The Runner's Attitude

Bloggers note: This is the fourth installment of 'The Runner'

The Philip Project is based upon a very unseen, but very certain horizon. This, as mentioned in the last posting, is the Runner's Horizon. The Runner is running not to race, nor to compete - but to win. To be a Philip kind of Runner, the win doesn't go to the swift, but to the one who understands the unseen and unverified horizon.

The Philip Runner understands the horizon without permission. He runs free of collective consensus and she puts one foot in front of the other without hesitation.

Many people may see the need of humanity all around them. The need to house the unhoused, the need to feed the hungry, the need to answer the rising crisis among our youth - all of this can easily be seen. But the behavior and outcome of our work betrays us. We do not have a fix on the proper horizon because of our lack of understanding of it, and therefore possess not the proper attitude.

The Runners Horizon cannot be satisfied within the confines of a cause. On that horizon homelessness and poverty are reducing, low birth weights are rising, our young men are staying in school instead of populating our places of imprisonment, our young women are off the streets and in places of commerce, our veterans, ravaged by the sounds of war are living out their days in peace, our elderly are in safe places of housing, parents are once again honored by all sectors of society and the family is once again whole.

The horizon I'm talking about is where the river of humanity that once flowed with the grief of many generations – now blessed by God’s mercy runs through the tributaries of our communities as a life giving flow once more – my brothers and sisters, that’s what I'm talking about!

The Runner has attitude - can that be your attitude?

One of my favorite vocabulary words [at least lately] is prescient; the ability to perceive the significance of events before they occur. To me, this is the word that describes best the ability to see and to understand.

Prescient is the proper vocabulary when describing Philip in Acts 8 or the Chieftains of the Sons of Issachar in 1st Chronicles 12;32

The reality is you cannot change the world around you, nor be the change you want to be, by just seeing the world differently - with the seeing, must come the understanding that presents in you the proper Runners Attitude.

The topography between the Runner and the horizon is perilous indeed. Cavernous valleys, mountainous expanses and vast open terrains await the Runner. This topography does not elicit many takers. To be a Philip kind of Runner is to often be alone.

Here's today's question; Do you still want to lace up?

Dan - A Runner