Paradox

Paradox

Today's run was nearly perfect. I'll get to the nearly part in a minute. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was sunny. No wind. The temperature was in the low 40s during my late afternoon adventure. It felt good to be back in shorts. I got a few comments from some drivers about the shorts. I even got a comment from a college-aged female about my legs. Hey, at age 37, I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of drivers, most drivers on F Street between 180th and 192nd decided to leave their brains at home today. One driver almost ended my running career and any other kind of career. The other fifty feet of road apparently were not going to work for her, so she decided to invade the one foot of the road that I was using. I wanted to give her some kind of gesture, but then remembered I was a pastor and she may be in my church.

So I stayed mostly west of 204th Street. I went north to Center on 222nd Street and then north another mile after that. I ended up in the community formerly known as Elkhorn. I saw a Elkhorn police car. They don't have the decals changed on the squad cars yet. If the city of Omaha is as quick to do that as they are to scrape the roads in my subdivision, the cars will have to wait until the sun melts off the decals.

I ran 12.4 miles late this afternoon. I wanted to do 15, but had to cut it short because I lead a small group at six o'clock and my friends definitely appreciate me showering.

It was really peaceful running on the country roads. Living in the city, I forget they are so close.

It was cool to be running next to a seven foot snow drift and sweating because I was too hot. Life is life that sometimes. A paradox. A sweaty runner surrounded by snow.

Consider the paradox of hedonism: when one pursues happiness itself, one is miserable; but, when one pursues something else, one achieves happiness. Or the paradox of control: a person can never be free of control, for to be free of control is to be controlled by oneself. And who wants to be controlled by oneself? Or the paradox of thrift: If everyone saves more money during times of recession, then aggregate demand will fall and will in turn lower total savings in the population.

One more paradox to consider: God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God sacrificed the perfect for the imperfect. Thank God for paradoxes.

I ran 70 miles this week and discovered another paradox: running, a physically tiring activity, especially in ten mile increments, gives the runner more energy than it takes.