CREDIT: "BERBERS" BY 16:9CLUE ON FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)
Though exercise is not exactly discussed in the Christian Bible, there are numerous stories about walking; for example, Moses guiding the Israelites through decades of desert, leading their fight against Egyptian slave owners.

The Christian Bible doesn’t have much to say about physical fitness or exercise programs. Maybe the closest it comes to giving trainer type advice is to tell readers to flee from evil, to run in the other direction when someone comes along who champions trouble.

For example, the other day someone was telling me how he met a 30-something male with a very nice tattoo across his chest.

As my acquaintance looked more closely he could see that the words in the tattoo referred to a well-known organization of bike enthusiasts. The organization’s name is that of a plurality of heavenly beings who take as their home a location that would surprise some readers.

The person telling me this story struck up a conversation with the owner of this artwork. But now he worries that the man will try to get in touch with him for evil and possibly criminal purposes.

No one had schooled my friend in the biblical wisdom of sprinting hard away from anyone who enjoys trouble, that someone perhaps seeing himself as a winged creature from a fiery underworld with a taste for worn leather.

No one had yet taught him about the biblical teaching to run the race of a good life. We should not do cross country runs with those who are reckless in their own pursuit of wealth, stolen goods or the next high.

Instead God requires that we run the race of life imagining ourselves in the presence of the people of God; imagining that they surround us like a great crowd cheering us on at an Olympic meet, an idea found in the last section of the Book of Hebrews in the Bible.

Of course there isn’t much actual foot racing in the Bible, but there is a lot of walking.

Moses led the Israelites, in their flight from their Egyptian slave owners, to decades of desert wandering.

Before that God had told Abraham to leave Ur, known presently as Iraq, and walk with his family and herds to a new location, today’s Palestine.

Jesus made the trip from North to South Israel and back again several times on foot.

And St. Paul, as did numerous of his colleagues, travelled by the same means throughout the Near East and South East of Europe initiating new church communities.

Today Christian missionaries continue to walk, run, ride, fly and sail across the planet to keep doing exactly what Jesus and St. Paul did.

The reason Jesus, St. Paul, and numerous missionaries today travel is to testify the work of God in the world, to grow the Church and to bring blessing to all people.

Perhaps you’ll join them; it could well mean that your life will not be easy, but you will probably be more physically fit than if you stay with the same old routine.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.