I belonged to the other group. After I completed the City of Los Angeles Marathon in 2004, finishing barely upright and a shade under 6 hours, I was bitten by the running bug, and running literally consumed me for the next several years. I went to bed wearing my running clothes. My watch alarm was set at 4:45 a.m. I ran 10 miles, sometimes 12, before work. I ran more than 100 miles a week for several months in a row. I consumed huge amounts of food. I subscribed to Runner's World magazine, and went to the local bookstore to read other running magazines and books that I didn't have. I voraciously searched running-related web sites for tips, charts, and pace calculators. I did tempo runs, progressive runs, quarter-mile repeats, Yasso 800's, medium long runs, recovery runs, and long runs. Some Saturday mornings I would leave my home in Temple City, CA, for runs, and would end up spending over 4 hours leaving 27-mile long trails of footprints in nearby Arcadia, Monrovia, Irwindale, West Covina, Covina, Azusa, Baldwin Park and El Monte. I participated in an online running discussion group. I even joined the group's running mileage game one year...and won. I ran 21 more marathons over 8 years. I have a Boston Marathon finisher's medal somewhere in the bathroom. I read running shoe catalogs in the bathroom.
I was not a casual runner. I was a running fanatic. Life was simple and predictable, as I ate in order to run faster, I drank in order to run farther, and I slept and rested so that my muscles would recover in time for the next day's run. This running thing, I ate it all up.
In the same way, there are two kinds of people who call themselves Christians. Shortly after I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, my well-meaning parents advised me to not get too crazy with my religion. They didn't mind that I would receive certain benefits from going to church - I would learn how to be a good person, have the "right" kind of friends (and maybe even meeting the right girl), and have something to keep me busy on weekends. They just did not want me to become a religious fanatic.
However, Jesus was not looking for casual, lukewarm Christians. After he declared himself to be the bread of life, it was clear that Jesus was looking for hard-core followers:
"So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me." (John 6:53-57)
Jesus was not looking for casual followers who just wanted a taste of what he had to offer, but those who would eat it all up. Many of Jesus' followers turned back and left. Those who remained were fanatics who eventually turned the word upside down.
Are we all in?
