God knows running shoes

About 3 months ago Mark and I were riding in the car after church discussing hearing God’s voice. We were talking about asking God the tough questions and expecting Him to actually answer us. Mark talks to God about all kinds of things; and he listens; and God answers. Now I struggle with this concept. I don’t think to ask or I question what I’m hearing from the Spirit: (I can’t get away from thinking: is that just in my head?) So as this conversation got somewhat frustrating for me, Mark said ‘you know you can ask Him anything, ask something.’ And I, wanting to be stubborn, silly, and sarcastic, did not feel like coming up with a big theological question so I said the first thing that popped into my head: ‘ok then why does my back hurt?’ (I had been experiencing some mild yet annoying back pain). I laughed when I asked it, what a silly stupid question to ask the King of the Universe right? (As a runner, I rarely take any pain seriously and I wasn’t really taking this pain seriously) But Mark took that as a perfectly acceptable question to ask God. He tuned his spiritual ears into listening and then he began to laugh. Now don’t think us cooky here, people… he said he heard God say “your back hurts because you run with good posture but you don’t hold good posture everywhere else so those back muscles are weak. You can either correct your posture or get different shoes and the shoes you need are Reeboks and they are pink” Now if you’re wondering why I didn’t immediately question Mark’s sanity, it’s because as soon as I heard the answer it rang true in my spirit and it made perfect sense logically too. And it’s not something Mark would have thought up. I suddenly remembered how my mom always used to get on to me for my slouching. I remembered seeing myself teach on camera one time and noticing my bad posture. But this is something Mark has never noticed or cared about so he wouldn’t have gone to that explanation. And then there’s my whole Adidas loyalty. Ever since 8th grade, I’ve been obsessed with the Adidas brand. I’m not really sure why but I always wanted to wear nothing but Adidas. So I knew I had not done what most marathoners do, which is research and try all kinds of shoes to find what works best for their unique needs. Stupid, I know, considering how many miles I run. But anyway back to the story….so after a bit of wining (‘but I only wear adidas, Mark!’) Mark said ‘well you can either correct years of bad posture or you can just get the shoes that will correct it for you.’ A few days later I found myself on the Reebok website looking for pink running shoes. I found some. But being the stubborn person that I am I wasn’t doing anything yet, I wasn’t ready to give up my identity as an Adidas loyalist. (funny how we identify ourselves by such trivial things as shoe brands) but a few weeks later after a 12 miler in which my back was really bothering me, I found myself walking into the Dicks Sporting Goods to buy a pair of pink Reeboks. The next day I decided to do an easy 1 miler just to break them in (surely they would give me blisters or other problems since I was used to only 1 brand). My easy 1 miler, which felt very easy, actually ended up being my fastest mile of the year: a full minute faster than a normal mile at a decent effort for me. I was shocked at my watch when I got done. Oh and there was no back pain. God didn’t tell me the shoes would make me faster, that was just a bonus! I have since hit a half marathon, 5K and 6 mile P.R. in my new shoes. I have bought the same style in 2 other colors. It has gotten to the point that I wear 1 of my 3 pairs almost everyday because they are so comfortable.

Now this is by no means an endorsement for Reebok nor is it a knock on Adidas. I don’t think these shoes are for everyone, I just think God knows everything, even the intricacies of every running shoe on the market and the intricicacies of my specific body’s needs. I think God can not only answer our big and deep questions but He loves to answer our simple and even silly questions too. Moreover, He’ll answer in that perfect unique-to-you kind of way that He does that lets you know how much He really cares. And now when people ask me why I wear the specific type of shoes I do, rather then give a typical runner’s answer about shoe features foot shapes, and running styles, I simply say: ‘because these are the shoes God told me to get.’