Inside Your Loop.

I often have made connections between my physical training and spiritual training. The more time I spend 'training' my body, the more I realize just how much I enjoy it. Much like my own spiritual development - the more time I spend doing it - the more I enjoy it, crave it, need it. Today, I was fortunate enough to run through Prospect Park and as I run these days I typically enjoy music, but it is also for the most part spending time with God. Praying for others. For my family. For me. (PS-27.6 miles in the last six days) And sometimes as I run, I feel like God reveals things to me that I need to see/hear/experience. Today was one of those days. If you look at the photo of the Park - you will get an idea of where I am when I tweet/blog about the park. It is a five minute walk from our apartment. (See photo)

If you look at the photo, you can kind of see the 'circular' road that loops the park. The 'loop' as people say, is about 3.3 miles, and most often that is the route I take as I run. And today, the green of the leaves was magnificent, the sun came out as I ran, and it was spectacular. And sometimes when I run, I literally ask God:'which way' - sometimes I think he prompts me, sometimes not so much. Today, I felt like he prompted me to 'stay inside the loop'. So I only ran on trails/paths inside the loop. When I would come to a crossing, I felt a nudge "inside the loop". Then I felt like the Holy Spirit taught me something about the loop that God intends for us. This is the loop where he wants us to be - to love Him, to love others, and to serve. I thought about this intently. Maybe the 10 commandments are inside the loop. Probably. But I think living inside God's loop is softer than "COMMANDS". I think if we are loving God, if we are loving others, and serving them as if though they are more important than ourselves, then we are in the loop. You can look at the 10 commandments and say - yup - if we are in His loop, we are following the commands. I then thought about the things I do outside of the loop. I serve myself. I look at women other than my wife in a manner not so good. (And there are millions here in NYC in case you didn't know) I put my idea of priorities above His, and above others. That is when I am outside the loop. And then it made more sense to me. When we are living in His loop, Jesus is with us. Because in God's loop is good. It is perfect. And Jesus is at the center of that. When I go out of His loop, I'm on my own. The Holy Spirit can't get too far from Jesus and God at the center of the loop, so if I am way out of His loop, it is hard for me to hear the Holy Spirit prompting me. If I am in the loop, I know what is right and true and just. I know what is true love. Because that is how God designed it. To protect us from the evil that is out of His loop. And then I thought of living here. And how Superstar and I did our best to stay in His loop in moving here - and how God knew what we needed before we came. And I truly believe He honored our needs because we did our best to stay in His loop. (ex: living close to the park, train, outdoor space, great neighborhood, new friends, enough money to live and be generous, etc. etc. etc.) And so my prayer is that God would corral me when I leave the loop. That the Holy Spirit would be clear to me, even when I choose to leave the loop. Help me Lord, to stay inside Your Loop.