Lace Up Those Shoes…Let’s Go Walkin’… Part 4 of 4 of our Fitness Focus (With Help from Author Lisa Preuett)
Friends! We’re having unusually warm weather here in Kentucky for February and now March…I pray you are, too, wherever you are. We need to take advantage of this and get out and breathe in some fresh air!
Lace up those walkin’ shoes and let’s hit the pavement…Walking has a gazillion benefits for us. We’ll highlight a few and become acquainted with a new friend of mine who recently published her first book.
This week’s featured book rounds out the finale for our fitness focus. It’s called Embracing the Race—40 Devotions for the Runner’s Soul by Lisa Preuett and would be great for men or women. Before you say, “Oh no, I’m not a runner, this doesn’t apply to me…”, let me reassure you that all forty out of forty devotionals are for everyone out there and I’ll show you why.
I discovered Lisa’s book thanks to my friend Sherry. I contacted Lisa and we met for tea at Heine Brothers so I could learn more about her and how her book came to be. She also writes an excellent blog via her website: www.reststopforthesoul.com
Lisa says about her book, “Even if you’ve never run a day in your life, you’ll still gain wisdom and insight.” She reminds us, “In the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes about our walk of faith being just like a race. So no matter where you are in your race, I pray you’ll embrace it and be encouraged…”
Before we dive into the book, you need to know part of the proceeds from this book go to benefit Water Step International (www.waterstep.org ) Key in your zip code and several locations near you will pop up where you can donate your old shoes. This is under the “Shoes for Water” section. Water Step helps provide clean water in developing countries. What a great endeavor.
The format of Lisa’s devotional is time management at its’ finest: short and sweet, loaded with equipping Scripture and life application questions.
One of my favorite chapters asks, “Are you thoroughly equipped?” Lisa begins with “Shoes are to a runner what tires are to a car. Attempting to use the wrong type is damaging and utterly reckless…”
DANGER WILL ROBINSON…
I confess I did not heed this little warning. I made a very stupid, prideful mistake. One recent escape to Naples, Florida found me sporting a pair of very cute tennis shoes. They’d been a gift. My fifty-something self decided these kicks, while quite flat and less cushiony than I was used to, surely made me appear “cool and younger”. I know. I know. I know…
For nine days straight, I walked and jogged in these cute shoes, logging many, many miles. By the time we boarded dear ole’ Delta to fly home, I could barely walk. My heels protested. The next morning, I could hardly get out of bed. I had a screaming case of plantar fasciitis.
Folks, nine days of “cuteness” cost me a solid year’s worth of healing. Healing your heels ain’t so easy, nor is it any fun at all. At all.
Desperate, I headed over for help from my sweet friends at Footworks. They promptly scolded me, shaking their heads in dismay. Rightly so. Tough, painful lesson learned. Good news is they promptly fitted me in wonderfully comfortable fit-like-a-glove pair of running shoes. (www.footworkslouisville.com) They weren’t as wild as the below pair, but they do have a lovely shade of caribbean blue and mint green running along the sides. Footworks’ selections are plentiful.
After addressing essential equipment for running, Lisa says, “God also calls us to be thoroughly equipped…What does He call us to equip ourselves with?”
Let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to find the answer…
Lisa shows us from this verse:
“We must equip ourselves with the powerful words from Scripture. They must enter through our mind and then penetrate like deep roots to the depth of our soul.”
“We have to intentionally
EMBRACE them,MEDITATE ON them,PONDER them continually, andDIGEST them through every fiber of our heart.
In doing so we will be prepared for every situation we face.”
Finding a good pair of shoes that fits you well is a financial investment. Lisa reminds us that “Christ followers must also make an investment. Not with money—but with our time and effort. We must be intentional with prioritizing our lives around God’s Word…”
DON’T MISS THIS WARNING: Lisa continues,
“Neglecting time in God’s Word is an invitation for damage, disaster, and ruin.”
“Dear friend, I urge you to make the most crucial investment for your faith journey: embrace the Word of God as the fuel that fires your very soul!”
Lisa closes each chapter with three small paragraph sections:
“READY?” – which offers excellent application questions,
“GET SET.” – which is a Scripture to equip you to do just what the chapter suggests, AND
“GO!” – which is a beautiful prayer to keep us moving in the right direction.
Finally, let’s consider a list of benefits of walking from the folks at Tesco in the United Kingdom. You can find dozens of similar lists from the Mayo Clinic here in the States, to just about anywhere. I chose this list because I’m especially attached to reason #5. Hey, we all need an incentive, coupled with a good laugh!
You can get Lisa’s book from her website. (See top of this post.) There are five options for where to get it plus you can preview ten of the devotions for FREE before you decide if you’d like it by clicking on the Amazon link in her website.
My guess is you’re already thinking of some of your walking buddies who would like to have this devotional. Read it together so you can be inspired together.
Let’s get out there and do some walking!
‘Til next time!
P.S. Next week we’ll prepare our hearts for Easter with help from Liz Curtis Higgs since we’re in the Lenten season.