1000 Miles

Wednesday 5/29/2013 5:43 AM

I love to run.  Over the course of the last year I have run about eight hundred miles.  In my younger years I ran over one thousand miles per year, running with a colleague each day or training for races.  I have been running for almost thirty-five years so I imagine I have run over thirty thousand miles during the course of my lifetime.  Thankfully, my knees and hips are still healthy in spite of the years of abuse from running on asphalt.  I will keep running until my body gives out.

I love to sing.  The lyrics to a song can be very moving but mostly I enjoy the music.  I love to listen to the notes dancing with each other, choreographed by the composer, using meter, timbre, pitch, etc. to affect emotion in the listener.  My sister, Ruth, composes music, a talent I covet.  For her it is therapy.  I covet the gift but God has given me but two tunes in my lifetime and only one of those tunes came with lyrics.  So for now, I will sing the songs of others.  I will sing until my voice gives out.

I love life.  A few weeks ago a lifelong member of my church, Johanna Vander Sys, passed away.  She was 103 years old.  She loved life too and she lived it in such a way that others were blessed by having known her.  Long ago she made a commitment to live her life for God and she was faithful to that commitment to the end.  I want to live like that.

This morning I changed the playlist on my iPhone before I ran.  I usually have a list of songs I listen to that are my favorites from different artists.   Today I chose to listen to the album Broken and Beautiful by Mark Shultz.  The lyrics of one of the songs, 1000 Miles, started me thinking.

Oh, I would walk one thousand miles; a thousand miles, it’s true.  Oh, I would walk one thousand miles just to be with you.  Cause you’ve got my heart and you’ve got my soul now you’ve got this promise too: Oh, I would walk one thousand miles just to be with you.

And if I write ten thousand songs, ten thousand songs, it’s true.  And if I write ten thousand songs I’ll sing them all for you.  Cause you’ve got my heart and you’ve got my soul now you’ve got this promise too:  If I could write ten thousand songs, I’ll sing them all for you.

And if I live one hundred years before my life is through.  And if I live one hundred years I’ll spend them loving you.  Cause you’ve got my heart and you’ve got my soul now you’ve got this promise too.  If I could live one hundred years, I’ll spend them loving you.

The refrain of each verse makes me think.  God has my heart and he has my soul.  This is not because of what I have done but because of the work of Jesus on my behalf.  But I also have a decision to make with respect to my relationship with God.  God does not force himself upon me; I can choose to pursue a close relationship with him or not.  Each day I have a choice of how I spend my time.  I pray that I will have the commitment to run one thousand miles, sing ten thousand songs and live one hundred years just to be with him.