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn't run or labor for nothing," (Philippians 2:16).

Leslie Hudson