I didn't go on the run with the group on Saturday, but I have been running a lot. The humidity has dropped a few points this week and the air is getting a little bit lighter. Fall and cooler weather is near. Sitting outside at Starbucks this Saturday was certainly enjoyable and it sounds like those who did make for the 8AM start had a wonderful time.

Sometimes running provides subtle messages about faith and God, and sometimes it hits you over the head while your out on a run. This week I got a dose of the latter.

On Saturday night when I should have been slipping into bed, I sat flipping through the television channels and I stopped on one of the christian television stations. During high school I watched a lot of this sort of programming. At the time I was trying to figure out my salvation, scared to death of the rapture, curious about all forms of worship, and also disgusted by the self-righteousness of many of the preachers (though it is hard to be too self-righteous standing amongst gilded furniture and velvet drapers.)  I still find myself drawn to these programs-I guess they are my "Jersey Shore" or "Real Housewives." I can't help staring at these religious train wrecks.

The program I found Saturday was a taping from a church service where a rather bland woman explained faith to the audience. Beside her was a man dressed in a baseball catcher's pads and she explained that his padding was like faith and it protected us from the onslaught of the "enemy". She demonstrated this by throwing baseballs at the man, who didn't flinch as they bounced off of him. This common explanation of faith seemed so off the mark to me (and I also felt sorry that she felt her audience would not understand her baseball metaphor without a live demonstration).

The following day, I ran home from All Saints after the 9AM service. It is about an 8-mile run from All Saints to our house, and though there are some tough hills, overall it is very pleasant. I weave my way from Midtown, through Virginia Highlands, Druid Hills, the Emory campus and finally to our neighborhood.

This Sunday as I ran, I listened to the Prairie Home Companion re-broadcast.

During the run, I didn't think much about the faith message from the previous night, but Garrison Keillor's "News from Lake Wobegon" answered her explanation nicely. He concluded his anecdote by saying, "I used to think that faith, faith was sort of like a building block and you put all these blocks together and you'd build a house, sort of like the little pig built, that the wolf could not blow down; and now I get older and i feel that faith is a matter of surrender, it's a matter of just giving up and leaving that house and just walking out and experiencing the cold, and the rain, and doubt and confusion and trying to keep up your hope and some sense of gratitude; if you just keep up hope and gratitude maybe that's all you need."

What we do on Saturday mornings, or anytime we lace up our shoes and get out in the world, is a metaphor for faith. We don't know what we are going to find, or what it is going to be like exactly, but we go and do it. Maybe no one shows up on Saturday, maybe it rains. Maybe Starbucks is closed, or out of coffee (it's happened to us before). Faith doesn't keep us safe, it compels us to accept being unsafe.

Peace,
Timothy Frilingos