Today, I want to talk to you about running. "Well Tommy," you say, "That doesn't sound all that challenging. How are you going to have an opinion at the end of this?" Give me a little space and I will explain. I hope this challenges you.
As most of you know, I used to weigh 350 pounds. I never met a buffet I didn't like though most of the buffet type restaurants didn't like me. :-) See I took a buffet as a personal challenge. The words on the front door said, "All You Can Eat". They didn't say, "All You Want to Eat," or "All You Should Eat," or "Eat Enough to Get Full." They said, "All You Can Eat". I was never one to back down from a challenge so I went at each one with determination. I would eat so much pizza, mexican food and even chinese food that I would have a stomach ache when I left the restaurant. But I ate all I could. My friends and I even had personal records when we were young. They weren't ones to be proud of though. And when I stepped on a scale to weigh myself, it would flash the words, "One person on the scale at a time please." OK I am just kidding about the last sentence but I hope it made someone laugh.
Back then I had trouble climbing up a flight of stairs. When I got to the top of the staircase at our office building, I was winded a little. Back then, the idea of walking a mile was impossible. I just couldn't do it. But life is all about perspective.
Today, I run six miles a day, five days a week. Is that a lot? For some yes; for some no but it doesn't matter, it's good for me. But my perspective is much different today than it was seven and a half years ago. At that time, I would never have even dreamed of being able to run six miles. I wouldn't have dreamed of running six feet. It was just not something I planned to do. Today, things are much different. If you had asked me then, I would have told you that six miles was impossible. And guess what, back then it was.
But I started running. At first, I just walked on the treadmill. Then I decided I would walk for 5 or 6 minutes and trot for a minute. Pretty soon, it progressed to walking 4 minutes and jogging a minute. It just kept progressing until I was running. The next thing I knew I decided to run the Cowtown Marathon (It's In Fort Worth). Imagine that. From 350 pounds to running a marathon in a little less than two years. That's a miracle from God. God is able to do more than we can ask or think because not only did I finish my first marathon but I finished in the top 30% of all the runners. I have ran two marathons and I used the training manual from the Boston marathon to get ready for both. At the end of my training, I was running about 75 miles a week. My long run day was over 20 miles. Am I saying this to brag? Of course not. I am saying this because life is all about perspective. When I was 350 pounds, I could never have seen myself running even 6 miles at one time. Then at the end of my marathon training, six miles was only a good warm up. At that point, I thought only running six miles was like a vacation day.
Now think about your own life for a few minutes. What was the six mile situation in your life? Was it a relationship, money, grades, where to go to college, weight? Are there things that once looked impossible that are not really any big deal today? Remember what it was like when you first faced that impossible situation. Remember how you saw no way out of it and how it looked like it was going to do real damage to your life. Now look back at it after you have come through. It doesn't seem like that big a deal does it? All the worry and fear and for what? You came through! That six mile situation in your life wasn't so big after all?
By now, most of you probably know where I am headed. Let me ask you another question that is equally important. What six mile situation are you facing right now? What looks impossible? What has you laying awake at night worrying about it? OK now that you know what I am talking about, how do you handle it? The answer is one step at a time. Do what you can do and learn to let go of what you can't. I am certainly not perfect at it but I want to get better. Remember this six mile situation that you are facing can turn into just another success in your life and you will come through it!
And that's another Opinion of the Minion
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