DOWN HOME:
Once, it sounded like a good idea
___Did your mother used to preach against the evils of peer pressure? Sometime in mothering school, they teach mothers to ask, "If 'everybody else' jumped off the roof, would you want to do that too?"
___Mothers have a way of seeing right through all the things that seemed like a good idea at the time. Like riding around at night with seven other kids in Freddie's dad's old Bonneville, 15-year-old Freddie at the wheel, driving with the lights off. Like skipping school to "rest up" for the district track meet. Like deciding to wear your hair like that.
___I thought I heard my mother's voice--or was it the moan of the wind?--early one Saturday morning just a few wee
ks ago.
___"If your friend Sam wanted to go running around bare-headed in shorts in 37-degree weather, with the wind howling and the chill factor Lord-knows-how-low, would you want to go too?"
___Well, yeah.
___It sounded like a good idea at the time.
___Sam stopped me at church on a day much warmer than the morning in question. "Stan gave me a brochure about a 5K roadrace up in Denton," Sam said. "We're going. It's a pretty good race. Want to go?"
___Sam and I have talked from time to time about our running schedules. He's the consistent one. But I can tell you the thought of someone else my age pounding the pavement has spurred me to pull on the sneakers several times when I would have rather pulled out the ice cream. The road to good health is rocky, but it's not paved with Rocky Road.
___Sam has T-shirts from roadraces he's survived. I have T-shirts from Bible drill. He's a roadrace veteran. I didn't tell Sam I was still in high school the last time I actually competed against anybody in anything but "42."
___But it sounded like a good idea at the time. We could have some fun, get our exercise and head back home in time to do the Saturday chores.
___We didn't count on freezing half to death. There we were, bare-headed and bare-legged, charging into the north wind. Uphill. With health-nuts who acted like they do this every Saturday morning.
___We also didn't count on so many fast guys between the ages of 45 and 49. We turned in decent times, and I was feeling good about our chances for medals. After they announced the winners, Sam looked at the sunny side of our adventure. "At least we beat all the women our age!" he declared.
___Actually, it was a wonderful day. The sun shone brightly. We had a shivering great time and got in a good workout. We enjoyed friendship.
___And if the Lord gives us health, someday we'll win those medals. Just like one old fellow who wore his medal proudly.
___He was the only guy in his age bracket.
The Baptist Standard
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